House veterans chairman: VA should fire bad workers faster, and rest of government should, too

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee said Monday the troubled VA should fire problem employees faster and that Congress should make it easier for the entire government to dismiss bad workers.

“I want accountability faster,” Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said Monday. “I think the American people want it faster.”

Miller made an unusual joint appearance with VA Secretary Robert McDonald in Denver before a national convention of the Disabled American Veterans, discussing how to fix the agency’s problems, including long wait times for veterans to get health care and massive cost overruns at a medical center under construction outside Denver.

Miller and other members of Congress are unhappy about how long the VA has taken to discipline employees accused of covering up the long wait times and those responsible for the construction cost overruns in Denver.

Last month, the House passed a measure that Miller sponsored that would streamline the VA’s process for firing problem workers. Democrats denounced it and the White House has threatened a veto, saying it would deny VA workers important protections that other federal workers get.

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