Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1994, VA Accountability Act of 2015, And Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3236, Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015
Floor Speech
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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, we are here at the end of the work that we have done before our break home for the August recess, where we will have an opportunity to go back to the American people and talk with them as they are in our homes, our cities, our neighborhoods, our schools, our firehouses, and our places of worship; and we will have a chance to meet and talk with them about the great work that Republicans have achieved and done up here in Washington, D.C., during this first half of the year.
I am very pleased to know that today, as we are preparing to leave to go back home for our district work session, that we are going to be presenting several bills on the floor that are done to try and move forward not only thoughts and ideas that we have for the House of Representatives but, really, to work in the spirit of things with the other body, the United States Senate, so that we can make sure that the American people, their vision, their needs are before the American people. That is why I am here today.
Mr. Speaker, last year, the American people were shocked, once again, by the news that dozens of our Nation's veterans were left to die while they waited for medical care in the VA. The VA hospital, which is located in so many of our communities around this great Nation, has simply not performed well and, in several instances, has had shocking results. That is also why we are here today.
In response, Congress passed something called the Choice Act, which makes it easier to remove senior executives at the VA who had underperformed, who have not done their job properly on behalf of not just the taxpayers of this country, but on behalf of a grateful Nation who is serving the men and women who have given their very best years and lives to this country through their service to the United States military.
We believe that removing people who cannot make wise choices and decisions at the VA was the right thing to do. We were trying to put the President, his administration, the Secretary, and senior managers at the VA not only on notice that we would not tolerate bad behavior, poor decisions, and ineffective management, but that we were going to do something about it. By the way, we felt like they were underperforming to a deserving crowd, and that is our veterans.
Well, the President agreed with us, too. The bill was signed into law. We got that done last year, the Choice Act. It was a good decision by this body when we faced the times where we recognized in not only a public way, but in an outpouring of support from veterans who said this has to change. The Republican Congress did just that.
Our chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs from Florida (Mr. Miller) very quickly and clearly went and did an investigation on a bipartisan basis, looked at the VA, and made these decisions. That was what we did a year ago.
Since then, only two VA employees have been fired for their role in what is now known as the waiting list scandal. What is this waiting list scandal? The waiting list scandal is a way by which the VA denied veterans an opportunity to come and get the health care that they needed by stringing them out and then deceiving others--including themselves in the VA--about what the waiting times were. They deceived not only these people who were given these long dates; they deceived the management. They also deceived the United States Congress.
Well, as happens many times, people find out. Well, we did find out. This meant that the deaths that were covered up, the veterans that were neglected, and the statistics that were provided to us and others were altered.
One year later, the waiting list grows longer and longer and longer for everyone. No doubt, we gave the administration the tools that they asked for that they agree with. Only two people have been fired.
Mr. Speaker, we were sincere about what we did by giving them the authority and the responsibility. We expected them to clean it up. I look to not only our chairman, Jeff Miller, but we look to the VA also to stand up and say they disagreed with that. Not much has happened--certainly not enough.
We are back here again. Poor performances and bad actors still continue to undermine the VA. They continue to undermine not only the scheduling, they undermine the service; they undermine the quality that should be available to our veterans. As a result of this, the ability that we think we are providing to our veterans is diminished. The care for our veterans, wounded and sick veterans, continues to lag.
Republicans are back at the table. Our young chairman, Jeff Miller, has stayed at the table. He has stayed working on this issue on a bipartisan basis with the members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs by knowing what is happening all across this country, learning more about not just the facts of the case, but the stories that come from the veterans themselves, the stories that may come from people who are inside the VA. They are important to us learning what is really happening.
Because the VA has a long and well-documented history of failing to hold employees accountable, we are back here today with another bill. That is right, another bill that we are going to handle on the floor by this Republican House with Democrats on a bipartisan basis, to make it easier to remove or demote employees who do not do their job and who need to be out of that organization.
We are going to give this organization exactly what they are asking for again. We are going to give the VA and their new Veterans Secretary the ability to clean up their mess. We are trying our best to hold them accountable yet, at the same time, expect them to do the right thing.
