Arlington, VA – Today Secretary Shulkin announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking another strong step toward cleaning up the toxic VA culture by making public a list of “adverse” employee actions taken since January 20, 2017. The measure also requires senior officials to sign-off on all settlement actions above $5,000. According to Secretary Shulkin, the move is intended to improve transparency and encourage accountability within the department.
In June, President Trump signed the bipartisan VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, a bill which will empower Secretary Shulkin with the ability to quickly fire bad VA employees and protect whistleblowers who speak up about wrongdoing.
Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) Policy Director Dan Caldwell issued the following statement:
“Taxpayers deserve to know how government officials are putting veterans’ lives at risk, committing crimes, or engaging in misconduct. On top of the new accountability legislation, this documentation of bad employee actions sets a serious tone about how Shulkin intends to use his new authority. We applaud the Secretary for his continued dedication toward cleaning up the toxic VA culture, and veterans look forward to seeing results.”
CVA has been the leading veterans group pushing for accountability reform at the VA since the group was founded in 2012. Most recently, CVA ran a national grassroots campaign urging Senators to support the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 via hundreds of thousands of activist calls and emails, as well as targeted web ads and local events across the country.
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