[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 21, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H4694-H4699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2014

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 4031) to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
provide for the removal of the Senior Executive Service employees of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs for performance, and for other 
purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4031

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Veterans 
     Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014''.

     SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE EMPLOYEES OF THE 
                   DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR PERFORMANCE.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 7 of title 38, United States Code, 
     is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

     ``Sec. 713. Senior Executive Service: removal based on 
       performance

       ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, the Secretary may remove any individual from the Senior 
     Executive Service if the Secretary determines the performance 
     of the individual warrants such removal. If the Secretary so 
     removes such an individual, the Secretary may--
       ``(1) remove the individual from Federal service; or
       ``(2) transfer the individual to a General Schedule 
     position at any grade of the General Schedule the Secretary 
     determines appropriate.
       ``(b) Notice to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after 
     removing an individual from the Senior Executive Service 
     under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit to the 
     Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of 
     Representatives notice in writing of such removal and the 
     reason for such removal.
       ``(c) Manner of Removal.--A removal under this section 
     shall be done in the same manner as the removal of a 
     professional staff member employed by a Member of 
     Congress.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the 
     beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new item:

``713. Senior Executive Service: removal based on performance.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Miller) and the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.

                              {time}  1300


                             General Leave

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
on H.R. 4031.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Maine?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, for the past 3 years, the House Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs has uncovered, and continues to uncover, numerous instances of 
gross negligence and incompetence by senior VA officials that have led 
to delays in care, growing patient wait times, and lengthy backlogs of 
disability claims. Regrettably, some of these instances have resulted 
in lack of proper care for veterans and for preventable deaths.
  Despite repeated promises of accountability and change, the committee 
has received nothing but disturbing silence from the White House and 
only one excuse after another from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Mr. Speaker, we have all seen the heartbreaking news or spoken 
personally to family after family coming forward, sharing their stories 
of how the VA has failed to fulfill their promise to our veterans. The 
time is past due for us, as the House of Representatives, to take 
action.
  The troubling stories that have come out of Phoenix, Arizona, where 
whistleblowers allege that as many as 40 veterans died while waiting 
for care and alleged secret waiting lists are unconscionable if in fact 
proven true. We would not be doing our sworn duty if we sat idly by and 
allowed these preventable deaths of those who made sacrifices for this 
great country to become the status quo at the VA.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, these incidents do not seem to be 
isolated. They are under the watch of not just one senior VA manager. 
Similar stories of mismanagement and negligence have arisen in Fort 
Collins, Colorado; San Antonio, Texas; Augusta, Georgia; Atlanta, 
Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois, with news stories being covered almost 
every single day.
  Mr. Speaker, these stories were crystallized for me and other Members 
at a recent hearing that we had on patient wait times on April 9. Mr. 
Barry Coates, a veteran from Columbia, South Carolina, informed the 
committee that he waited almost a year to receive a colonoscopy at VA. 
When he finally received his appointment, it was revealed that he had 
stage IV colon cancer.
  Mr. Coates testified: ``The gross negligence and crippling backlog 
epidemic of the VA health care system has not only handed me a death 
sentence, but ruined my quality of life.''
  Mr. Speaker, the need for accountability to help veterans like Mr. 
Coates is the reason why H.R. 4031 is so critically important. The VA 
Management Accountability Act of 2014 would give the Secretary the 
authority to fire or to demote VA Senior Executive Service or 
equivalent employees based on performance at any time. The current 
system is so calcified in bureaucratic red tape that it is easier for 
someone to get a bonus than it is to be given some type of discipline 
at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Is this what our citizens want? Is this what our veterans deserve? I 
don't think so, and neither do the 150 bipartisan cosponsors of this 
piece of legislation or the leading VSOs that support it.
  Now, the actions of these few senior executives do not tarnish the 
hard work of 300,000 frontline VA employees who come to work every day 
and by and large provide excellent care and services to our veterans. 
Too many of these employees have in fact been continually let down by 
poor-performing senior executives. It is time to restore their trust 
and America's trust in the leadership at VA.
  Look, General Shinseki is a good man. He wants to hold others 
accountable, but he is being held back by a failed civil service that 
makes it nearly impossible to remove SES employees. If this bill 
becomes law, he and his successors will have no excuse. He will have 
every tool to hold managers accountable and restore faith in the VA.
  I am truly grateful to the 150 sponsors from both sides of the aisle 
of this vital piece of legislation.
  I also want to thank the following VSOs, veterans service 
organizations, who have tirelessly advocated on behalf of this bill, 
including the American Legion, Concerned Veterans for America, IAVA, 
AMVETS, the Reserve Officers, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the 
Military Officers Association of America.
  Finally, I thank Leader Cantor and Speaker Boehner for their help in 
bringing this bill to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time that VA's status quo is upended, which is why 
I believe this bill, the House's earlier action this year to suspend VA 
bonuses for 5 years, and my call on President Obama to establish a 
bipartisan VA medical care access commission is crucial to getting a 
resolution to this problem.
  I believe the question presented before each Member here today is 
very clear: Do you stand with our veterans or do you stand with a 
bureaucratic-entrenched failing system?
  I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 4031 and maintain our 
promises to our veterans and their families.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of our Nation's veterans and in 
support of action that will fundamentally address the systematic 
failures that are clearly occurring across the Department of Veterans 
Affairs. I reluctantly support this legislation because I believe we 
owe it to the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our 
Nation to do everything in our power to ensure the VA is accountable 
for its performance.

