[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13221]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 H.R. 1994 CONTAINS COMMONSENSE REFORMS

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank Chairman Jeff Miller 
and the members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for their work in 
helping pass H.R. 1994, which passed the House today. The measure 
contains commonsense reforms so that any VA employee who engages in 
misconduct or is performing poorly can be terminated or demoted.
  I am also very pleased that H.R. 1994 contains additional important 
protections for VA whistleblowers. We have worked with several of them 
over the last couple years out of the Oakland office and other centers 
that have been retaliated against for speaking out about gross 
mismanagement and possible violations of law.
  This is a very important covenant we would have with our 
whistleblowers so they could come forward and help us to have better VA 
performance. It is very critical we have the ability for them to come 
forward.
  I am glad that we have this measure here. I hope the Senate will take 
it up and pass it so we have better service for our veterans through 
the VA.

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