On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee, unveiled the VA Accountability Act giving the U.S. Veterans Affairs secretary more power to fire incompetent employees.
Congress passed a reform measure last year after reports emerged about veterans dying after being placed on altered waiting lists while seeking medical treatment from VA facilities. The New York Times had a story earlier this week on how few VA employees lost their jobs after the scandal broke though then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned his post under fire.
Miller, who opened the door earlier this week to running for the U.S. Senate in 2016, explained on Thursday why more reform was needed.
More than a year after enduring the biggest scandal in VA history, in which 110 VA facilities maintained secret lists to hide wait times, the department hasnt fired a single employee for wait time manipulation," Miller said. Even worse, rather than disciplining bad employees, VA often just transfers them to other VA facilities or puts them on paid leave for months on end, ensuring taxpayer money is wasted and that bad employees spread their problems to other locations. From Philadelphia to Reno, Nev., to Nashville, Tenn., to Phoenix, VAs tradition of transferring problem workers, putting them on paid leave or simply allowing them to go virtually unpunished continues because current civil service rules make it extremely difficult to properly hold employees accountable. I know this because high-ranking VA officials people who work directly for the secretary have told me so behind closed doors.
The departments overwhelming lack of accountability in the wake of the VA scandal is precisely the type of situation that makes the average citizen lose faith in their government and causes quality health-care professionals to think twice when considering to work at VA," Miller added. After all, why would anyone want to work for an organization where corrupt behavior that harms veterans is not only tolerated but often goes virtually unpunished? Everyone knows accountability is a major problem at the department, and right now VA leaders must work with Congress to solve it. Thats why our focus remains on giving the VA secretary more tools to ensure corrupt and incompetent executives face serious consequences for mismanagement and malfeasance that harms veterans.
Millers proposal gives the VA secretary more authority to fire employees while still giving the employee the right to appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board. The bill also gives some protection to whistle-blowers and extends the probationary period for new employees from a year to 18 months. Under the proposal, the Government Accountability Office would look at how much VA resources, including space, are used for labor union activities.
Veterans groups, including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Concerned Veterans for America lined up behind Millers proposal on Thursday. So did U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is currently running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. With Rubio not expected to run for a second term in the Senate, Miller is a possible candidate to replace him.
Despite Congress voting for reform measures last year, Rubio said their efforts were not working quickly enough.
The purpose of last years VA reform law was to take people out of positions where they can do damage to our veterans but also prevent a broader culture of incompetence, Rubio said on Thursday. Its clear the laws measures are not working swiftly enough, and the VA is in danger of further entrenching a work environment where people get too comfortable in the belief that their jobs are safe even if their performance is terrible.
Im very concerned that the VA secretary has apparently not been straightforward with the American people and with Congress about the departments use of the firing authority it was granted last year, Rubio added. Our veterans who have been victimized by incompetence and ethical lapses at the VA deserve better, and Congress should step up with new measures to do right by them.
Miller and the House Veterans Affairs Committee looked at problems in the Oakland and Philadelphia VA offices at a hearing on Wednesday. In her opening statement at the hearing, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., the ranking Democrat on the committee, insisted the VA is continuing to improve service across the nation despite the problems at those two offices.
Today, we will hear from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General and numerous whistle-blowers who will highlight two broken regional offices, Brown said on Wednesday. Individual employees, and some supervisors, are alleged to have engaged in shameful activities, which at the end of the day hurt veterans. I know that neither VA leadership nor I will tolerate such actions.
I hope to hear VAs plan to fix these offices, and ensure accountability for management and mid-level management, Brown added. "I also hope to hear from our witnesses on what needs to be done to resolve the problem. Our job is not only to find problems, it is to offer solutions.
The Office of Inspector General highlighted in its report serious issues involving mismanagement, and distrust of Veterans Affairs Regional Office management impeding the effectiveness of its operations and services to veterans,' To me, these sound like local, cultural issues, and it sounds like the Philadelphia and Oakland offices are due for a leadership shake-up at all levels if these allegations are proven to be true, Brown continued.
I think it is important that we keep todays hearing in context, Brown said. We are focused on two broken VA regional offices, while VA as a whole has dramatically increased their timeliness and quality of adjudicating claims. VA seems to still be on track to eliminate the backlog by the end of this year. In fact VA has reduced the backlog from a high of 611,000 claims in March 2013 to approximately 188,000 today. We are not there yet, but I believe we are on the right track, and I dont want a few bad actors taking away the progress that has been made across the country for our veterans.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
