[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 46 (Thursday, March 16, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2136-H2139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IMPROVING AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO HIRE AND RETAIN
PHYSICIANS AND OTHER EMPLOYEES
General Leave
Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
insert any extraneous material into the Record on H.R. 1367.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Yoder). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 198 and rule
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House
on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 1367.
The Chair appoints the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd) to
preside over the Committee of the Whole.
{time} 1811
In the Committee of the Whole
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill
(H.R. 1367) to improve the authority of the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to hire and retain physicians and other employees of the
Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes, with Mr. Budd
in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIR. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the
first time.
The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup) and the gentleman from
Minnesota (Mr. Walz) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 1367, to
improve the authority of the Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit
and retain employees.
VA's mission of honoring and serving our Nation's veterans is second
to none in the Federal Government, and a high-quality, high-performing
workforce is key to VA's ability to successfully execute on that
mission.
H.R. 1367 contains a number of provisions that would strengthen VA's
ability to identify staffing shortages, recruit employees to fill
vacant positions, quickly onboard new hires, and retain high-performing
workers across the country. It also contains provisions that would
improve leadership and accountability throughout VA and increase the
number of veterans in the Federal workforce.
To assist VA in identifying and addressing local staffing
deficiencies, this bill would modify the annual determination of
staffing shortages to include five clinical occupations and five
nonclinical occupations for each VA medical center. Staffing needs can
vary significantly from facility to facility, even within the same
State, and create a variety of delays, backlogs, and other challenges
for veterans.
This provision would allow VA to use this existing reporting tool,
which dates back to the 2014 Choice Act, to target a total of 10
occupations at each VA medical center and use VA's existing direct hire
authority to expeditiously address shortages for those occupations.
To increase leadership development opportunities for emerging leaders
and encourage the dissemination of best practices between and among VA
and private sector, the bill would establish an executive management
program to allow eligible VA and private sector employees the
opportunity to take 1-year fellowship positions in either comparable
private sector entities or VA, respectively. This idea was brought to
us by a veteran participating in the joint Veterans of Foreign Wars-
Student Veterans of America legislative fellowship program and would
mirror a successful fellowship model used by the White House and the
State Department.
To increase accountability for senior VA decisionmakers, the bill
would require annual performance plans for VA political appointees,
similar to the annual performance plans that are required for Senior
Executive Service employees.
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Like SES employees, political appointees perform at the very highest
levels and play critical roles in setting and achieving high profile
policies and priorities. It is only appropriate that they too be held
accountable for their performance.
To incentivize the hiring of veterans across the Federal Government,
the bill would change the service requirement for reservists and
guardsmen to be eligible for veterans' preference from 180 days of
consecutive Active-Duty service to 180 days of cumulative Active-Duty
service, and expand those considered preference eligible to include all
retired servicemembers.
Veterans gain a variety of skills during their time in uniform and
are often
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uniquely suited to Federal employment. In recognition of this, some
form of veterans' preference has been in place since the Civil War. By
modernizing this important benefit today, we can bring needed skill
sets to the Federal workforce and promote employment opportunities for
veterans, a win-win if there ever was one.
To encourage former VA employees who left VA service to gain relevant
education or experience and then return to the VA, the bill would allow
the VA to noncompetitively reappoint a former employee to a position
not more than 1 grade higher than their former position.
I believe we must do everything possible to encourage former
employees to come back and work at the VA and reward them for
furthering themselves and using their new skills to benefit veterans.
In order to be eligible for reappointment under this authority, the
former employee must have voluntarily, within the prior 2 years,
maintained a satisfactory performance record while at the VA, and
retained any necessary licensures or credentials.
To assist the VA in identifying and prioritizing vacancies, the bill
would require the VA to establish a recruiting database listing each
vacant position that the VA determines is critical to the VA's mission,
is difficult to fill, or both.
Also, the bill would authorize and encourage the VA to track
qualified applicants for vacant positions and use the recruiting
database and the qualified applicant pool to quickly fill vacancies
that have gone unfilled for a prolonged time.
To ensure the VA human resources professionals have a thorough
understanding of the VA's unique hiring authorities, the bill would
require Veterans Health Administration HR employees to receive regular,
ongoing training.
The VA healthcare system benefits from direct hiring authorities for
clinical personnel under title 38, United States Code. However, these
hiring authorities are unique to the VA and can be complex and
difficult for HR employees to understand and work with, which increases
the likelihood that those authorities go underused and HR professionals
experience burnout.
