Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, this simple amendment to H.R. 5895 would ensure sufficient funds for the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General to provide rigorous oversight of the Washington, D.C., Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a center that has been plagued with management problems, many of which have been described in previous amendments here this morning.
The inspector general recently concluded a year-long investigation into the critical deficiencies at that center. In its final report, issued on March 7 of this year, the IG highlighted that leadership failures and pervasive understaffing underpinned widespread issues in inventory management, sterile processing, and patient safety itself. These are our veterans we are talking about.
The IG found continual mismanagement of protected information and significant government resources, putting them at risk for fraud, waste, and abuse. The report makes clear these failures have persisted for the better part of a decade. Entrenched problems like these will not be resolved overnight.
Following the final report's release, officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs briefed House Veterans Affairs' Committee staff that delays in patient care and supply shortages were no longer occurring as of January 2018.
Yet recent reports show, contrary to that, that seven procedures were canceled due to supply shortages in February and March of this year, contrary to the Department's own claims. The VA inspector general has played a vital role in covering that crisis at the D.C. VA Medical Center, and we must ensure that the VA IG has adequate resources to carry out its essential mandate.
The bill before us today meets the President's 2019 budget request of $172 million. However, the VA inspector general, Michael Missal, recently wrote that $172 million will not be sufficient for the IG to fully meet its mission of effective oversight of the programs and operations of the Veterans Administration.
Furthermore, the IG said that an FY19 appropriation of $172 million would actually likely require a decrease of about 28 OIG staff. This could not be a worse time to have that happen, and I know the chairman and the ranking member share in that view.
Across the inspector general community, the IG staffing at the VA is among the smallest ratio of oversight staff to agency staff, and the OIG budget represents less than 0.1 percent of the total Veterans Administration budget.
This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to fund the IG at a level of $192 million for FY 2019, and I hope my colleagues will support that higher funding level when this bill gets to conference.
We have a sacred obligation to ensure that the men and women, who sacrificed so much to defend our freedom, receive the highest quality care they can possibly receive. The IG's yearlong investigation revealed that the D.C. VA Medical Center has, at times, fallen far below that standard. We owe it to our veterans not only to address these problems, but also to understand how they were allowed to arise in the first place.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition, even though I am not in opposition to the amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chairman, I would conclude simply by thanking my friend from Florida for detailing that horror story. Unfortunately, these aren't isolated incidents. This is a pattern of shoddy care for our veterans at this center, and we need the IG to be doing his work over time to make sure that these deficiencies are corrected, and corrected as soon as possible. That is the intent of this amendment.
Again, I thank my friend from Texas, but I especially thank my good friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida for their support on this amendment.
I include in the Record two letters from the Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general. Department of Veterans Affairs, Inspector General, Washington DC, March 23, 2018. Hon. Phil Roe, M.D., Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Enclosed is a response from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to a question for the record received from Congressman Mike Bost following the February 15th hearing before the Committee on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2019. We request that it be added to the hearing record.
Thank you for your interest in the OIG. Sincerely, Michael J. Missal.
Enclosure. Office of Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs Response to
Questions for the Record From House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Hearing on U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2019
65. The budget includes a request for $172 million for the Office of Inspector General to strengthen accountability. Will this level of funding be sufficient to properly enforce accountability throughout the VA?
VA Office of Inspector General Response: The budget request for the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for fiscal year (FY) 2019 of $172 million will not be sufficient for the OIG to fully meet its mission of effective oversight of the programs and operations of VA. While that amount would represent an increase over the OIG's funding of $164 million for FY 2018, it falls short of even the OIG's actual FY 2018 operating budget of $175.5 million (which includes $15.9 million of carryover due to a late hiring cycle that was out of synch with the budget cycle).
There will not be a carryover of that size for FY 2019 as those funds will have been expended led primarily on new hires to conduct our oversight work. In addition, we are now funding our Office of Contract Review approximately $5 million that was previously paid by VA through a reimbursable agreement, and there are other increased costs in FY 2019. Consequently, an FY 2019 appropriation of $172 million would require a decrease of about 28 OIG staff. This would result in a likely curtailment of some of our oversight priorities if OIG staffing and resources decrease at a time when VA is experiencing growth, including large and complex projects such as VA's new electronic health records initiative, improving VA's financial systems, enhancing and consolidating VA's IT systems, and expansion of community care programs. The OIG will need additional funds to not only conduct oversight of these costly programs, but also to expand our investigations of other high-risk VA programs, such as construction, procurement, education benefits, and the delivery of timely and quality healthcare. The VA OIG's staffing is among the smallest ratio of oversight staff to agency staff across the Inspector General community. Moreover, the OIG budget represents less than .1 percent of VA's overall budget, which again is less than a significant number of OIGs at other cabinet level agencies. An FY2019 appropriation of $172 million will undermine progress achieved to ``right size'' the OIG oversight capacity to the growth and demands of VA' new initiatives. ____ Department of Veterans Affairs, Inspector General, Washington, DC, April 3 2018. Hon. Patty Murray, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Murray: Your question regarding the VA Office of Inspector General's (OIG) budget for fiscal year (FY) 2019 was referred to the OIG for a response. We appreciate your interest and are grateful for your support.
The budget request for the OIG FY 2019 of $172 million will not be sufficient for the OIG to fully meet its mission of effective oversight of the programs and operations of VA. While that amount would represent an increase over the OIG's funding of $164 million for FY 2018, it falls short of even the OIG's actual FY 2018 operating budget of $179.9 million (which includes $15.9 million of carryover due to a late hiring cycle that was out of synch with the budget cycle).
There will not be a carryover of that size for FY 2019 as those funds will have been expended primarily on new hires to conduct our oversight work. In addition, we are now funding our Office of Contract Review approximately $5 million that was previously paid by VA through a reimbursable agreement, and there are other increased costs in FY 2019. Consequently, a FY 2019 appropriation of $172 million would likely require a decrease of about 28 OIG staff. This would inevitably result in a curtailment of some of our oversight activities at a time when VA is experiencing growth, including large and complex projects such as VA's new electronic health records initiative, improving VA's financial systems, enhancing and consolidating VA's IT systems, and expansion of community care programs. The OIG will need additional funds to not only conduct oversight of these costly programs, but also to expand our investigations of other high-risk VA programs, such as construction, procurement, education benefits, and the delivery of timely and quality healthcare. The VA OIG's staffing is among the smallest ratio of oversight staff to agency staff across the Inspector General community. Moreover, the OIG budget represents less than .1 percent of VA's overall budget, which again is less than a significant number of OIGs at other cabinet level agencies. A FY 2019 appropriation of $172 million will undermine progress achieved to ``right size'' the OIG oversight capacity to match the growth and demands of VA's new initiatives.
We will provide a copy of this letter to Chairman Isakson and request that it be made part of the hearing record.
Again, thank you for interest and support of the OIG. Sincerely, Michael J. Missal.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, the gentleman deserves credit for bringing this to the House's attention. The outrage at this medical center speaks for itself, and I look forward to making sure that the IG has the resources that are needed to be able to get to the bottom to help fix this problem.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source