[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 140 (Thursday, October 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION RESOLUTION AND 
                            ADJUDICATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. STEPHEN E. BUYER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 6, 1997

  Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues and I on the House National 
Security Committee, are in the process of completing the congressional 
review of sexual misconduct in the military. As difficult and shocking 
as that review has been, it pales in comparison to the problems that 
are coming to light in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  The Department of Veterans Affairs, this Nation's second largest 
agency, is a department that possesses a climate and culture that can 
only be described as openly hostile to women.
  This culture not only allows the harassment of women, it aggressively 
moves to cover-up any allegations made by employees and often rewards 
those who have been convicted of wrong-doing.
  There is a bunker mentality prevalent at the VA. It appears that the 
VA, when faced with accusations of sexual harassment, hunkers down and 
waits out the controversy while speaking aggressively. In reality, the 
attitude is that the VA winks at the claims of sexual harassment, 
protects the accused and victimizes the accusers.
  As Kathy Lyons, a nurse with the VA described the VA process as, 
``The way they handle the thing is to punish the victims.''
  In 1993, this committee considered enacting legislation to re-
organize the VA equal opportunity reporting system in light of abuses 
at the Atlanta VA hospital by the director, associate director, and 
chief of staff. At that time, Secretary Brown convinced the committee 
that he had a ``Zero tolerance'' for sexual harassment and the 
committee did not pass the legislation.
  My good friend and colleague, Congressman James Clyburn stated at 
that time that, ``I don't care what you try to do, how many procedures 
you put in, how many training sessions you have, if your employees do 
not perceive the process or whatever you've done to be an adequate 
response to their past problems, there is going to be absolutely no 
trust in the process at all.''
  The problem has persisted. The pattern of reward and coverup, had it 
been undertaken in the military, would result in a major scandal. In 
the VA, it merely constitutes business as usual.
  In April, the VA Committee held hearings that revealed, as described 
by Subcommittee of VA Oversight Terry Everett, a pattern of ``Club 
MED'' treatment for senior VA employees that had been accused of 
sexually harassing their employees.
  Following that hearing, Chairman Everett also stated that, ``I have a 
concern there is a Good-Ole-Boy network out there and that there is a 
culture within the VA that protects the managers.''
  Specifically, the committee found that:
  A hospital director in North Carolina who groped and abused female 
employees who was transferred to Florida to a job specifically created 
for him that preserved his six-figure salary;
  A VA Director in Virginia who was reassigned to Atlanta after he was 
accused of seven accounts of sexual harassment.
  A VA personnel director in California has been reprimanded but not 
severely punished after an investigation into his rape and sodomy of 
employees in his hospital.
  Reports that since 1993, the VA has punished nine VA managers for 
various sexual harassment complaints.
  Reports that the VA Headquarters in Washington alone has 73 equal 
opportunity complaints pending by employees at that facility.
  Overall, the VA work force is 8.52 percent of the total Federal work 
force, but files 14.1 percent of all harassment cases filed within the 
Government.
  These cases illustrate that the VA's culture is one of paying off the 
accusers and covering for the perpetrators.
  The overall culture starts with the leadership at the highest levels 
of the VA. The fact that Acting VA Secretary and Secretary designate 
Hershel Gober is married to VA counsel Mary Lou Keener and that Mr. 
Gober's nomination has been placed on hold for irregularities in his 
background investigation is evidence of problems and conflict of 
interest at the top. I am deeply concerned this situation has been 
allowed to exist at the VA.
  During consideration of this bill in committee, I offered an 
amendment that would establish an independent panel to assess the 
culture of the VA with regards to sexual harassment, equal opportunity, 
and hostility in the workplace.

  I am pleased and honored that my colleagues accepted my amendment on 
a bipartisan basis. This is a sign that Members on both sides of the 
aisle recognized the problems within the VA and the need to look at 
those problems.
  Four years after this committee's initial hearings, egregious 
problems still exist. I have doubts in the VA's ability to police 
themselves. They simply have no grasp on the scope of these problems.
  H.R. 1703 is designed to establish a new VA employment discrimination 
complaint resolution system. This legislation addresses the problem 
with the system within the VA.
  My amendment tasks a panel to look at the people, their attitudes and 
practices within the VA. We need a baseline look at the culture within 
the VA, and recommendations on how to change that culture.
  Some of the cases that the VA Committee has probed could have been 
handled even with the old EEO system in place. Within the VA, there was 
merely a failure to aggressively pursue. We need to know why those 
within the VA have this attitude, and what can be done to correct the 
situation.

                          ____________________