[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 139 (Wednesday, September 14, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H5448-H5449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          VA REFORMS NECESSARY

  (Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I heard from veterans in my district years 
ago--long before I was the majority leader--that they weren't getting 
the disability payments they deserved. They submitted their claims, but 
the VA was too backed up. The process was taking months, sometimes 
years. The appeals process quickly became a never-ending bureaucratic 
maze.
  After a report from the GAO and countless legislative hearings and 
testimony, today we vote on reforms by Chairman Miller to ease the 
backlog that has only gotten worse.
  Reforms to the VA are necessary. You can ask any vet who has had to 
wait or any whistleblower frustrated with the VA's culture. The VA has 
a long laundry list of changes it must make, but there is a problem. 
Unless the VA holds that handful of employees accountable who turn a 
blind eye, show up to work intoxicated, or falsify wait times, the 
culture won't change.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I ask: What would you do if you found an employee 
drunk on the job? Or, what if an employee was caught high on cocaine or 
found selling heroin in his free time? I think the words, ``you're 
fired,'' come to mind pretty quickly. But for reasons I cannot even 
begin to understand, this logic is suspended for government employees.
  When you turn a blind eye to unacceptable behavior, that is more than 
a management issue. Bad employees can make mistakes that threaten 
people's very lives.
  Today, the average time to dismiss somebody from the VA is more than 
a

[[Page H5449]]

year. That is unacceptable. That is why Chairman Miller's bill is 
needed. We need to protect the VA and those who go to it--the veterans 
who need the service. That is why I ask all, when we bring the bill up, 
please support it.

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