Calling out the federal Department of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for not dismissing underperforming employees, Florida Republican Ted Yoho brought out the “Federal Employee Accountability Act (FEAA)” on Friday.
Yoho’s new legislation gives department heads and other managers in the federal government more power to fire incompetent employees.
On Friday, the North Florida congressman explained why he was backing the bill.
“We have all heard it before, ‘You should get a government job; it is hard to be fired from those jobs.’ Federal employees, while necessary to the functioning of government, are notorious for being difficult to remove even when they are sloppy in their duties,” Yoho noted. “A perfect example of this can be found at the Environmental Protection Agency. An EPA manager was permitted to retire with full benefits, even though he entered fraudulent time and attendance records for another employee. This costed the taxpayers nearly $500,000 dollars.
“The VA in Philadelphia and the VA in St. Paul each had high-ranking executives who were accused of positioning lower-ranking employees out of jobs so they could assume the open position at a significant profit,” Yoho added. “This move allowed them to keep their higher-level pay while serving in a position with fewer responsibilities. Both of these senior executives scammed the system and were permitted to maintain their employment.
“The federal government cannot continue to function this way at the expense of hard-working Americans,” Yoho said in conclusion. “Federal employees must be held accountable for their actions. No longer can they be allowed to hide within the federal system on the taxpayer’s dime.”
Yoho rounded up three prominent House Republicans to back his bill--Louie Gohmert and Randy Weber of Texas and Steve King of Iowa. Yoho’s bill was sent to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