This provision would support those professionals in their important
work while ensuring that veterans benefit as much as possible from the
special hiring authorities that Congress has granted the VA in statute.
To encourage highly skilled employees wishing to advance in their
career at the VA without taking on a management role, this bill would
require the VA to establish a promotional track for technical experts
that does not require transition to a managerial position. This is a
commonsense provision that would increase the VA's ability to retain
employees in highly technical positions who want to remain at the VA
and continue moving forward in their careers, but are either
uninterested in or ill-suited to becoming a manager.
To increase the understanding of the VA's succession planning
efforts, the bill would require the Government Accountability Office to
conduct a study on succession planning at each VA medical facility, as
well as within the Veterans Benefits Administration and the National
Cemetery Administration.
Earlier this week, the VA confirmed that 80 percent of current
Veterans Integrated Service Network directors and 25 percent of current
VA Medical Center directors are eligible to retire. Last year, the VA
testified that it can take more than 6 months and multiple
reannouncements to fill these important positions in both rural and
major metropolitan areas.
Effective succession planning is critical to ensuring stable
leadership and to identifying and developing emerging leaders who are
ready, willing, and able to step up when existing directors or other
managers retire or depart. I look forward to reviewing the results of
GAO's work to see what further improvements can be made in this area.
To improve recruitment and retention of younger employees, the bill
would require the VA to allow for excepted service appointments leading
to conversion to career or career-conditional employment for students
and recent graduates.
VA's existing workforce is aging and, as I mentioned just a moment
ago, increasingly retirement-eligible. Unfortunately, the VA has
historically performed poorly in comparison to other Federal agencies
when it comes to hiring younger employees, which could put the VA's
future at risk. I am hopeful that this provision will increase the VA's
ability to build a pipeline of young talent.
Finally, to increase the VA's understanding of why departing
employees choose to leave the VA and, in turn, how the VA could improve
in order to retain other employees, this bill would require the VA to
develop and deploy a standardized, anonymous exit survey process. The
VA has an existing survey process but it is underutilized, with just 30
percent of all clinical employees completing it prior to their
departure over the last 5 years, according to a GAO report issued last
year.
Factors that contribute to employees voluntarily leaving VA service
cannot be addressed unless they are identified, and this provision
would help us do that.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the future of the VA, our Nation's
second largest bureaucracy, depends on the VA's ability to effectively
and efficiently recruit and retain highly qualified and motivated
employees in towns and cities across this country. In an increasingly
competitive market with an increasingly retirement-eligible workforce,
the stakes are simply too high for the VA to continue to struggle to
hire the employees it needs.
While more remains to be done to simplify and shorten the VA's hiring
process and strengthen the VA's ability to bring the very best
professionals onboard to serve our veterans, H.R. 1367 is the first
step to ensuring a sufficient VA workforce is available to veterans for
generations to come.
I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform,
Washington, DC, March 10, 2017.
Hon. David P. Roe,
Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: I write concerning H.R. 1367, ``to
improve the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
hire and retain physicians and other employees of the
Department of Veterans Affairs; and for other purposes.'' As
you know, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs received an
original referral and the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform a secondary referral when the bill was
introduced on March 6, 2017, I recognize and appreciate your
desire to bring this legislation before the House of
Representatives in an expeditious manner, and accordingly,
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will forego
action on the bill.
The Committee takes this action with our mutual
understanding that by foregoing consideration of H.R. 1367 at
this time, we do not waive any jurisdiction over the subject
matter contained in this or similar legislation. Further, I
request your support for the appointment of conferees from
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform during any
House-Senate conference convened on this or related
legislation.
Finally, I would ask that a copy of our exchange of letters
on this matter be included in the bill report filed by the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs, as well as in the
Congressional Record during floor consideration, to
memorialize our understanding.
Sincerely,
Jason Chaffetz,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, DC, March 10, 2017.
Hon. Jason Chaffetz,
Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House
of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Chaffetz: In reference to your letter on
March 10, 2017, I write to confirm our mutual understanding
regarding H.R. 1367, to improve the authority of the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire and retain physicians
and other employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs and
for other purposes.
I appreciate the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform's waiver of consideration of provisions under its
jurisdiction and its subject matter as specified in your
letter. I acknowledge that the waiver was granted only to
expedite floor consideration of H.R. 1367 and does not in any
way waive or diminish the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform's jurisdictional interests over this or
similar legislation. I will support a request from the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for appointment
to any House-Senate conference on HR. 1367. Finally, I will
also support your request to include a copy of our exchange
of letters on this matter in the Congressional Record during
floor consideration.
