Hearing of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs - Opening Statement of Rep. Mark Takano, Hearing on Implementation of Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act

Hearing

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We congratulate Secretary Designate Wilkie on his confirmation by the Senate yesterday and look forward to working together with him in the future.

I'd also like to welcome back to the Committee Rep. Titus. She was the Ranking Member of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

I will get to the details of appeals modernization in a moment, but it is no secret that several actions taken by top VA leadership recently are troubling to our side of the aisle.

I do not think we can get together as a Full Committee and pretend that these controversies don't impact important progress in key programs throughout the Agency, including the implementation of the Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act.

First, the Senate actually had to intervene in late June to ensure the right of VA's IG to obtain records as part of an ongoing investigation. Acting Secretary O'Rourke refused to cooperate with the requests for information of the VA Inspector General.

Because Mr. O'Rourke's failure to cooperate is unprecedented, several of us sent a letter to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency which provides oversight of federal IGs.

If he or the new Secretary are allowed to ignore the IG's requests for information in the future, an important check will be lost on the kinds of waste and impropriety this Committee has been trying to locate and eliminate. The vote was 96-0 in the Senate to rein in Acting Secretary O'Rourke. This vote shouldn't have been necessary and is a distraction from the work VA should be doing.

Furthermore, when I asked him about it at our Full Committee hearing last Tuesday, Mr. O'Rourke's answer was that the IG's "access to OAWP has been unfettered since day one." This was untrue.

Secondly, recently several key career employees were moved to less important positions or pushed out, many seemingly without cause.

After highly credible concerns were raised in whistleblower reports and press interviews with VA employees, several of us sent a letter to the US Office of Special Counsel asking for an investigation into whether these career public servants were moved out for cause or for political reasons, actions which would could violate the Hatch Act or other Title 5 protections. This is yet another distraction from what VA should be doing.

There has been considerable shuffling of leadership staff at VBA too. We have just welcomed a new Undersecretary for Benefits, Dr. Paul Lawrence, for whom we wish nothing but success. But, two key VBA vacancies remain unfilled: Deputy Under Secretary for Disability Assistance, and Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity.

Though we are grateful for the experience and continued dedication to duty of Chair Mason at the Board, Mr. Thrower in the Office of Information Technology, and Mr. McLenachen, Ms. Murphy, Mr. Quill and others at VBA, if appeals modernization is going to be implemented on time in seven short months VBA management must stabilize.

Vacant positions must be filled and the controversies and distractions of all of this shuffling must end.

The Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act signed into law on August 23rd of last year was a triumph in bipartisanship. There was, and is, nothing Republican or Democratic about it.

The VSOs invested a lot of faith in the idea that if they put aside some long held differences and worked in concert with the other and the VA, a better way forward could be devised.

The result of all of this effort was the Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act and after 11 months, we are now at a key point in the implementation process. The long awaited regulations will be published this week.

What these regulations say and whether the IT necessary to make all of this work can be delivered on time, are where we should be concentrating our efforts.

GAO will testify that there are still gaps in key areas.

--It says VA's plan for a performance measurement system lacks specificity.

--The timeline does not reflect the interdependencies among key activities.

--And finally, VA has not done the risk assessments basic to any change management strategy.

Nonetheless, there is progress and hope for a successful roll out to full implementation in February.

The pilots are in place. Claims processors and attorneys have been hired. Impressive IT has been delivered and is working at the Board.

Having said that, if another leadership upheaval sweeps through and the experienced hands like those here today are replaced or reassigned, Appeals Improvement and Modernization could be jeopardized.

We are proud of this Act and we do not want unnecessary distractions to get in the way.

Thank you Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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