Yesterday, in testimony, we had our chairman say he has confidence in the Secretary; he has confidence that the Secretary can adjust and make these changes, but the law needs to be updated and changed.
That is why we are here today, to give the VA the tools that they need--just like when I was a manager in the private sector, I needed the tools to run my organization properly and effectively--the ability to move employees that were not doing their job--perhaps it is a bad fit--or to get rid of employees or even fire them if they are not only not performing their job, but deceptively trying to harm patients in the process.
Mr. Speaker, this bill would send a clear message to employees of the VA, and we intend to do that today. We
are going to send a very clear message to them that they either perform properly or, if they are harming our effort to help our veterans, it is time for them to leave. If they are not up to doing the task very well, this Department will be given the opportunity, the law, and the leverage to do just that.
This bill would send another important signal also. If you choose to demonstrate the moral courage necessary to stand up for veterans and to blow the whistle on those who are not, we want to make sure that you are protected, that you can come forth inside your own organization of the VA to report and root out bad behavior. We must fix this.
Mr. Speaker, too many times, the testimony yesterday revealed that these VA facilities in location after location after location around this country are deathtraps for our veterans.
These elder gentlemen, veterans who go to seek help, they know it is a deathtrap; and that is why we need to also address this, for the safety of men and women who have protected this great Nation.
Congress needs to make it clear--and we can today--that supervisors at the VA cannot retaliate against whistleblowers.
If there is somebody in the organization who is willing to tell the truth and come forward, you cannot retaliate against them because they are going to tell the truth about the poor service and responsibility toward aiding our veterans. It will not be tolerated.
Every Member of this body will have an equal opportunity today to say that is the right thing to do because this is what the Secretary is asking for.
Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve to know that, when our veterans are treated poorly, this bill would help them; when our VA employees understand that somebody who was going to turn a blind eye before now, we will no longer do that.
We are going to give the VA the tools to root out the problems, to make this better, so that we can honestly look at our men and women and say: Thank you for your service; this grateful Nation does care about you.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for sweeping cultural changes at the VA. It is time to remove the bureaucrats who will make excuses, who will hide things, and who will make circumstances dangerous and worse for our veterans.
It is time to hold senior executives accountable when the VA underperforms, and that is why I am joining the American Legion, the VFW, and other veterans associations in supporting H.R. 1994. That is what the testimony revealed yesterday at the Committee on Rules when we heard from not only the chairman of the committee, but others about the importance of this bill.
This rule would also provide for debate for H.R. 3236, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015. We have two specific purposes that we are here for: first, for the VA; and, second, to make sure that we authorize an extension for the Federal surface transportation program through October 29.
It is a well-known understanding that our young chairman, Bill Shuster, of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has been working and working and working. We indicated last year in November and, again, in December that we would allow an extension to this date from last year; and Chairman Shuster said he thought he could have a deal by now.
Well, as it turned out, the United States Senate is debating that this week. They are going through a weeklong process to determine what they would like their transportation bill to be like. The bottom line is a thousand-page bill that has not yet passed, that we do not know the substance of, and we are not going to agree with sight unseen.
Our young chairman, Bill Shuster, has asked that we offer a very polite and reasonable option, and that is give us an opportunity to review this. They have done the hard work, the United States Senate. We will do the same, and we will get that done by October 29.
It would also avoid a shortfall that would keep the VA from closing hospitals across this country.
Mr. Speaker, this is the substance of what this rule and the underlying legislation is all about.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I admire the gentleman very much. We work very well together. But I think it is a misstatement to say that this bill would allow people to be fired on the spot at the VA. That is certainly, I don't believe, true at all. I believe it would have to be with cause, and the VA would have to have a reason.
There is nothing in this legislation where we would empower people to do things that would not follow proper Federal law nor established rules of procedure for the employee to have the proper amount of protection. But what is stated and understood is, where an employee has been underperforming, misperforming, or has violated their oath of office, where they have a diligence to people under their care or where they have done intentional deeds and then tried to cover it up, that would be cause, and that is what this is about.
