Cleaning Up Veterans' Health Care

For John, BLUF:  There was a joke, when I was young, that the Vanguard Project should be renamed Civil Service.  The argument was that the rocket couldn't be fired or made to work.  Today that seems a little odd in construction, but it made sense at the time.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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VA firings spiked after Trump signed the new accountability law last year

From The Military Times, Reporter Leo Shane III, 8 January 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

Employee firings at the Department of Veterans Affairs jumped in the second half of 2017 after new accountability legislation was signed into law last summer, results that administration officials insist show a renewed commitment to cleaning up the agency.

But critics say more firings don’t mean better results for veterans, and the rising rate of dismissals may not be significantly different than past years for the massive government bureaucracy.

“I don’t think this has accomplished what they want it to accomplish,” said Marilyn Park, legislative representative for the American Federation of Government Employees.

In June, President Donald Trump signed into law the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, legislation he has subsequently touted as one of his biggest accomplishments during his first year in office.

Among other provisions, the legislation shortened the appeal time for VA employees protesting their dismissals and expanded VA leadership’s ability to remove most workers, including senior executives, for misconduct or poor performance.

It will take more than a year to tell the full results.  Part of the issue is that there is also Balkanization in the VA, with each Hospital its own fiefdom.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff