House Passes H.R. 1994: the VA Accountability Act

Costello leads the effort to bring much-needed accountability to the Philadelphia VA Regional Office

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Ryan Costello (PA-06) joined with colleagues to pass H.R. 1994: the VA Accountability Act. The bill passed the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote of 256-170. Costello is an original cosponsor and led the efforts with House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller to pass this legislation in the House.

Following the vote, Congressman Costello applauded the passage of the bill: “Sweeping culture change is the only way to get the VA back on the right track. The passage of this legislation will bring much needed accountability to the VA system – particularly the Philadelphia VA Regional Office— which has been plagued with mismanagement, data manipulation, and excessive wait times.  We must change the status quo, remove the bad actors, and right the wrongs that have harmed our veterans. House passage of this bill is a decisive step to pave the way for accountability.”                                                                                                                                  

H.R. 1994 would authorize the VA Secretary to remove or demote any VA employee based on performance or misconduct. Additionally, this legislation extends the probationary period for new VA employees from one year to 18 months, and if necessary, permits the Secretary to extend that timeline even further.  The VA Accountability Act offers whistleblower protection, in an effort to protect those workers from intimidation and retaliation.

Under this legislation, an employee would have the right to file an expedited appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) within 7 days of their removal, and the MSPB would have to make a final decision on the removal within 45 days of the appeal submission. This is the same process that passed Congress in overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law by the President last year in the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act.

On Wednesday, Congressman Costello spoke on the House Floor in support of H.R. 1994. You can view his remarks here.

Costello also supported the Benishek-Sinema Amendment which would require the Inspector General to release all completed reports to Congress and hold individual VA managers responsible for failing to fix the problems. You can view his remarks in favor of the Benishek-Sinema Amendment here.

Congressman Ryan Costello serves on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Last week, he delivered remarks at the Republican Leadership Press Conference calling for accountability at the VA, particularly the Philadelphia VA Regional Office. You can view his remarks here.

###