Days after a Department of Veterans Affairs official admitted during a congressional hearing that it is “almost impossible” to fire employees for misconduct, lawmakers are renewing calls to pass legislation that would empower the VA secretary to remove or punish employees throughout the agency.
The VA Accountability Act was essentially shelved late last month when Democrats in the Senate blocked it from receiving a vote on the floor.
But as controversy grows over a pair of VA officials who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights and refused to testify Monday about allegedly defrauding the agency, yet kept their jobs, the bill could get a second look from skeptics.
Danny Pummill, a top benefits official, said during the hearing Monday that firing VA employees has become nearly “impossible” and told members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the two VA officials in question were still employed at the taxpayer’s expense.
“The rules, the regulations, the protections are such that it’s almost impossible to do anything,” Pummill said. “We try to do the right thing.”
Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee, told the Washington Examiner that Pummill had simply stated the obvious.
“How else is it possible to explain the fact that VA has successfully fired just three low-level employees for wait-time manipulation after 110 department facilities were found to have kept secret lists to hide long waits for care?” Miller said. “Yet VA leaders and President Obama are actively opposing commonsense congressional efforts to address VA’s accountability problem at every turn.”
The Florida Republican said all efforts to reform the VA are “doomed to fail” unless Congress passes legislation that increases accountability at the agency.
The VA Accountability Act would build off a law passed last year that removed barriers to firing top executives who misbehaved by removing those barriers for all employees, no matter how senior. It would limit the the amount of time officials can spend on paid leave– a common fate for federal employees who are being investigated for alleged misconduct.
The White House has threatened to veto the legislation, arguing it creates “disparity” in the treatment of federal employees by holding VA officials to a higher standard than staff at other agencies.
Certain provisions of the bill, such as one that would rotate senior VA executives every five years to spread their expertise, could be “disruptive” to the agency, the White House claimed.
In June, Curtis Coy, a VA official, testified before the House VA Committee that the accountability legislation “targets” agency employees.
Coy acknowledged that “job security” was a major consideration of VA officials who would be subject to the tougher standards. He argued “many federal employees” find “motivation to accept lower pay” in the fact that government jobs allow employees to fight punishment through a maze of bureaucratic appeals.
Coy said the legislation would create a “VA class” of federal employees and would “dishearten” the agency’s existing workforce.
Despite the VA’s opposition, the accountability bill passed the House in late July with a vote that fell largely along party lines.
When Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., attempted to bring the Senate version of the VA accountability bill to the floor for a vote on Oct. 20, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., blocked it.
Blumenthal said the bill “lacks some of the basic constitutional guarantees,” such as alerting employees well in advance if the agency intends to fire them and allowing disciplined employees access to an administrative appeals process.
Senate leadership must now decide whether to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, chairman of the Senate VA Committee, told the Examiner the accountability act was necessary to address other problem areas within the VA.
“The VA will not see true reform until it is able to hold employees accountable,” Isakson said. “That is why Congress must pass these much-needed accountability reforms as soon as possible to give the VA the tools it needs to remove bad actors who are putting themselves above the needs of veterans.”
