Miller Statement on Obama Admin. Proposal to Make it Easier to Discipline VA Executives

Press Release

Today Chairman Miller released the below statement regarding the Obama administration's proposal that would make it easier to discipline and fire misbehaving or incompetent VA senior executives.

"Sec. McDonald and Dep. Sec. Gibson should be commended for admitting our federal civil service system must be reformed and that the Merit Systems Protection Board is a big driver of the need for change. The fact that even the labor-friendly Obama administration wants to cut the MSPB out of the disciplinary process for VA senior executives underscores just how much damage the MSPB is doing. That being said, if VA's proposal to eliminate the MSPB from the department's senior executive disciplinary process has any chance of getting through Congress, it needs a much stronger focus on the task at hand: instilling accountability across VA, rather than increasing pay and benefits for the department's most senior employees. The Title 38 employee disciplinary process can take up to 700-plus days, so simply reclassifying Senior Executive Service employees as Title 38 employees isn't going to cut it. Additionally, if we are even going to consider giving the department any flexibility regarding executive pay, it must be accompanied by strict safeguards to ensure this authority is used sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. In other words, this proposal must have teeth and benefit veterans and taxpayers above anyone else. We are working with the Senate right now to ensure that it does." -- Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs

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