House approves Costello bill to hold VA employees accountable with bipartisan support

The first bill approved by the 115th Congress on Tuesday was a measure introduced by U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA) to require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to maintain records of employee disciplinary actions.

The House unanimously approved Costello’s Ensuring VA Employee Accountability Act, which would ensure that all disciplinary actions in employee files could be reviewed whenever an employee is considered for a raise, promotion or bonus.

“The reason I introduced this legislation is simple: it allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to maintain accurate records of disciplinary actions against employees,” Costello, a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said. “The file can then be taken into consideration when an employee is up for a bonus or promotion. My bill is intended to bring more transparency and accountability to the way we serve our veterans.”

The VA currently uses a tiered system to administer disciplinary actions, but lower tiered actions are often used because they’re not permanently included in employee files. Actions like an admonishment or a reprimand are deleted from employee files after two and three years, respectively.

U.S. Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, applauded House approval of Costello’s Ensuring VA Employee Accountability Act and the Biological Implant Tracking and Veterans Safety Act.

“These commonsense reforms will help ensure veterans receive the quality health care they deserve while also holding VA employees who fail in their duty to care for veterans accountable,” Roe said. “As chairman, I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate, as well as President-elect Trump and the Trump administration, to fundamentally change the way the VA does business.”