Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman. This week, the VA committee passed out of committee S. 627, which establishes guidelines for the Secretary to deny bonuses to employees who have violated VA policy or law. It also ensures information on reprimands will be kept in the employee's permanent record. Our veterans deserve this bill. When the VA scandal erupted in Phoenix last year, then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki rescinded the performance award given in 2013 to the career senior executive who ran this Phoenix VA health care hospital--a bonus that the Department said was awarded because of an administrative error. The employee appealed and a Federal judge directed the VA to repay the bonus despite the fact that the employee had improperly accepted more than $13,000 in gifts from a lobbyist and failed to report them and manipulated data to conceal excessive wait times for veterans seeking health care. The judge determined, however, that the VA did not have the authority to rescind her bonus. This is why many veterans do not trust the VA. Here is an administrator who, again, took $13,000 in gifts from a lobbyist, did not report them, manipulated data and, nonetheless, gets a bonus. This is, by the way, while veterans were allegedly dying prematurely because of the care not given at this facility. If we want to improve the VA system, we need to focus on the quality of the workforce.…”