[[Page H4695]]

  I share with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), my good friend 
and colleague, fundamental goals of addressing shortcomings in VA 
leadership. I am proud of our bipartisan working relationship. Not only 
does our working together usually allow us to get more done, but I 
believe it makes our efforts better.
  I am disappointed, however, that the House Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs was not given the opportunity to consider this bill. I believe 
that members of the committee, Republicans and Democrats, could have 
improved this bill before it was brought to the floor. I believe this 
bill would be stronger and more reflective of the substantive reforms 
necessary in the Department if it had been allowed to go through the 
committee markup process.
  H.R. 4031 has been put forth as an accountability bill, but it falls 
short of providing substantive beneficial changes in the VA's executive 
performance management system.
  The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs already has the 
authority to fire any employee, including executives who are not doing 
their job. This bill will simply turn approximately 400 senior 
executive civil service positions across the VA into essentially at-
will positions, of which 165 are in the Veterans Health Administration.
  More importantly, H.R. 4031 does not adequately address the 
performance metrics of VA executives. It doesn't provide any framework 
for ensuring problems and failures don't occur in the first place.

  I introduced H.R. 4399, which the American Legion also supports, 
which establishes upfront organizational goals and expected outcomes 
for veterans that every single VA senior leader must deliver. It would 
require these goals and their outcomes to be the driving factor in 
performance assessment for these executives and the basis for any 
awards or bonuses.
  This bill before us today does not address the senior physicians and 
dentists, known as title 38 employees, who receive executive-level pay 
and have organizational-level responsibility for veteran care and 
services. This is important because one of the executives implicated in 
manipulating the wait times in Phoenix was a title 38 employee, which 
this bill does not cover that we are voting on today. So the very 
individual responsible for the catastrophic failures that we have seen 
across the VA recently may not even be impacted by the current 
legislation that we are dealing with.
  My bill, H.R. 4399, does address title 38 physicians and dentists, 
which covers approximately 80,000 employees within the VA, title 38 
employees, mandating standardized, rigorous performance management 
tools that hold employees accountable and justifies any performance 
pay.
  Finally, my bill would prohibit one of the most egregious examples of 
the failure of the current system as it applies to title 38 employees. 
A doctor was provided partial performance pay even though he had failed 
to maintain a current license. That is correct. He received partial 
performance pay even though he failed to maintain a current license, 
because maintaining a valid license was not one of his performance 
objectives. This bill that we are dealing with today does not address 
that issue.
  Good policy, good legislation comes from conversation, collaboration, 
and compromise. I am supporting moving this bill forward today because 
I believe we need to begin this discussion as how to best ensure VA 
employees are held accountable when they fail to perform.
  Let me be clear. We can and we must do more to ensure that our 
veterans get the quality services that they deserve and have earned. I 
am hopeful that we can have the necessary dialogue in conference to 
ensure that any bill that we send to the President is a more 
comprehensive reform measure that is well-considered and actually has 
the desired and needed impact of changing the VA and ensuring the best 
outcomes for our Nation's veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. The best way to reform the VA is to get rid of 
the deadwood, and that is what this bill actually gives the Secretary 
