Congressman Smith Supports Bills to Increase Choice and Accountability at the VA

I am in favor of the two bills sponsored by House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller. These bills represent our ongoing efforts to improve veteran care and repair a broken system. The Long-Term Care Veterans Choice Act would open up more choices for veterans outside of a traditional nursing home setting. Another bill would give the Secretary of the VA the ability to recoup employee bonuses for poor performance. Despite numerous scandals across the country, VA executives are more likely to have received a taxpayer-funded bonus in the last year than any sort of disciplinary action. This is the kind of culture we must work to end at the VA in order to restore accountability and quality care for our veterans.

These are common-sense bills that I am proud to support.

The Long-Term Care Veterans Choice Act would give veterans more choices for long-term care options outside of a traditional nursing home setting, such as medical foster home care. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) preliminary estimates, the bill would result in cost savings of $248 million over fiscal years 2015-2020. The VA does not currently have the authority to pay for veterans’ medical foster home care. This creates a situation where many service-connected veterans with limited financial resources are unable to access the medical foster home they desire because of limited financial resources. Instead, these veterans often move into nursing homes, at a much greater expense to VA.

The second bill, H.R. 280, would empower the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary to recoup bonuses from VA employees for causes such as mismanagement and negligence.

The VA paid more than $380,000 in cash bonuses to top executives at 38 hospitals that are under investigation for falsifying wait times for medical care. To date, 104 senior executives have had their performance ratings deferred due to pending investigations. Currently, VA has no authority to recoup bonuses for its employees, even if it’s later discovered that bonuses were awarded under false pretenses or based on incorrect performance data.