On the recordMarch 16, 2017
Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 1259, the VA Accountability First Act of 2017. President Lincoln reminds us of our duty ``to care for him who shall have borne the battle,'' and, frankly, our government has done a miserable job of it. While a large number of VA employees honorably serve our veterans, that is not always the case. In the real world, if you don't do your job, you get fired. Yet we have employees at the VA who are guilty of gross misconduct, even major felonies, and they are still on the job. ``Why is this?'' you ask. Because the process to fire them is too arduous. The VA system that lives up to our veterans' sacrifices starts with personnel. The VA Accountability First Act is a great first step in addressing poor performance and misconduct at the VA. It will allow Secretary Shulkin to make substantive changes as he works to improve veterans' care. We need to make the VA work for our veterans instead of our bureaucrats.
