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House Committee Launches VA Accountability Website

September 3, 2013

In an effort to highlight some of the accountability and oversight issues at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a House committee has launched a new page called VA Accountability Watch.

The page, which is run by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, highlights specific cases of VA mismanagement in cities around the country. Many of the cases involve large bonuses like the $53,000 payment a VA employee in Phoenix, Arizona was paid despite poor performance at their office. There are also cases of medical mismanagement at VA centers that led to outbreaks of disease or even death in Dayton, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta.

The page says it is “dedicated to showing America’s veterans and American taxpayers how the department’s widespread and systemic lack of accountability may actually be encouraging more veteran suffering instead of preventing it.”

In a FedScoop article about the page, POGO’s Director of Public Policy Angela Canterbury said:

It’s terrific to see Congress doing this kind of public engagement on oversight. We have been really impressed by the work being done by the investigators for the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. This is just the latest example of the committee’s dedication to holding the VA accountable to ensure our veterans get the care they deserve.

The most pressing issue facing the VA is the massive backlog of compensation claims from wounded veterans, but the department has also had problems with risky contracting policies, construction delays, and altering health appointment data to make delays appear shorter.

By: Andre Francisco
Online Producer, POGO

andre francisco Andre Francisco is the Online Producer for the Project On Government Oversight.

Topics: Government Accountability

Related Content: Veterans Affairs

Authors: Andre Francisco

Submitted by Megan at: September 7, 2013
This is brilliant. I would like to see the concept extended to other federal, state and local government agencies. There is so little accountability in government today, with internal processes consistently manipulated in favor of the institutions. This could provide insurance against retaliation for those who use the internal processes too. Kudos to all who were involved in making the VA Accountability site happen.
Submitted by matinah at: September 7, 2013
this should be an ongoing process in each & every department. sadly it is not. moreover, the information available by parsing or searching elsewhere is time consuming, cannot be deemed totally reliable, often available for periods of years, causing delays in servicing veterans, many others reliant on government oversight to provide info that pertains to monitoring & evaluation of government operations. really inexcusable.
Submitted by mogan at: September 7, 2013
The VA in St Cloud, Mn has a 2.3 million dollar wind turbine that was purchased and shipped from India. The initiative came from Executive Order 13423. The 107 ton turbine had damaged blades at arrival, obsolete and inoperable components, leaked hydrolic fluid, was taken down and repaired, re-installed, and still is not turning! A Massachusetts contractor was given the contract despite the fact that local contractors and maintenance would have made a logical choice. Should the VA buy American products? You'd think so! The St Cloud Times has followed this bizarre waste of federal initiative funds. Do we need a VA Accountability Watch? Absolutely!
Submitted by ChasVoice at: September 3, 2013
Oh yeah, marvelous idea you think? Then ask the VA Affairs Committee who authorized the hookup with the CDI, a Marxist org: http://chasvoice.blogspot.com/2011/11/center-for-defense-informationcdi.html
Submitted by Peter Scannell at: September 3, 2013
ditto.

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