House Votes Again for Reforms at Veterans Affairs

Press Release

Today Congressman Kevin Cramer announced the House of Representatives passed additional accountability measures for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amid the mismanagement scandal affecting the health care of veterans nationwide. Cramer said the Demanding Accountability for Veterans Act marks the second time in recent weeks the House has approved bipartisan reforms for the department.

"The House took another step toward accountability at the VA and passed a tough reform bill which would force the VA Secretary to answer to the Inspector General when failures emerge and issues go unaddressed. The stories of mistreatment of our veterans are unfathomable and demand immediate action on their behalf."

The Demanding Accountability for Veterans Act would require the Secretary of the VA to be held accountable for failing to address issues contained in independent oversight reviews from the VA Inspector General (IG). If the IG determines the Secretary has not appropriately responded to a report, the IG would notify Congress and the Secretary would have 15 days to submit a list of managers responsible for the issues in the report, notify the managers, and direct them to resolve such issues.

As of March 2013, 194 reports and more than 1,000 recommendations remained open at the VA, including 42 open for more than a year. The Veterans Health Administration had the largest number of open reports with 139 and the largest number of open unimplemented recommendations with 823.

Cramer is also an original cosponsor of the Veterans Access to Care Act, which was introduced in the House of Representatives today. It would require the VA to offer veterans the option of receiving care at a non-VA clinic if they reside more than 40 miles from one, have waited longer than the wait time goal established by the VA, or has been notified that an appointment is not available within the wait time goal.

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