the opportunity to do, and that is to fire the people that aren't doing 
their job, especially--especially--those that are at the senior level.
  With that, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Lamborn).
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of my constituents 
and veterans who are alarmed at recent reports of preventable deaths, 
manipulated records, and secret waiting lists within the VA health care 
system. These allegations span the country and have recently arisen in 
Colorado at the Fort Collins VA clinic. If these allegations are found 
to be true, the responsible individuals must be held accountable. It is 
unacceptable for individuals who have presided over negligence and 
mismanagement to go unscathed.
  Astonishingly, past instances of similar failures have not only seen 
responsible individuals remain employed by the VA, but they have even 
been rewarded for their leadership failures in the form of bonuses and 
positive performance reviews. This only promotes the continuation of 
poor management, negligence, and possible preventable deaths.
  This bill would help ensure that these trends do not continue by 
giving the Secretary of the VA the authority to remove or transfer 
senior executives of the VA. I ask for support of this bill.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. David Scott).
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the issue here before us on 
this bill--and first let me say I am a proud cosponsor of this bill to 
replace and be able to fire people. The problem is the first person we 
need to fire is the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Shinseki 
himself. Now, we respect him; we respect his sacrifice for this country 
and everything else, but the buck stops at the top.

                              {time}  1315

  Here are the facts: 5,600 veterans are committing suicide every year. 
That is almost 20 every day under his watch--under his watch. In my own 
hospital in Atlanta, four of our soldiers committed suicide in the 
hospital, and the inspector general of the VA laid the blame directly 
at the foot of the VA administration for the lack of management of the 
death of these soldiers.
  When Chairman Miller and I went down and visited them, we asked: Is 
there one more, are there any more that have committed suicide? No, 
there have been no more. And they told a damn lie, because the very 
next day it was exposed there was another soldier that committed 
suicide and they covered it up.
  This has been a pattern that has been going on ever since General 
Shinseki has been the chairman there. I respect a sacrifice, I respect 
what he did, but it is under his watch that we are in this situation in 
the hospital out in the western part of this country where The 
Washington Post has accurately reported that 40 of our soldiers lost 
their lives, died because they couldn't get service. Our veterans are 
the heart and soul of this country, they are precious, and we must not 
turn our back on them.
  I listened to the President today, and I was very disappointed with 
President Obama today. There was no urgency. Mr. President, we need 
urgency. We need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these 
hospitals. We need you to set a pattern that if the VA hospitals can't 
handle it, let's give partnerships to some of the Republicans and the 
other public hospitals.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. MICHAUD. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. God bless you, because there are things I 
want to say.
  Reports are out that the taxpayers are going to have to pay or have 
paid $1 billion for medical malpractice. A reputable news organization, 
Cox Media's WSB Television down in Atlanta, it went all over this 
country: $1 billion the taxpayer paying because the VA cut off the 
wrong arm, cut off the wrong leg, the wrong testicle, the wrong kidney.
  Let me tell you all something, folks. Time--that is what I was just 
so disturbed about--we don't have time for any more investigations. The 
reports are in.
  Jesus Christ himself said: There is no more greater sacrifice than to 
give your life for your friend. Our soldiers

[[Page H4696]]

have given their lives on the battlefield for them. We need to give our 
lives up here and give our veterans the respect that they deserve.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All Members are reminded to refrain from 
using profanity in debate.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman 
from Michigan, Dr. Benishek, a former doctor within the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, somebody who serves his subcommittee as chairman of 
the Health Subcommittee very well.
  Mr. BENISHEK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, in the real world, if you fail to do your job, you get 
fired. Not at the VA.
  Today, I rise in support of H.R. 4031, the Department of Veterans 
Affairs Management Accountability Act. I am proud to be an original 
cosponsor of this bill because it simply allows the Secretary to fire 
senior VA executives when they fail to do their job.
  I am sick and tired of hauling VA officials in front of the committee 
to hear tired excuses and explanations. President Obama has allowed the 
VA leadership to operate without accountability. Veterans are dying. 
The time for excuses has passed. The time for taking action to fix 
these problems is now.
  This legislation is just the beginning. Severe mismanagement at the 
VA will not be tolerated by me or this Congress. We will overturn every 
rock and use every tool at our disposal in the pursuit of the truth of 
what is happening at the VA.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from 
Florida (Ms. Brown).
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the House 
Veterans' Affairs Committee, I have been on this committee for 21 
years. I strongly support Secretary Shinseki and his leadership of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs.
  It is very important as we go into Memorial Day that we let the 
veterans know that we appreciate their service. We also need to let 
them know that we are going to do all we can to make sure they have the 
quality health care that they deserve.
  The VA operates 1,700 sites of care and conducts 85 million 
appointments each year, which comes to 236,000 health care appointments 
each day.
  The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, an independent 
customer service survey, ranked VA customer satisfaction at 95 percent 
among VA patients, among the best in the Nation and equal to or better 
than any private sector hospital.
  Since its peak in March of 2013, the VA has reduced the benefits 
claims backlog by 50 percent, on track to eliminate the backlog in 
2015. VA also implemented an automatic electric claims processing 
system to better serve veterans into the future. In 2013, VA paid out 
$66 billion in compensation claims to 4.5 million eligible veterans. 
Under the leadership of the Secretary, we also expand access to earned 
benefits for veterans of all eras.
  In addition, VA granted presumption of service connection for three 
Agent Orange-related conditions. Let me just say that for years the 
veterans in this category have been trying to get assistance from the 
VA and they were denied. This Secretary stepped up to the plate and let 
all of those veterans come in, millions of additional veterans.
  Since 2009, VA has reduced the estimated number of homeless veterans. 
We have been trying to get them to do that since day one over 22 years 
ago, but this Secretary has reduced it by 24 percent. They have 
conducted over 6 million clinical visits with over 600,000 veterans who 
were homeless or at risk of homelessness, including the formerly 
homeless. In 2013 alone, VA served more than 240,000 veterans who were 
homeless.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. MICHAUD. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. In closing, the VA is like a big ship, one that 
I have been working on for 22 years--slow to turn. But under the 
leadership, the Democratic leadership and the Republican leadership, we 
have funded the largest VA budget increase in the history of the United 
States. Like the first President said: We must make sure that the VA 
does what it can to serve those veterans and give them the service we 
demand. God bless America and continue to bless the veterans who have 
served America.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would add another statistic to 
those that my colleague from Florida just said. There have been 23--at 
least 23 preventable deaths within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman), my 
friend, the chairman of the O&I Subcommittee.

  Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4031 
because I believe that systemic failures of the VA exist far beyond the 
issue of appointment wait times.
  My subcommittee on VA Oversight and Investigations continues to 
uncover countless failures of leadership at the VA. This lack of 
leadership is the driving force behind the unacceptable delays and cost 
overruns in major VA construction projects, the tremendous backlog of 
veterans' disability claims, and the horrendous patient care practices 
that have resulted in preventable patient deaths.
  The individuals with responsibility and authority in the VA are 
unable to lead and, as a result, our veterans have suffered.
  It is time to usher in a new era of accountability at the VA, and I 
urge my colleagues to support the Department of Veterans Affairs 
Management Accountability Act of 2014.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to stand on this floor 
in the midst of Military Appreciation Month and be from a State that 
had the highest numbers of young men and women returning from 
Afghanistan and Iraq, comparing to States like California and certainly 
some others. We are grateful for all, in all States, who have gone and 
put on the uniform unselfishly and stood in the line of danger for us.
  Let me thank the Veterans' Affairs Committee of this Congress. I have 
never seen a more bipartisan and dedicated group of men and women. If 
the committee was opened up to all of us, we would all stand up and 
serve.
  Today, as a family in the United States Congress, we have a problem. 
We have a disease problem, whether it is a heart attack or stroke or 
cancer, or whether or not it is the terrible injuries of war, 
posttraumatic stress disorder, or those who have lost limbs, who have 
suffered traumatic brain injury. We have men and women who have worked, 
and our veterans have now come in their later years who suffer the 
illnesses of age.
  All of us will take our fist and bang on this podium to be able to 
say that they are first and our priority. No one counters or accepts 
the death of those that may have died in Texas, died in Arizona, or 
places elsewhere.
  If this is a measure to begin that healing, to give the Secretary the 
ability to be able to focus in on those beyond the surgeons that are in 
the operating rooms, the nurses that I visit with along the hallways 
when I go to the veterans hospital in my area, then we should go 
forward.
  I stand with this legislation working toward making the system work. 
I want to make it work by curing the systemic and the problematic way 
that we have veterans wait on services. Let's cut it out, cut the red 
tape out. Embrace them this weekend, one of the most emotional days we 
serve with our veterans, and tell them we will not rest until we answer 
the concerns of families, until we pray over those who have lost their 
lives, until we cure this, not by one person or another. They may have 
to go, but let's fix the system that they will have no waiting time 
when they come with lung cancer or last stage, with their life to be 
extended if they just get in the door. I want all of them to be able to 
get in the door and to use those resources that we have expended, those 
large numbers that my colleague and friend from Florida, both from 
Florida, and from Maine, have spoken about, and we use those resources 
to break the barrier of confusion and red tape, and when they walk 
through those doors someone says: Come in, we are ready to serve.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentlelady from

[[Page H4697]]