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Thank you for your attention and assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
David P. Roe, M.D.,
Chairman.
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1367. I would like to
thank the gentleman from Ohio, first of all, as an incredibly important
Member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, a doctor himself and,
as important, a colonel in the United States Army and the United States
Army Reserve. An incredible insight into the very issues we are
addressing and, I think, bringing this bill right now, we had a very
good debate on fixing the VA, moving them in the right direction. And
this piece of legislation is incredibly spot-on about another piece of
that accountability.
Dr. Wenstrup's bill will help the VA better understand its staffing
shortages, and I think this is important. We all say 45,000 openings or
whatever; it is important for us to know, do we need to hire all 45,000
of those; which ones are critical; which ones can be done faster. So
that piece is common sense.
It develops an executive management fellowship program that will
allow the VA to send its leaders to the private sector to learn best
practices and vice versa; again, incredibly smart, welcome change.
It will allow the VA to develop technical advancements, so employees
who are in a specific field can advance in title and salary, without
moving to a management role.
Quality hiring, training, and retention starts with a good HR
department. This legislation will provide critical research into best
HR practice and then provide the training to VA HR managers. These
provisions, along with other hiring authorities, will help the VA get
the right people in the door.
Currently, as the gentleman said, the process is slow, cumbersome,
and, quite honestly, I think it just burns people out before they get
there. And these are really dedicated folks who want to serve.
I have a gentleman I have become acquainted with who is a nationally
renowned cardiac surgeon who left a very lucrative private practice to
go to the VA after his son was wounded in the current conflicts in Iraq
and Afghanistan, and chose to do his part by going back into the VA
system.
He mentioned how cumbersome it was. He mentioned some of the
bureaucratic troubles that he had, and all he wanted to do was bring an
incredible skill set to serve those who served us; and Mr. Wenstrup's
bill does exactly that.
I encourage all Members to support this legislation, and ask that
consideration in support of the amendments be brought forward, be
considered. Each of these amendments will improve on a really good
piece of legislation, improve the Secretary's ability to recruit,
train, and retain a quality workforce.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to take a second here
to thank the ranking member for his hard work and putting forth many of
the ideas that are in this bill and working with us, and thank him for
his service to our country in the military and the high rank that he
achieved, and bringing those experiences to us.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr.
Chaffetz).
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank, certainly, Dr. Wenstrup,
for bringing forward this bill, and also the ranking member here for
good bipartisan work.
1978 was a good year. I was playing soccer at the AYSO as a young,
11-year-old kid. It was also a good year because that was the last time
the civil service had a total revamp of its system. It has been that
long since civil service has had this type of reform, and we are
looking, on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to take
what is being done here in a good, bipartisan way, and try to institute
some of these good best practices into the broader Federal Government.
The current hiring process is far too long and far too complex. We
want to ensure the Federal Government remains a competitive employment
option. We also want to make sure, particularly at the VA, that the
department has the necessary data to make smart hiring decisions and
ensure important positions are filled.
This bill will allow technical experts to earn promotions without
having to necessarily go into the management track, which is very
important. For some of the skill sets, you don't have to be in
management if you are providing a skill that is so imperative to making
sure we take care of our veterans.
The bill also allows for a fast-tracked reemployment of former VA
employees who have a proven record of success at the agency. We get
some people trained up, maybe they go and do something else, we ought
to give the people priorities in coming back as well, to make sure that
we have the most qualified Federal workers who are taking care of the
people who have taken care of us. They did the heavy lifting for this
country, and they deserve better, and we can do better by them. A big
part of that would be passing this bill, H.R. 1367.
So, again, I want to thank Mr. Wenstrup for his leadership. I am glad
this is moving forward, and I stand in support of the bill.
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Chairman, before I yield to the gentleman from Florida,
I would like to point out, as a new Member bringing new vitality and
new blood to this, how encouraging it is, both to me and, I would hope,
to his constituents. Seeking out ways to serve veterans, coming to try
and work on legislation in a bipartisan manner speaks volumes for his
commitment.
I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Soto).
Mr. SOTO. Mr. Chairman, we send our servicemen and -women overseas in
harm's way to protect our country because we know that freedom isn't
free. So it is fundamental, as we, with such vigor, ask them to go to
the battlefield, that we protect them when they are off the
battlefield. And it is fundamental that, when they return, they have a
world-class hospital system.
