Hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Energy and Commerce Committee - Rep. Pappas Opening Remarks, Hearing of "Learning From VA Whistleblowers"

Hearing

Today's hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is entitled: "Learning from VA Whistleblowers."

Our committee is constantly exploring ways to improve the accessibility, quality, and safety of veterans' health care; create a more timely and accurate review of benefit applications; and reduce instances of waste, fraud, and abuse in the Department.

One of the best sources of information and ideas is VA's 370,000 employees, the people at the front lines for delivering services to veterans. Unfortunately, VA seems to have a culture problem. In some instances, VA leadership and supervisors have turned a blind eye to those in VA's workforce that have pointed out serious problems or attempted to expose bad actors that have abused their positions or broken laws.

In even more concerning scenarios, VA leadership and supervisors have actively worked to stamp out these voices. As you will hear from one of our witnesses, VA informed her just yesterday of its intention to terminate her employment. The timing of VA's notice--just one day before this hearing--is suspicious at best, and at worst, reeks of retaliation.

Make no mistake. This committee believes in the importance of having people who are brave enough to stand up and blow the whistle on missteps and misdeeds within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Anyone involved in the veterans policy arena will recall the difference that can be made by whistleblowers, if they think back about 5 years.

In 2014, a group of people working for the Phoenix VA Medical Center exposed the existence of a secret waiting list of veterans in need of medical care. Thousands of veterans were waiting months upon months for appointments.

However, as was later revealed in an independent VA Inspector General audit, more than 70 percent of the veterans who were waiting for care from the Phoenix VA were excluded from the VA's official count.

Worse, the Phoenix VA leadership actively worked to hide the exorbitant wait times. And it turned out that such practices were occurring at VA facilities nationwide. The cover up was extensive and deliberate. And the health and wellbeing of veterans was at risk.

Congress became involved, passing laws to stop secret lists and requiring that the wait times faced by veterans be published online for everyone to see.

This situation would have remained unknown, and veterans' wait times would have remained hidden had these whistleblowers never voiced their concerns.

But there was a cost.

As you will hear from another of today's witnesses, the Phoenix VA employees who blew the whistle in 2014 have faced retaliation. Their jobs were threatened, and they faced a hostile work environment. Despite our witness's initial success in obtaining protection and reinstatement as a VA employee, she is once again facing retaliation.

Fortunately, VA whistleblowers continue to come forward.

Just last month, journalists reported about a whistleblower with evidence suggesting VA is still hiding veterans' wait times. This Subcommittee is currently conducting its own investigation to examine the facts surrounding these new allegations.

Whistleblowers are too important a resource to ignore. Their rights must be protected so that future whistleblowers will have confidence that their stories will be heard, and assurance that their allegations will be investigated without reprisal.

There are several institutions in place to help protect whistleblowers. Most recently, in 2017, Congress and VA established a new Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection. Now, two years later, it is time to see if this new VA office is effective.

Unfortunately, as you will hear from our first panel, there is evidence suggesting that problems continue.

Let me be clear. As this Subcommittee's Chairman, I will fight for the rights of whistleblowers. The work of the VA is too important to ignore those pointing out missteps and misdeeds.

I also want to say that there are some examples of VA eventually successfully listening to whistleblowers without retaliating against them. At the Manchester VA Medical Center in my district, Dr. Ed Kois and his colleagues saw serious health problems threatening the health of veterans.

At first, he went to his supervisors. But Dr. Kois was ignored. He continued pressing these issues to higher and higher authorities within VA. He was still ignored. Finally, he went to the Boston Globe's investigative journalism team and to Congress, and finally, VA took his allegations seriously and began working to address the patient safety and quality of care concerns that Dr. Kois and his colleagues identified.

The good news is that Dr. Kois says he has NOT experienced retaliation as a result of speaking out.

I urge VA to follow the path of New Hampshire's example when other whistleblowers voice their concerns.

However, let's not be naïve. The success story we saw in my home state is not always what happens. That is why this Subcommittee will take a long, hard look at the current VA policies and federal institutions intended to protect whistleblowers.

We will also hear testimony from a set of experts that work closely with hundreds of people who similarly raise concerns and face retaliation the Department.

I look forward to the testimony of today's witnesses.

With that, I would like to recognize Ranking Member Bergman for five minutes for any opening remarks he may have.

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