Indiana (Mrs. Walorski), a very capable member of the VA committee.
  Mrs. WALORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Miller for his 
work to reform this mismanaged Department.
  Our Nation's veterans and their families never hesitated to respond 
to the call to serve their country. Recent news reports of VA 
mismanagement across this country are disgusting and disgraceful. We 
know of dozens of wrongful deaths that were due to VA negligence, 
including 13 in my State of Indiana.
  Senior executives who oversee this negligence are more likely to 
receive a bonus than to receive punishment. We cannot let this 
continue.
  This bill would give the VA Secretary authority to fire senior 
employees responsible for failures within the Department.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I will 
continue to do my part on the oversight and fighting for the Nation's 
23 million veterans.
  I also call on the Senate today to bring greater accountability and 
transparency to the VA by passing the numerous bipartisan bills that 
have left this House, including this one, that could be stalled in the 
Senate. Our veterans deserve nothing but the best.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. MICHAUD. May I inquire from the Speaker how much time I have 
remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maine has 5\1/2\ minutes 
remaining, and the gentleman from Florida has 10 minutes remaining.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 1 
minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Jolly). He is the newest 
member on the VA Committee, somebody who just came to Congress, but 
who, as a staff member, had been an advocate for veterans prior to his 
arrival here.
  Mr. JOLLY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this legislation, but also 
out of great concern for the shocking developments that we have learned 
of within the VA health care system. Perhaps more importantly today, 
after hearing the President's press conference, I rise out of concern 
over the complete failure of our President to address this issue.
  The VA health care system is experiencing an historic crisis; yet, 
today, the President's solution seems to be business as usual 
bureaucracy. The President has done nothing to ensure that we, as a 
Nation, immediately address the systemic problems within the VA system 
or to address the threat to human life that has been created by 
incidents of bureaucratic incompetence.
  Earlier today, the President spoke rhetorically about unacceptable 
wait times for veterans, but he did nothing to address the American 
people's wait time for this administration to solve this problem now. 
It has been 23 days, and there is no sense of urgency.
  What we heard today was of more bureaucracy, more investigations, 
more studying of the issue, and ultimately, a continuation of business 
as usual until the President and his Secretary determine in due time 
when they will act.
  He spoke of holding personnel accountable, but he never once spoke of 
terminating personnel. That is why I rise today to support this 
legislation.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation, and 
I urge my Members to vote against it. I don't know that they will, but 
I urge them to do so.
  All of us in this body need to be for accountability. None of us in 
this body, however, ought to be for turning a civil service system into 
a patronage system. None of us ought to be for turning a civil service 
system--one of the best in the world, if not the best in the world--
into a system which allows for no reason that needs to be articulated 
to turn senior executives into at-will employees.
  I am disappointed that this bill has been brought to the floor with 
little notice and with no markup in committee. We talk about considered 
judgment. We talk about thoughtfulness. We talk about reading the 
bills. Then we bring them to the floor without hearings.
  We must ensure that those who serve our veterans in the VA system do 
so with accountability and oversight. All of us are outraged at the 
allegations that have been made. Not one of us should step back and say 
we should not respond vigorously to the offenses that have allegedly 
taken place because, if the allegations are true, heads ought to roll, 
period; but that is not what this legislation is about.
  This legislation is about a knee-jerk reaction to a bad situation, 
painted with a very broad brush, and undermining a system that can 
work, has worked, and has the mechanism to work.
  I cannot support this bill as written, and I believe it opens the 
door to a slippery slope of undoing the careful civil service 
protections that have been in place for decades. This is about due 
process.
  Now, due process is put under stress at critical times. Pursuing due 
process at times when there is no stress is not difficult. The test of 
a society is whether, at times of stress, it can follow due process and 
the law. This bill does not provide for that.
  With regard to protections that have been put in place for decades to 
ensure that politically appointed managers cannot fire nonpolitical 
senior executives in Federal service without proper cause, neither 
party ought to be for that. The civil service reforms adopted decades 
ago were there for a purpose.
  As a result, Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition, and I urge my 
colleagues to vote against this premature and not-thought-out piece of 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that Republicans brought this bill to 
the floor with little notice and no markup in committee.
  We must ensure that those who serve our veterans in the VA system do 
so with accountability and oversight, especially in light of recent 
allegations of misconduct at certain VA offices.
  However, I cannot support this bill as written, and I believe it 
opens the door to a slippery slope of undoing the careful civil service 
protections that have been in place for decades to ensure that 
politically appointed managers cannot fire non-political senior 
executives in federal service without proper cause.
  Already, the Secretary has the power to remove employees who are not 
performing their jobs properly--and it is a power he employs whenever 
called for.
  I will continue to stand up for our Nation's veterans and work to 
ensure they receive the benefits and care they have earned through 
their service.
  I hope that the Congress and Administration can work together in a 
bipartisan way over the coming weeks to ensure the egregious behavior 
that has been reported is never repeated and that any VA officials 
proven to have acted inappropriately continue to be held accountable--
without undermining the Civil Service System that has served us so well 
for so long.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  We have just been told that this is a knee-jerk reaction to a crisis. 
It is the only action to a crisis.
  The President, for 3 weeks, has said nothing until today. He still 
said nothing today. The Secretary has not been involved. We have to 
take care of the veterans we have fighting for our freedoms every 
single day.
  Nothing in this bill takes away the recruitment process through SES, 
and if the Secretary does fire somebody or demote somebody because of 
this law, he has to provide notice to Congress within 30 days. If you 
don't do your job, you get fired.
  I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, let me tell you that, when I first got here, people 
said: Kelly, you expect the government to work as a business. I said: 
No, no, no, that is not true because there is no way any business can 
work as the government works.
  This bill is a commonsense way of taking care of people who don't 
perform at a level that is expected. The taxpayers--the citizens of 
this country--should expect nothing less and to be constantly told 
that, gee, you can't touch these folks even if they perform so badly--
and, instead of doing that, we give them a bonus--that doesn't make 
sense.
  Accountability is absolutely needed at this time. We give people 
authority. We give people responsibility. When

