09.19.24

Senate Democrats Block Greater Accountability at VA After Historic $15 Billion Shortfall

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (SVAC), today attempted to restore accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by passing his Protecting Regular Order (PRO) for Veterans Act as an amendment to a VA supplemental funding package, but it was blocked by Senate Democrats. Following the recent announcement from the VA that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is experiencing a historic budget shortfall of $15 billion, $3 billion of which the VBA needed immediately, Sen. Sullivan’s legislation would have instituted a three-year requirement for the VA to submit quarterly, in-person budget reports to Congress to encourage greater oversight and financial accountability. The bill also included a provision to withhold bonuses for senior VA and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) personnel if there are future financial shortfalls.

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Click here or the image above to watch Sen. Sullivan’s floor speech.

“Just six weeks ago, the VA informed Congress that it needs $3 billion ASAP or veterans may not get their benefits,” Sen. Sullivan said. “This shocking screw-up is unfortunately something we see all the time from the VA—last-minute requests for money, and up to $11 million in illegal bonuses paid out to VA officials who don’t deserve it. Congress is becoming numb to these kinds of shortfalls and scandals. I will say, this is not the case for rank-and-file VA employees, like those in Alaska, the vast majority of whom do a great job. The problem seems to be here in D.C. Several of my SVAC colleagues and I demanded an immediate hearing on this unprecedented shortfall when we first learned about it. The chairman failed to do that. He waited until yesterday to hold the hearing. The Secretary didn’t even show up to come testify. Maybe the Secretary was teleworking.

“While I support covering this shortfall to safeguard the hard-earned benefits of our courageous veterans, we also need accountability from the VA. I put forward legislation that requires two things: It institutes a three-year requirement for the Secretary of the VA to submit quarterly in-person budget reports to Congress to encourage greater oversight and financial accountability, and, in the event of any future financial shortfalls, it would withhold bonuses for senior VA and OMB personnel who worked on that budget. That’s it. Those are good reforms. But remarkably, one of my Senate colleagues is going to come down here and object.”

Sen. Sullivan’s legislation was cosponsored by Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

See below for the full transcript of Senator Sullivan’s remarks.

Mr. President, I want to compliment my good friend from Montana, Senator Daines, who was on the floor just now talking about government accountability, and that’s what I am going to talk about–government accountability. We need much more of it, and we need much more of it, Mr. President, in the Veterans’ Administration. 

So today, Mr. President, what I’m going to be doing is I’m going to ask for unanimous consent on my bill, the PRO Vets Act. We all need to move forward both on funding the VA – and I’m going to talk about this shortfall – but also on having some reforms to the VA, and they’re very simple, Mr. President. I’ll be really disappointed if any of my colleagues come down here and block my unanimous consent request. That’s just me asking all my senate colleagues to pass this bill right now. 

But when you hear about it, Mr. President, you’ll say, why wouldn’t we pass that? Holy cow! The VA needs a little accountability, actually a lot of accountability. But here’s what’s going on–a little context of my legislation, which, by the way, Mr. President, right now already has 15 cosponsors. We just put this together two weeks ago given the crisis at the VA, and it’s got 15 cosponsors. 

So, just six weeks ago, Mr. President, Congress was officially informed, and many of us were surprised – and by the way, I sit on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee – our Committee was informed that the VA was experiencing a $15 billion shortfall. My state has more veterans than any state in the country. That’s a very important constituency and they wouldn’t get their benefits unless we act really quick. 

So, Mr. President, the House acted two nights ago, and we’re going to get this money done. We’ll get it done. We want to make sure our veterans have their benefits. But in exchange, we’re asking, hey, what’s going on over at the VA?

We see this all the time, mismanagement, last-minute requests for money, illegal bonuses–up to $11 million just a couple months ago paid out to people in the VA who don’t deserve it. So my bill is going to bring accountability to the VA. Of course, the VA is a vital institution for our veterans and our country – with some more oversight and accountability. 

This bill is not complicated at all. It’s basically two things. We’re going to fund this short-term $3 billion amount of money the VA says it needs ASAP, even though they didn’t inform us until six weeks ago. By the way the total amount that they need in terms of how they screwed up the budget is $15 billion, Mr. President. That’s a lot of money. 

So my bill requires two things. It institutes a three-year requirement for the Secretary of the VA to submit quarterly in-person budget reports to Congress to encourage greater oversight and financial accountability. That’s pretty simple. And that the Secretary should come to us quarterly with these budget estimates and brief our committee, the VA Committee, in person. Easy. And for any future financial shortfalls, which we’re experiencing right now, it would result in the withholding of bonuses for senior VA and OMB personnel who worked on that budget. 

That’s it. That’s it, Mr. President. Most people would say, hey, that’s pretty good reform. It’s not too much. But, remarkably, I think one of my senate colleagues is going to come down here and object. 

So we’re going to throw $3 billion at the VA and we just have simple reforms in this bill. The Secretary has to come quarterly to the committee and say, here’s our quarterly estimates. And oh, by the way, if you are part of the team at the senior level that screwed up the budget, you don’t get a bonus. What’s wrong with that? Maybe my colleagues won’t object. That’s it. That’s the bill, because we’re going to give the VA, again, additional money that they didn’t plan for. 

So, Mr. President, this is not the first time this has happened, as a matter of fact. I have been on the VA Committee going on ten years. I really like the Committee, as I mentioned. Veterans in America and veterans in Alaska are so important. The VA in D.C. often screws up the budget, often comes up with scandals. 

