VA Accountability Act of 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1994 makes the VA an at-will workplace, violating longstanding Supreme Court precedent regarding constitutional due process rights and threatening to silence the whistleblowers by creating a culture of fear and intimidation at the VA.

The Republican bill would allow the VA to immediately fire employees for poor performance, making it easier for bad managers to immediately fire whistleblowers who report wrongdoing, while providing hardly any opportunity for employees to appeal.

My friends, this is wrong.

This means doctors, nurses, police officers, and so many others can be fired at will and with insufficient recourse. Hard-working, loyal employees who are doing everything in their power to treat the incredible needs of our Nation's veterans--fired at will. Let me remind you that one-third of all VA employees are veterans. That is more than 100,000 veterans' livelihoods being put at risk.

This is wrong.

Are there problems with some VA employees? Of course there are. The VA has a process to remove these employees. In fact, during the 1-year period from July 1, 2014, through July 30, 2015, the VA removed 872 permanent employees, and an additional 487 employees resigned or retired in lieu of being removed. The VA has also terminated 958 probationary employees. For employees accused of harming veterans' health or safety, the substitute amendment I offered earlier would have allowed for their expedited firing.

Instead of gutting the due process rights of VA employees, we should be providing a fair and constitutionally sound expedited removal process, and we should encourage the VA to use the disciplinary tools it already has at its disposal.

We all know the critical role that whistleblowers played in exposing the shocking misconduct at the Phoenix VA, but the Republican bill strips away all current whistleblower protections available to Federal employees under Federal law. That is wrong.

Under the Republican bill, any whistleblower who has not filed an official complaint can be fired before they even have the opportunity to report danger to patient safety, wrongdoing, malfeasance, or discrimination. That is wrong.

The Republican whistleblower provisions will encourage bad employees to file for whistleblower status to prevent them from being fired. This will overburden the Office of Special Counsel with frivolous complaints. That is wrong.

The Republican bill does the opposite of what it claims to do for whistleblowers. It offers them no protection. In fact, it will let bad employees hide behind whistleblower status to keep from being fired. That is crazy.

My final amendment protects the employees who are willing to risk it all to expose flaws and abuses in this system.

If there is anybody we must protect from being fired at will without recourse or retaliation, it is the brave men and women with the courage to stand up and expose the VA's biggest vulnerability.

With all due respect, I say to my colleagues anyone who votes against my motion to protect whistleblowers from being fired should themselves be fired.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time..

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source