This is not about firing someone on the spot. I think it would be a misstatement to try and characterize this important legislation that has been well thought through, as well as worked out with the VA, as being from that perspective.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to thank the distinguished gentleman for not only his words and the spirit of what he said, but I want him to know that, several years ago, as he approached me as I became chairman of the Rules Committee, I assured the gentleman that I would do my very best, within my ability, and he has done also, as well as his team that also sits at the Rules Committee.
I want to thank the distinguished gentleman because part of what our job is, yes, to represent our Speaker and the things that are done, but also to make sure the spirit in which we do it is done properly, and I appreciate the gentleman. I think his spirit was good today.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, our colleagues are making really, really good points about what we need to do.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Bill Shuster, and the Republican majority is committed to doing exactly what they have talked about: getting our work done.
In fairness, it has taken the United States Senate until this week, and they have a 1,000-page transportation bill that we are not simply going to say: Let's just agree to that.
It is going to come over to us after they have done their work. With great respect, we are trying to make sure that we are continuing the funding. We are using mechanisms that would be available.
The right thing to do is to measure three times and saw once. We are not going to accept, by unanimous consent or another agreement, a 1,000-page bill.
On the Republican side, we read bills before we pass them.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I want to thank not only the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis), but also our colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle who I thought most generously fought this battle today.
The bottom line is that they know and we know, Mr. Speaker, that we are addressing two vitally important issues that Congress must step up to the plate on.
One is a request that comes directly from the VA, for us to fund a gap of $3.4 billion that is necessary to fund hospitals of the VA to make sure that they are able to provide services to our veterans. It is critical. To vote against that I think is a mistake.
I think to vote for a chance where Republicans are trying to balance the needs through not only the appropriators--Hal Rogers, our chairman, Jeff Miller, our Veterans Committee chairman, are trying to come together, Mr. Speaker, to put together the money and the need to run the business based upon a reality discussion with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of their need to run the business, to have the money, but also to have the managerial abilities to move their employees that are not performing satisfactorily, employees who do have an oath as healthcare providers to do their very best and to be honest about the scheduling and the proper procedures necessary to our veterans.
What this rule is about and the underlying legislation is vital--vital--to our Nation's veterans. That is why we are here today.
Now, secondly, we are here because Republicans want to make sure that we are faithful. We understand that, in each of our congressional districts, that we are active and involved to try and ensure that the roads and bridges and railways and ports and all these activities that deal with infrastructure and transportation are continuing down a pathway without us getting frustrated, without us throwing up our hands and giving up, but actually to work with the existing chairman, who is doing an awesome job, Bill Shuster, to make sure that we are putting forth the money--Paul Ryan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee--trying to find the money necessary, lots of hard work, hours of discussion, moving towards a correct target.
In this process, we have our colleagues on the other side of this wall--who are literally there now as they are working in the Rotunda--to move legislation; we are allowing them that time because they are moving a transportation bill as we speak, but it is a 1,000-page bill.
Mr. Speaker, I am not in favor and I think my colleagues in here are not in favor and Bill Shuster is not, which is really what matters, as the chairman, to say give me a shot at looking at the bill when they finish it.
Speaker Boehner is saying let's make sure we deal with the things that must be dealt with before we go on our work time back home for the month, where we go back home and deal with the American people, because we plan to do this. That is what we are doing.
This is not unusual; it is perfectly normal, but I think we are doing a heck of a job and the right thing to address the issues--veterans, straight up, money, the ability to run their business right, so that we know we have done what we can do; and, secondly, to move transportation.
I think every single Member of this body, Democrat and Republican, should support these because they are worthy ideas about moving us forward, our country. We can look at the American people straight on and say we have addressed two of the issues that were on our plate.
I urge adoption of the rule. I know that our colleagues want to get moving today, so I am going to look forward to debate that will follow. I urge support of the underlying legislation in the bills.
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