Whistleblowing and Retaliation in the Department of Veterans Affairs

CHAIRMAN TERRY EVERETT

OPENING STATEMENT

The hearing will come to order.

Good morning! This Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing will examine whistleblowing and retaliation in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

This subject has been a matter of bipartisan Congressional concern for a long time. In 1992, then Chairman John Conyers of the Committee on Government Operations issued a report (Report 102-1062) with a section entitled "The DVA Discourages the Reporting of Poor Quality Care by Harassing Whistleblowers or Firing Them". The report went on to say in part that: "According to Tom Devine, director of the Government Accountability Project, ‘The Department of Veterans Affairs is a leader on the merit system anti-honor roll for one simple reason: free speech repression has been a way of life at this agency.’ The subcommittee’s investigation of the treatment of whistleblowers by the DVA confirms this characterization. Honest employees have had their jobs eliminated and their lives destroyed because they attempted to expose poor patient care."

The Conyers report is no longer readily available, so the Subcommittee has made copies and placed them on the table with the witness statements. The substance of the entire report is depressingly similar to statements we will hear today.

Whistleblowing by its nature usually involves rank and file or middle level employees, those who are least able to protect themselves against retaliation. Whistleblowers who expose fraud, waste and abuse in government, and employee rights to make claims and complaints are supposed to be legally protected by a number of federal laws, including the Whistleblower Protection Act. These activities are very much in the public interest and ultimately serve to protect our veterans from indifferent service and poor medical care.

Whistleblowing and filing complaints often embarrasses people in authority by revealing their misconduct or mismanagement. Unfortunately, we know they on occasion retaliate against whistleblowers, even though it is a prohibited personnel practice under federal personnel law and supposedly a serious violation of civil service merit principles.

The Subcommittee wants to know what the VA’s whistleblowing protections are for its employees and what the level of employee confidence is that they will be protected. This is another hearing about accountability at the VA. We have had previous hearings about sexual harassment and mismanagement. I can assure everyone that the Subcommittee will have more hearings on accountability at the VA during this Congress. My concerns about the VA’s culture of tolerating favoritism, cronyism, harassment and retaliation are a matter of record. The VA has a history of turning a blind eye toward mismanagement and misconduct by its senior officials while punishing anyone who dares to speak up.

Our witnesses will be the Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel; the VA’s Inspector General; senior VA officials; and six current or former VA employees who have asserted whistleblower status and alleged retaliation, one from the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, two from Alabama VA Medical Centers, and three from the Columbia, MO, VA Medical Center. All witnesses will be under oath.