House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has ramped up calls for more accountability at the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs, in the wake of new evidence that the VA continues to suffer from gross mismanagement more than a year after the VA health care scandal broke.
Boehner was one of several House leaders to call for reforms at the VA in 2013 and 2014, which eventually led to passage of a VA reform bill last year. That bill gave the VA access to new funds to get veterans health care outside the VA system, and made it easier to fire corrupt or negligent officials involved in efforts to deny care to veterans.
But in the past week, Boehner has been even more aggressive in calling out the VA for failing to shape up.
On Wednesday, Boehner went to the House floor to say veterans are seeing “more of the same.” He blamed the VA’s failures on “arrogance that allows our vets to be lied to and ignored and, frankly, to die.”
He also blasted the VA for failing to fire almost anyone involved in the scandal. Boehner said only one official has been fired for that reason, and asked, “What the hell happened to the rest of them?”
On Thursday, Boehner hit the VA again, this time for its failure to keep in check the cost of a new VA hospital in Denver. The hospital was originally slated to cost $328 million, but the VA now says it will cost $1.73 billion.
Boehner noted that so far, the VA has asked Congress to make up that difference. But he said that won’t fly, and that the VA needs to find funding from within its existing budget.
“Since VA leaders are clearly not willing to step up, the House is stepping in and allowing the project to go forward in the short-term using resources the VA already has,” he said. “Now the VA must lay out a long-term plan for completing the hospital responsibly using existing resources.”
Some members, like Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., say the cost overrun should be paid with money now used to pay bonuses for VA officials. Coffman has introduced legislation that would divert VA bonuses to fund the hospital. The VA is currently allowed to pay $360 million in bonuses each year, and Coffman says the incompetence shown at the VA makes it a perfect time to strip those bonuses.
The VA, however, has rejected this idea.
Kevin Smith, an aide to Boehner, said the Speaker wanted to call out the VA for its failure to reform because it’s been about a year since President Obama pledged that reforms would be forced on the VA. But very little has happened, and a recent study said wait times have not improved significantly at all over the last 12 months.
“The Speaker was giving voice to the frustration of our members, our veterans, and the American people at the alarming lack of progress at the VA,” Smith said.
“He sounds utterly frustrated with the lack of reform at the VA,” another House aide said of Boehner.
Boehner’s comments are a likely sign that Republicans will continue to push bills that demand more reform at the VA. These bills include attempts to cut back benefits of VA officials who are convicted of a felony, and require the VA to keep better track of officials who are reprimanded.
Members are also proposing bills to prevent VA leaders from retaliating against whisteblowers who try to reveal problems at the agency. Some whistleblowers have been put on administrative leave after calling attention to problems there.
The House has already passed a bill letting the VA take back bonus awards from officials who are later found to be corrupt or negligent.
The VA doesn’t support any of these bills.
