Law allowing rapid layoffs of VA employees reinstated by Republican leaders in Congress

In one of their first concrete actions of the new session of Congress, the chairmen of the committees that oversee the Department of Veterans Affairs introduced a bill Thursday aimed at making it easier to fire bad VA employees.

The bill, called the Restore VA Accountability Act, would revive and revamp accelerated termination authorities that Congress first passed in 2017 but were later gutted by court rulings and labor board decisions.

“While VA employs some of the best men and women, it only takes a few bad employees to disrupt the culture and service at VA,” Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said in a press release. “This bill would restore Congressional intent and help ensure that veterans receive the high-quality care and benefits they have earned and that VA personnel have the healthy workplace they deserve. “

Moran introduced the bill alongside House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill. The bill also has seven co-sponsors in the Senate and 25 in the House, all Republicans.

Bost and Moran had already introduced the bill during the last session of Congress, but it had made little progress. However, during the last session, Moran was not chairman of the Senate committee because the chamber was controlled by Democrats. As president, Moran will have more power to advance the bill.

Reintroducing the bill as one of their first acts in the new session of Congress speaks to Bost and Moran’s intent to make it a priority.

“We will restore the intent of Congress – and President Trump – by restoring accountability for good, because America’s veterans deserve to know that the employees who provide them with the care and services they have earned are the best and brighter,” Bost said in a statement, referring to President-elect Donald Trump.

During Trump’s first term, Congress passed the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act which gave the department’s secretary the ability to expedite the termination of employees accused of misconduct or poor performance. It’s one of several pieces of veterans legislation that Trump has often touted as a major accomplishment, alongside the Mission Act that expands veterans’ access to non-VA doctors.

But amid allegations that the Trump administration failed to negotiate with employee unions over implementing the law in violation of union contracts, federal courts, the Federal Labor Relations Authority Labor and the Merit Systems Protection Board issued decisions that weakened the law.

As a result of these decisions, the Biden administration announced in 2023 that it would no longer use the law’s powers. The VA would also have been reinstated more than 100 employees were fired under the law and paid $134 million to 1,700 former VA employees in a settlement with the American Federation of Government Employees union.

Bost and Moran’s bill would make it even easier for the VA Secretary to fire, suspend, or demote an official “if the Secretary determines, by substantial evidence, that the covered person’s performance or misconduct warrants such action.” ”, according to the text of the bill. It would also “strengthen the authorities VA has to discipline unsatisfactory VA middle managers (by) aligning its middle manager disciplinary process with the process currently in place for members of the Senior Executive Service,” according to a summary from Bost’s office.

When a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee debated the 2023 bill, the Biden administration said it opposed the legislation because VA officials were “confident that the powers currently available to the VA are sufficient to hold employees accountable for their misconduct and poor performance.”

“VA is concerned that this language will continue to be the subject of extensive litigation and constitutional challenges, creating uncertainty and potentially leading to a continuing pattern of overturned disciplinary actions,” the department said. added in written testimony.

But the Republican-controlled House and Senate will likely find more support for the bill from the incoming Trump administration. During his re-election campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to “restore accountability” to the VA, in an apparent reference to reviving one of his signature laws.

“On day one of my new administration, I will fully restore VA accountability and direct my Secretary of Veterans Affairs… to fire all corrupt abusers of our veterans,” Trump said during a gathering in June.

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