Today, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) supported legislation which ensures the Department of Veterans Affairs is held accountable to America’s taxpayers and our nation’s veterans.

H.R. 5620, the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act strengthens protections for whistleblowers and help fix one of the VA’s biggest problems – lack of accountability for misbehaving employees.

“As a member of Congress, I am committed to doing everything I can to improve our nation’s VA system and ensure that veterans are receiving the highest quality of care available,” Luetkemeyer said. “Today’s bill holds VA employees accountable for their actions by authorizing the Secretary of the VA to fire or demote VA employees for performance or misconduct and recoup bonuses. It also streamlines the department’s broken disability benefits appeals process to improve the significant wait time that our disabled veterans are currently facing. With a strong bipartisan vote, I look forward to the Senate swiftly bringing this bill to the floor so we can take the next step in helping our nation’s veterans.”

Earlier this year, Luetkemeyer introduced the Providing Leadership and Improving Veterans Care Act. This legislation also provides increased oversight and accountability on VA employees by preventing any bonuses to a VA Senior Executive who is also involved in the rating, ranking, or selection process for VA Medical Facility Directors. The prohibition on bonuses would continue as long as the VA fails to hire a permanent Medical Director at any VA Medical Facility for 18 continuous months.