Lawmakers agree on VA bill

Accountability effort would make it easier for department to fire employees.

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans and Democrats have reached agreement on a long-stalled bill to make it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire its employees, part of an accountability effort touted by President Donald Trump.

The deal announced Thursday could smooth the way for final passage on an issue that had been in limbo since the 2014 wait-time scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center. As many as 40 veterans died while waiting months for appointments as VA employees created secret waiting lists to cover up delays.

The bipartisan deal on Capitol Hill followed a fresh warning from the VA inspector general of continuing patient safety problems at another facility, the VA medical center in Washington, D.C.

After uncovering serious problems there last month, the inspector general’s “rapid response” team visited the facility again Wednesday and found at least two new instances in which patients were “placed at unnecessary risk.”

In one case, they found a patient prepped for vascular surgery in an operating room, under anesthesia, whose surgery was postponed because “the surgeon did not have a particular sterile instrument necessary to perform the surgery.” The team also found “surgical instruments that had color stains of unknown origin in sterile packs,” according to the inspector general. The VA last month had promised immediate fixes.

VA Secretary David Shulkin told senators at a hearing that he had “no safety concerns today” and that the auditors’ visit revealed a process “that works” — doctors stopping a procedure when they identified a potential risk.

The Senate measure softens portions of a bill that had passed the House in March, which Democrats criticized as unfairly harsh on workers. Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the top Democrat and the Republican chair on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, worked to make modifications that would give VA employees added time to appeal disciplinary actions.

House Veterans Affairs’ Committee Chairman Phil Roe, R-Tenn., sponsor of the House bill, said he would support the revisions.

The GOP-controlled House previously approved an accountability bill mostly along party lines.

The Senate bill adopts several portions of a bipartisan Isakson bill from last year, including a longer appeal process than provided in the House bill — 180 days vs. 45 days — though workers would not be paid during that appeal. VA executives would be held to a tougher standard than rank-and-file employees for discipline.

The Senate bill also codifies into law a VA accountability office created under a Trump order, but with changes to give the head of the office more independent authority and require the office to submit regular updates to Congress.

Still, the bill would lower the burden of proof for the VA to fire an employee — from a “preponderance” to “substantial evidence,” allowing a dismissal even if most evidence is in a worker’s favor.

SUSAN WALSH/AP Veterans Affairs chief David Shulkin referred Thursday to a safety process “that works.”