Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees would face greater accountability and oversight under a bill that the Senate approved on Tuesday with support from U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Pat Roberts (R-KS).
The VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, S. 1094, would give the VA secretary more authority to fire or punish underperforming employees, and it would strengthen whistleblower protections for employees who report fraud or abuse within the VA system.
“The majority of VA employees work hard to deliver the quality care our veterans have earned,” Fischer said. “But as past scandals and management failures at the VA have shown, further action must be taken to remove the bad actors and promote a workplace culture that puts veterans first.”
The process for holding employees accountable can be long and complex under existing civil service rules at the VA, with subsequent appeal and judicial reviews before poor-performing employees face consequences. S. 1094 would give the VA secretary authority to reduce benefits and to take back bonuses paid to employees accused of misconduct to speed up the process.
“This bill is a positive step forward for the nearly 200,000 veterans who rely upon the services of Mississippi’s two VA medical centers and 11 community-based outpatient clinics and veterans’ centers,” Wicker said. “It would ensure the VA secretary can take swift action against employees if they are not delivering the quality care that our service members deserve.”
The measure would also direct the VA secretary to step-up training on whistleblower protections and other workforce management matters, and it would require the secretary to report to Congress on administrative actions taken by the VA.
“Veteran Affairs officials serving Kansas veterans told me one of the biggest problems to improving the quality of care is the inability of supervisors to hold accountable employees found guilty of wrongdoing,” Roberts said. “These common sense changes to civil service rules will cut red tape, strengthen the culture within the VA and ensure the agency is staffed only by individuals dedicated to providing the high-quality care our veterans have earned.”