Colorado Springs — The network of organizations funded by Charles and David Koch see the new law reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs as first step in a much larger vision they have — government-wide reform to strip away the layers of protection that often make it impossible to fire corrupt or negligent officials.
Organizations meeting here for the Seminar Network cheered the VA reform that President Trump signed into law on Friday, and say it could be the beginning of new rules for all federal workers.
“We believe the veterans reform is a blueprint for broader reform of the entire federal bureaucracy that will hold federal workers accountable to really do their jobs and take care of Americans the way they should be,” said Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips.
“We’re going to be seeking that in the coming years,” he said.
Putting in place tough rules that will allow the quick firing of federal workers is a key goal for many conservatives who are tired of hearing about the EPA worker who watches pornography at work for six hours a day and can’t be fired, or other officials who get caught wasting taxpayer money and remain in their jobs.
It took years of scandalous stories at the VA to create an opening. Reforms were put in place in 2014, and when that didn’t work, Congress voted quickly this year to make it even easier for the secretary to kick out bad employees.
The bill shortens the timeline for removing people, lets the VA recoup bonuses given out to bad employees, and even lets the VA reduce federal pensions for people convicted of a felony if that felony influenced how they did their job at the VA. The main federal employee union fought it, but failed, and now that bill could serve as a template for other agencies.
“The hardest part is getting the initial reform,” Phillips told the Washington Examiner. “The Veterans Affairs reform that the president signed into law this past Friday is that initial beachhead.”
“The need in the Veterans Administration was crucial,” he added. “If it were a standalone thing, it would still be enormously important to protect our veterans and their health. At the same time, we do see it though, hopefully, as a harbinger to broader reform.”
Step one, however, will be making sure the new VA reform bill works. The 2014 bill failed because it only authorized the VA to take tougher steps against negligent or corrupt workers, and the VA wasn’t interested in using it.
Another Koch-backed group, Concerned Veterans for America, says there are reasons to think the new bill will work. For one, the group sees David Shulkin as a positive force at the VA who wants to hold bad VA workers accountable.
But the group also promises it’s going to be watching closely how well the VA applies the law.
“We are a group that will always hold the VA accountable, and we will ensure that those promises are kept, and it’s going to be a process,” CVA Mark Lucas told the Washington Examiner.
The group is heavily vested in the success of the law that Trump signed Friday, and played a key role in getting it passed. CVA has been pushing for VA reform since 2012, two years before the VA scandal erupted in 2014.
Lucas said he was involved in some of Trump’s earliest meetings as president about how to handle the VA. He said reform had become impossible under President Obama because the American Federal of Government Employees opposed it, but that his group pounced once Trump won the White House.
Lucas said his group was at the White House several times to brief Trump on the need for reform, and urged him to push the Senate to finish work on the bill by the end of his first 100 days in office.
Lucas agrees that if the law can work at the VA, it can become a template for how to make other civil service reforms across the entire federal government.
“We have an opportunity within the VA to bring real accountability that we can then share with every department in the federal government,” Lucas said.
“This is an opportunity for us to prove at the VA and to bring it to the State Department, the Department of Education, Energy, all across our government,” he added. “Because there’s not reason a government bureaucracy should not be held to same standard as people who pay their salaries.”
Lucas is optimistic the law will have an impact at the VA, in part because of the grassroots power of his group. If it does, he thinks Trump has a chance to be the president to impose lasting civil service reform, using the VA law as a guide.
The Koch groups don’t have a timeline for when such a massive legislative project could take flight. But they believe incremental progress, like the new VA reform law, is the key.
“This is how you change Washington, through substantive reforms that have a direct impact,” Phillips said. “The VA reforms are just the beginning.”
The politicians attending the weekend conference are Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, Gov. Matt Bevin, R-Ky., Gov. Doug Ducey, R-Ariz., Gov. Eric Greitens, R-Mo., Attorney General Adam Laxalt, of Nevada, Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., Richard Corcoran and Jose Oliva, both of Florida.
