Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., are again asking the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs to ensure VA accountability by approving their legislation.
The pair penned a March 31 letter to committee chair Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., asking that any VA reform bills approved out of the committee include accountability measures.
Related: Read the letter
Both Rubio and Miller, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs chair, have sponsored legislation that would make is easier for the VA secretary to fire executives in the agency following a rash of scandals that began in 2014.
Rubio's bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability Act of 2015, passed out of committee, but has held up in the Senate, and opponents had previously said the measure did not offer enough whistleblower protections.
Miller's VA Accountability Act of 2015 passed the House in July 2015, and includes whistleblower protections, but has not yet been taken up by the Senate.
The letter claims that the bills were initially meant to be included in a VA reform omnibus package, but Miller and Rubio express concern that Isakson plans to cast them out of negotiations in order to reach a deal with the Obama administration.
"We hope you realize that any piece of comprehensive veterans' legislation that doesn't provide the VA Secretary swift and comprehensive disciplinary authority for all VA employees misses the true mark on what ails the department," the letter said.
The pair asked in their letter that the bills move forward as part of any negotiated agreement for VA reform.
"Every day that the VA's accountability problem goes unaddressed, taxpayers are being forced to foot the bill for the salaries of failed bureaucrats," the letter said.
VA secretary Bob McDonald has proposed shifting the agency's senior executives from Title 5 to Title 38 status, which would make discipline decisions internal as opposed to the Merit Systems Protection Board appeals process that currently exists.
Isakson's office said in a statement that the senator is working to help craft an omnibus reform solution with accountability at its core and will include several policy measures to achieve that goal.
"We are indeed working on a large legislative package that includes a number of provisions to hold employees at the VA more accountable by giving the VA secretary the ability to hire and discipline employees more effectively. In addition, the legislation will include numerous provisions to improve veterans' health care and benefits, such as improving the VA's caregivers program and addressing the backlog of veterans' appeals.
"Senator Isakson agrees that there are many problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs that must be addressed, most pressing of which is the need for accountability at the department."
Isakson has previously said he hopes to have an omnibus package of VA reforms enacted by Memorial Day.
