On the recordSeptember 13, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time. The vast bulk of this bill did. H.R. 1994 passed out of this House. Frankly, this is a good bill that needs to move forward, and it is a protection of bad workers at the expense of the veterans. If you want to vote against this then that is what you are saying. You are wanting to vote to protect bad workers instead of getting the VA where it needs to go. Sixteen whistleblower groups have said this is the strongest whistleblower protection they have ever seen. So this idea that you are punishing whistleblowers is, again, just a myth. I just have one thing, Mr. Speaker, before I yield to the gentleman from Oregon. Thirty days to respond to showing up drunk for surgery in one of the examples that I gave? You don't need 30 days to respond to that. You need to be fired immediately. So I am not sure what the argument is here. I will agree with my friend from Colorado that we need to fix this. I think we may have different ways to go about it. But again, at the expense of the good workers at the VA, we need to address this. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden). {time} 1330