Now, today we begin consideration of H.R. 1367, which is exciting
because it is a bipartisan bill to improve the VA's authority to hire,
train, and retain physicians and other critical staff in the Veterans
Health Administration.
Over the last 5 years, we have seen more than 2 million veterans
enroll in the VA healthcare system, and we believe--both parties
believe that nothing should stand in the way of any veteran having
confidence in and access to care and benefits they earned and deserve.
I represent the central Florida area, and we are so honored to have a
brand new Orlando VA, in a high-growth area, and the need is great. I
was also honored to be able to have an office right across the street
from the VA hospital that we just opened up last week, to be in
proximity and to help our veterans.
But I can tell you, having met with some of our veterans already, we
are looking at 3- to 6-month waits, even in a new facility.
A gentleman, who I will refer to as Mr. Smith so that I don't divulge
his personal information, came to me yesterday, and he had issues with
a podiatrist. He was not able to see them over the next couple of
weeks. And in his goat farm in my district, he is unable to pursue his
gainful employment, and we are trying to get him in over the next 2
weeks, but it could be 3 to 4 weeks.
So we need to stand together to restore trust and accountability and
fill these positions. And so I applaud both parties, and I am excited
for the Veterans' Affairs Committee to take this bold action to recruit
and retain the most talented workforce, which is well-needed to provide
quality and timely medical care for our Nation's veterans, for those in
central Florida, Florida, and beyond.
{time} 1830
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Chair, before I reserve the balance of my time, I would
like to point out to the gentleman from Florida that he has a
podiatrist right here in Dr. Wenstrup, so we can just solve the problem
as we stand.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Maine (Mr. Poliquin), who has been a very vocal supporter of our
veterans every step of the way.
Mr. POLIQUIN. Mr. Chair, I would like to point out for the Record
that
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both Mr. Walz and Mr. Wenstrup are both veterans, and we are so
grateful for their service to our country in so many different ways.
Mr. Chair, it was our first commander-in-chief, George Washington,
who said, and I paraphrase, that we can never expect young men and
women to rise to the occasion to fight for our country and for our
freedom unless we take care of those who have already sacrificed on the
battlefield. So the wonderful thing about serving on the Committee for
Veterans Affairs, Mr. Chair, is that it is completely bipartisan.
This is all about our veterans. We just love them in the State of
Maine--66,000 veterans strong in our Second District of Maine, Mr.
Chair. We have one of the highest percentages of our population that
are veterans in the country, and we are very, very proud of that.
I must say that, in my dealings with Togus--which is, by the way, Mr.
Chair, the first military hospital in the country. It is about 150
years old now. They set up to take care of our Civil War veterans about
150 years ago.
In any event, in talking with the folks at Togus, they made it very
clear to me, Mr. Chair, that one of their biggest problems they have,
and it is ongoing, is: How do we hire quickly and retain the best
quality doctors, nurses, and medical technicians to care for our
heroes?
That is why I am so excited and grateful for this opportunity to vote
for H.R. 1367, because it helps solve one of these problems. It removes
red tape in the hiring process. It streamlines the hiring process.
The Veterans Administration has about 360,000 employees, so it is a
very large organization. When that happens, of course, you need to deal
with administrative burdens and red tape and what have you.
So I am encouraging all of my fellow colleagues here, Republicans and
Democrats, to make sure they vote for this bill, H.R. 1367, because our
best fought for us, Mr. Chair, our best fought for us. It is time that
our best take care of those who fought for us.
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Chairman, I have no further speakers and will be
prepared to close after the gentleman is done.
Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Chair, once again, I encourage all Members to
support H.R. 1367, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Chair, I can't thank the gentleman enough--smart
legislation combining many good ideas, willingness to incorporate those
best practices, and then, I think, forcing VA to start moving in that
direction.
This is an example, I think, of where the VA is at. And while we may
disagree, and you saw a little bit of it today, it is not because there
is any disagreement on what the final outcome is.
Dr. Wenstrup's bill is smart. It will improve care; it will get good
people in the VA; it will retain them; and it will improve HR practices
to make sure that happens.
I encourage my colleagues to support the bill and some of the
amendments that will work to improve upon a very good piece of
legislation.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIR. All time for general debate has expired.
Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee do now rise.
The motion was agreed to.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr.
Poliquin) having assumed the chair, Mr. Budd, Chair of the Committee of
the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that
Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1367) to
improve the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire and
retain physicians and other employees of the Department of Veterans
Affairs, and for other purposes, had come to no resolution thereon.
____________________