[[Page H4698]]

they don't do their jobs, they need to be held accountable for it.
  I represent not only the State of Pennsylvania, but over 1 million 
Pennsylvanians who are veterans. If we can't fix this now with a 
commonsense approach, then--my goodness--what are we doing on the floor 
of this great House?
  This just makes sense. I thank the chairman for bringing it forward. 
It is long overdue, and it needs to be done now.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).
  Mr. LaMALFA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
  Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues today in supporting H.R. 4031, 
which brings sorely needed accountability to the Department of Veterans 
Affairs.
  The President said, today, that he would hold those accountable who 
are responsible for the wrongdoing at the VA, but we have heard that 
tune before. As a candidate, the President denounced delays and poor 
care at VA facilities.
  He pledged to build a 21st century VA and to confront what he called 
the broken bureaucracy of the VA. We can hope to hear more than 
platitudes here in the near future, but I am a little skeptical.
  The President has done very little to hold this VA staff accountable, 
and now, we have seen the deadly consequences of the broken VA system 
in Arizona. Like other administration staff who have violated the law, 
those responsible for these acts are simply on paid leave.
  Unfortunately, the VA's problems are not unique to Arizona. With VA 
employees actually coming forward in helping us to expose these 
problems, we have learned of similar efforts to conceal huge problems 
at the Oakland VA regional office, including cooked books, hidden 
files, and a refusal to meet veterans' needs.
  Some bureaucrats seem more interested in receiving bonuses than in 
serving our veterans. It is time for that to end. Mr. Speaker, we need 
to do this now. Pass H.R. 4031.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to 
the gentleman from the 12th District of Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), who 
has been very involved in issues as they relate to Pittsburgh.
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, in having stepped forward to defend our 
country with their very lives, our veterans deserve a health care 
system and a claims process that are both of high quality and that are 
accountable. Unfortunately, the VA has failed veterans in Pittsburgh, 
Phoenix, and across the Nation.
  William Nicklas, a World War II veteran from western Pennsylvania, 
survived Guam, Saipan, and Okinawa, but fell victim to Legionnaires' 
disease at the Pittsburgh VA. It has been 1\1/2\ years since Mr. 
Nicklas died, and the Nicklas family is still waiting for answers and 
accountability, so are the families of John Ciarolla, Clark Compston, 
John McChesney, Lloyd Wanstreet, and Frank ``Sonny'' Calcagno.
  Unfortunately, the world now knows that these are not isolated 
incidents. Significant changes in accountability must be made at the VA 
to solve these problems. I urge all of my colleagues to support the 
Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act. This bill 
is an important step in that direction.
  Thank you to Chairman Miller for conducting the oversight necessary 
to bring these issues into the light.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire, is the gentleman from 
Florida ready to close?
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have one more speaker I have 
been told is on his way, but he is not here at this point, so we are 
prepared to close.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maine has 2\1/2\ minutes 
remaining, and the gentleman from Florida has 5\1/4\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  I want to thank the chairman, but I will reiterate that the Secretary 
currently does have the authority to fire any Senior Executive 
Servicemember if he is not performing his job. This bill does not 
address the problem systemically within the VA. We are dealing with the 
Veterans Health Administration. This bill only covers 165 SES's who 
work in the Veterans Health Administration, but there are 400 
throughout the VA.