Heck, just a couple months ago, $11 million went out to senior VA officials for bonuses that they didn’t deserve. In a hearing yesterday, I asked, has anyone been held responsible for that? Anyone held responsible for this budget oversight? No. 

So is, as I mentioned, Mr. President, there’s been a lot of these kind of scandals, some you might remember, like the VA secret waiting list that the Phoenix Veterans’ Affairs health training system. CNN described the secret list as part of an elaborate scheme designed by Veterans’ Affairs managers in Phoenix to hide 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans who were forced to wait months to see a doctor. And 40 of them died waiting. Pretty scandalous. 

A VA hospital in Colorado had a budget overrun in 2016 where Congress had to do what we’re doing right now, jump in immediately at the last minute. That hospital was three times over what they budgeted, but we again acted, providing hundreds of millions of dollars at the last minute because of VA mismanagement. 

And here’s the thing, Mr. President – the Congress, even the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is becoming numb to these kinds of shortfalls and these kind of dysfunctional approaches to management for our veterans. Let me be clear, I work with the VA in Alaska all the time. The people on the ground helping our veterans–the vast, vast majority do a great job. 

The problem seems to be here in D.C. with this giant bureaucracy. Last week the Inspector General – President Biden’s Inspector General–for the VA, in front of the House, testified along the following lines about a report they just had in terms of an investigation of the VA, they said, “Our staff – [ the Inspector General’s staff] – routinely finds breakdowns in processes, infrastructure, governance, leadership, and other failings that erode the foundational elements of accountability at the VA.”

Last week, the inspector general of the VA said that. These breakdowns impede the VA’s efforts to make certain that patients receive timely, quality health care and that veterans and other eligible beneficiaries are afforded the services they are owed. So here is the Biden administration’s I.G., Inspector General, saying we’ve got big problems at the VA. Now we’re seeing it with another cost overrun. 

Like I said, a $15 billion budget shortfall for the VA right now. We only heard about it six weeks ago. And I with several members of the VA Committee six weeks ago, as soon as we heard about this, we sent a letter to the chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee at the end of July saying we need an immediate hearing right now. Let’s do it right now, and have the Secretary testify in person to tell us what the heck is going on–what are you doing over there? 

The chairman didn’t do that. He waited until yesterday to hold the hearing. The Secretary didn’t show up to come testify. We heard all kinds of things from the witnesses from the VA, but what we didn’t hear, Mr. President, is anything about accountability. We did hear this, by the way. I think most Americans, most Alaskans, would find this stunning. 

The VA has a new rule. We went through a pandemic four years ago. People were doing remote work. Guess what? Most of the federal government is still doing remote work. Most federal employees still work in their pajamas next to a computer at home. The VA’s new rule is that you’re required to come in to the office twice in a pay period. Excuse me? What? 

So most VA workers in D.C. work at home in their pajamas. Can you believe that, America? We’ve got these big beautiful federal buildings here and nobody comes into them. Come on. Maybe the Secretary was teleworking yesterday, part of his rule that you only have to come in twice a month to work.

So we need accountability. We need accountability. Now as usual, the VA and other bureaucrats are saying, hey, this is actually a good thing that we’ve got a $15 billion shortfall. This is a good thing because more veterans are getting benefits. Well, listen, Mr. President, I voted for the bill that is helping our veterans with regard to burn pits. I voted for all that legislation. It is good that we’re getting veterans to have more benefits that they’ve earned, but that doesn’t excuse the VA’s mismanagement of its budget.

The idea that Congress, if it’s going to appropriate more money at the last minute – which is what we’re going to do, and I’m supporting that – that we apply accountability. 

Here’s what the legislative director for the VFW supplied in written testimony to the House last week. Quote, “Since news of the funding shortfall became public, the communications on the matter from the VA has been inappropriately positive.”

So this is the VFW saying, hey, VA, don’t spin this. It’s positive because the VA is delivering more benefits than ever, as if the VA’s calculation that now threatens the delivery of all compensation, pension, and education benefits is somehow a positive thing. 

So the VFW is looking straight at the VA saying, don’t spin this. $15 billion shortfall you just told us about, we’ve got to rush to fund it or veterans across America are going to lose their benefits? That’s not positive. No matter how they spin it, it’s not positive. It’s called mismanagement. 

So, again, Mr. President, all I’m asking for as part of the money that we are going to appropriate on an emergency basis for the VA, is to simply pass my PRO Vets Act. And, again, here’s all it does. The Secretary of the VA has to come in quarterly to the committee, in person, out of your pajamas, and tell us what the budget is so we don’t have this again. And if you are part of the VA or OMB team that put forward a budget, that the VA went over, you don’t get a bonus. That is very reasonable, Mr. President, and I hope my colleagues here will support it. 

…

Mr. President, this is about what the Inspector General just testified to the House on last week, about systemic problems of accountability at the VA. And to be honest, if you're on the committee, you know that more than anybody because we see it all the time. So I'm disappointed that simple reforms, accountability, the Secretary coming in quarterly in person -- not teleworking like 99% of the VA currently does and shouldn't do, by the way -- telling the Congress where they are on the budget so you're not going to have another overrun. And if you made the mistake and there is a big budget overrun, you don't get a bonus. Very simple. 

I'm really disappointed that we can't make basic, simple accountability reforms when we're once again at the last minute scrambling to make sure, due to the VA's mismanagement, Congress is coming in with additional money to make sure our veterans get their benefits. That's not the way to run a really important federal bureaucracy and organization like we have with the VA, and I'm disappointed that my bill is not being passed right now in addition to getting the additional funding to the VA for our veterans.

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