Senate Democrats block greater accountability at VA after $15 Billion budget shortfall

Senator Dan Sullivan, a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (SVAC), recently attempted to restore accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by passing his Protecting Regular Order (PRO) for Veterans Act as an amendment to a VA supplemental funding package, but it was blocked by Senate Democrats.

Following the recent announcement from the VA that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is experiencing a historic budget shortfall of $15 billion, $3 billion of which the VBA needed immediately, Senator Sullivan’s legislation would have instituted a three-year requirement for the VA to submit quarterly, in-person budget reports to Congress to encourage greater oversight and financial accountability. The bill also included a provision to withhold bonuses for senior VA and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) personnel if there are future financial shortfalls.

“Just six weeks ago, the VA informed Congress that it needs $3 billion ASAP or veterans may not get their benefits,” the senator said while on the Senate floor. “This shocking screw-up is unfortunately something we see all the time from the VA—last-minute requests for money, and up to $11 million in illegal bonuses paid out to VA officials who don’t deserve it. Congress is becoming numb to these kinds of shortfalls and scandals. I will say, this is not the case for rank-and-file VA employees, like those in Alaska, the vast majority of whom do a great job. The problem seems to be here in D.C.”

Senator Sullivan said that he and several colleagues on the SVAC demanded an immediate hearing on the shortfall upon learning about it, but no such hearing was held until the day before, and that the Secretary didn’t come to testify.

“While I support covering this shortfall to safeguard the hard-earned benefits of our courageous veterans, we also need accountability from the VA,” he said of his legislation, which would have instituted a three-year requirement for the Secretary of the VA to submit quarterly in-person budget reports to Congress to encourage greater oversight and financial accountability. It would have also withheld bonuses for senior VA and OMB personnel who worked on that budget in the event of any future financial shortfalls.

“I'm really disappointed that we can't make basic, simple accountability reforms when we're once again at the last minute scrambling to make sure, due to the VA's mismanagement, Congress is coming in with additional money to make sure our veterans get their benefits. That's not the way to run a really important federal bureaucracy and organization like we have with the VA, and I'm disappointed that my bill is not being passed right now in addition to getting the additional funding to the VA for our veterans.”