  The legislation that I would much prefer voting on today deals with 
not only the SES's, but also with the title 38 employees.
  The reason it is important to deal with the title 38 employees--and 
it is important to note--is that one of the executives implicated in 
manipulating the wait times in Phoenix is a title 38 employee. This 
bill does not address that employee.
  The bill also does not address some of the most egregious examples of 
failure in the system within the Department. As I mentioned earlier, a 
doctor was provided partial performance pay, even though he had let his 
license expire, because that was not part of the performance objective.
  I will be supporting this legislation, so we can move it through the 
process and so we can go to conference to actually address some of 
these issues. I hope that we will be able to address these issues. They 
are very serious issues, and they are issues that are important to our 
veterans.
  It is important for us on the committee that we deal with this, and I 
hope, Mr. Chairman, that we will work together like we have in the 
past, but I am disappointed that this bill is before us, as we were not 
able to improve upon the bill.
  I would also hope that the President would look very seriously at the 
performance evaluations within the Department of Veterans Affairs and 
that he would immediately issue an executive order, similar to the 
legislation that I have submitted, which will address a lot of the 
systemic problems within the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is 
unacceptable, and we must move forward to deal with this issue.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my colleagues to support 
the legislation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have a request of the gentleman 
from Maine.
  My speaker has now shown up. May I yield him 1 minute?
  Mr. MICHAUD. Yes.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman 
from Gainesville, Florida, Dr. Yoho, who has a facility that, in fact, 
is in question at this point and from which several people have been 
put on administrative leave.
  Mr. YOHO. I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. Miller.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4031, the Department of 
Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014.
  For far too long, problems of patient neglect have persisted at the 
VA. These problems will continue to persist until the employees there 
can be held accountable for their poor performances. In recent weeks, 
the full extent of staff incompetence has begun to be made clear.
  Serious allegations have arisen that lengthy wait times and secret 
waiting lists at the three Phoenix VA medical centers have led to the 
deaths of 40 or more of our Nation's veterans. This is unacceptable. 
There are stories of secret waiting lists and of employee negligence at 
the VA that are popping up all over the news.
  As these reports are investigated, it is necessary that we give the 
Secretary of the VA the power to not only reprimand, but to remove the 
negligent employees. If we do not, then the problem will persist.

                              {time}  1345

  For these reasons and more, I have cosponsored Chairman Miller's 
bill, which will authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to remove 
or demote any senior executive employee whose performance has been 
found lacking.
  Mr. Speaker, caring for our veterans is of paramount importance. I 
urge my colleagues to stand up for our veterans and vote to pass the 
Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. First, I want to say thank you very much to 
the gentleman from Maine, who in fact has

[[Page H4699]]

been very bipartisan in the way that we have approached this. Our 
committee has in fact worked in a very bipartisan way in trying to get 
to the bottom of the issue that lays out there.
  I would like to say that it has been said on the floor that there 
were no hearings on this bill. In fact, it has been heard in 
subcommittee. It has also been said that the Secretary has the tools 
that he needs in order to hold people accountable.
  Folks, here is where we are.
  Back in January, I went to Augusta, Georgia, and Columbia, South 
Carolina, at the request of Congressman Joe Wilson and Congressman John 
Barrow. We know--and VA has said--that there were deaths that occurred. 
There were some 5,000 veterans that were on waiting lists for 
colonoscopies. I talked about one of those veterans who testified 
before our committee today.
  Shortly after that, I wrote a letter to the Secretary and I asked him 
to please provide me the names of the people, what their positions 
were, and what type of accountability, what disciplinary actions have 
you taken.
  We are now in the closing weeks of the month of May, and I have heard 
absolutely nothing out of the Department of Veterans Affairs. He may 
have the tools, but he won't use the tools that he has at his disposal 
to get rid of or to discipline the very people who are at the crux of 
the problem that we are talking about all across this Nation today.
  Let me tell you something else.
  The very director of the Phoenix hospital that is now on 
administrative leave, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs 
today, got an $8,500 bonus in April of this year, even though they knew 
that there was an open Office of Inspector General investigation 
ongoing at the time. He got a bonus while there was an ongoing 
investigation.
  In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the director of the health care 
system up there knew that there was Legionella inside the water system 
that led to the death of at least six veterans--they knew it for a 
year--that person got a $63,000 Presidential bonus.
  It is easier to get rewarded at VA than it is to be disciplined.
  That is why I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 4031, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4031.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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