WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) unanimously passed the Senate. The VA Senior Executive Accountability (SEA) Act of 2018 would strengthen accountability of senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

“VA executives are tasked with a sacred responsibility: caring for the veterans who have sacrificed so much for our nation,” said Senator King. “Our bipartisan bill will boost transparency and ensure accountability at the VA’s highest levels, and seeks to improve the overall quality of care that the VA provides to America’s veterans.”

“Senior VA executives should not be using their positions for personal gain nor should the VA be using reassignments in place of disciplinary action or firing senior executives who have acted improperly,” said Senator Tillis. “The VA Senior Executive Accountability Act is a bipartisan effort to address these problems by improving transparency and accountability within the VA and ensuring our veterans are being provided the best people to give them the care they need and deserve.”

There are numerous instances within the VA where Senior Executive Service (SES) employees used their leadership positions as leverage to be reassigned to another position for their own personal gain, or were reassigned, rather than disciplined, for poor performance. Following exposure of this practice, the VA halted their Appraised Value Offer (AVO) program, a program used to move senior executives that was often costly to taxpayers. Despite its past scandals, the VA has recently reinstated the AVO program. The VA Senior Executive Accountability Act will improve transparency by requiring the VA to inform Congress about where senior executives are being moved. Further, this legislation would require the secretary to personally approve of a reassignment of the VA’s approximately 350 SES employees and submit a semiannual report to Congress detailing the reason as to why the employees were reassigned and the associated costs. 

Companion legislation, H.R. 2772, was originally introduced by Congressman Scott Taylor (R-VA-02) and unanimously passed the House of Representatives on July 28, 2017. The Senate passed H.R. 2772 with an amendment by Senators Tillis and King, and will now head back to the House of Representatives to be voted on with the amendment.

Senator King has been a strong advocate for veterans issues since arriving in Washington. Earlier this month, he held a listening session with Maine veterans on the qualities and values they are looking for in a new VA Secretary. Also this month, Senator King visited the Travis Mills Foundation Veterans Retreat in Rome, which brings injured veterans and their families to Maine in order to help the veterans overcome physical obstacles with the support of family members. The Senator also highlighted the important place of veterans in Maine by devoting his November and December podcasts to the subject, with Travis Mills as one of the guests on the latter show. In December, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it will fund three new positions in Maine to better serve justice-involved Maine veterans confronting homelessness, mental health or substance abuse issues – a move which follows a February letter from Senator King to the VA urging additional resources on the topic. Senator King is a cosponsor of the Military and Veteran Caregiver Services Improvement Act of 2017, which would expand the VA’s family caregiver program to veterans of all eras – including those who served in Vietnam – so that their families can have the resources they need to provide care at home. Senator King was a cosponsor of the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017, which passed the Senate in June 2017 and has since been signed into law.