Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment in the nature of a substitute would strike the text of H.R. 1259 and insert a new provision allowing the Secretary to suspend, without pay, any VA employee whose performance or misconduct threatens public health or safety, including the health and safety of veterans. It would give the Secretary the authority to remove a suspended employee after an investigation and review if the Secretary determines removal is in the interests of public health and safety. Both parties share the desire to protect veterans from mistreatment or harm, especially when they are seeking medical care at a VA facility, but the language in my amendment would be more likely to achieve the majority's stated outcome of removing VA employees whose misconduct harms veterans. We have voted on similar accountability bills before, but I want to point out that this bill goes much further in the wrong direction. While in the past we have had disagreements on procedure and the amount of time an employee is given to file an appeal, for the very first time, this version of the accountability bill is attempting to undermine VA employees' collective bargaining rights. Buried in this bill is a new provision that would take away the rights of frontline VA employees to use collectively bargained agreements for settling grievances.…”