Lawmakers strike deal on VA accountability bill

Congressional Democrats and Republicans reached a deal Thursday on a long-debated bill that streamlines the Department of Veterans Affairs’ ability to fire its employees, while also strengthening protections for department whistleblowers.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Democrat chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, co-sponsored the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act.

Tester said demand “from the ground” for an accountability bill grew out of a 2014 scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center. As many as 40 veterans died while waiting months for appointments. Department employees were accused of creating secret waiting lists to cover up delays.

Since then, congressional representatives have struggled to agree on what an accountability bill should look like.

“It’s finding the sweet spot between employees’ rights and the VA’s ability to manage,” Tester said. “If you get this wrong, the VA becomes a place people don’t want to work at. If you get it right, it’s a place people clamor to work at it.”

He said he believes the Senate bill found that sweet spot.

The bill shortens the process to remove employees if evidence shows they engaged in misconduct or performed poorly. It also prohibits bonuses or relocation expenses for those employees.

The deal would require the VA to evaluate supervisors based on how they respond to whistleblowers and to provide department-wide training regarding whistleblower complaints once a year.

Tester said it also reduces some of the “red tape” that creates long wait times for approval to hire VA employees.

The measure relaxes portions of a bill that passed the House in March, which Democrats said were too harsh on workers.

Tester worked with Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the Republican chair on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, to tweak the bill to give VA employees additional time to appeal disciplinary actions.

House Veterans Affairs’ Committee Chairman Phil Roe, sponsor of the House bill, said he would support the revisions, according to reports by the Associated Press.

The deal comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April to create a VA Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection. The goal was to identify “barriers” that make it difficult for the VA to fire or reassign bad managers or employees.

Tester said the Senate bill weaves Trump’s request for an accountability office into law while giving the head of the office more independent authority. He said it also requires the office to submit regular updates to Congress.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or khoughton@dailyinterlake.com. The Associated Press contributed to this article.