Make it easier for the department of Veterans Affairs to fire, demote or suspend employees. Final passage scheduled for 6 1. Later in the week the senator heitkamp legislation to expand sanctions on iran, targeting people who work on irans illicit missile program. The presiding officer the senate will come to order. Under the previous order, the question occurs on the elwood nomination. Mr. Alexander i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer any senator in the chamber wishing to change their vote . If not, the yeas are 67. And the nays are 33. The nomination is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration legislative now and proceed to the consideration of s. 10994, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 103, s. 1094, a bill to amend title 38, United States code to improve the accountability of employees of the department of Veterans Affairs and for other purposes. The presiding officer under the previous order, the committee reported substitute amendment to s. 1094 is agreed to. And under the previous order, there will now be three hours of debate equally divided in the usual form. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from georgia. Mr. Isakson im pleased to rise on the 73rd anniversary of the invasion of normandy and omaha beach for 156,000 brave americans who saved our freedom and liberty for the American People as well as all of europe, who put to an end the reign of adolf hitler and remind me every day as chairman of the Veterans Committee why im here in the United States senate and thats to see to it that we take care of those who have taken care of us. Somebody asked me this morning, was it coincidence that dday was 73 years ago today . I said its Divine Providence that were on the floor today paying back those 156,000 who invaded those beaches to make the Veterans Administration a more favorable agency than it is today and im proud to lead part of the debate today along with senator tester, my Ranking Member on the committee and a dear friend on a bill i think is of great significance. Of its the veterans accountability act and whistleblower protection act. The best quote was not one that i could come up with or i doubt jon could come up with. The best quote came up with by iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, the iava. They said this is the strongest accountability measure that can be signed into law. I want to reiterate that. The strongest accountability measure of the v. A. That can be signed into law, which means were reaching into every corner of the problems at the v. A. That exists over the last years, were making sure we make the corrections necessary to make the v. A. An accountable organization. And were doing it in a bipartisan fashion together, democrats and republicans alike. As ive said very often, there arent republican casualties and democratic casualties on the battlefields of war. They are american citizens who fought and died for this country. Theres no room for partisanship when it comes to providing them with the benefits that are necessary to see to it they get what they deserve. I want to thank all the members of the committee, in particular Ranking Member tester for his work; senator moran, who did such great work for us on the accountability measure. Senator rubio is not a member of the committee but did a great job and will speak later on the floor. We had a Great Committee working for a long period of time. We passed a bill almost last year and then failed at the last few moments of the session to get it done, so were back ago second time. But were back with a bill that has come to you unanimously from the committee on Veterans Affairs, and i hope will leave this senate floor unanimously. So we send a clear signal to all our veterans, were going to hold ourselves accountable for you. What specifically does the legislation thats important . One, it makes what President Trump referred to in the executive order about three weeks ago, the department of whistleblower protection a reality and codifies it into law. Second, it removes many of the bureaucratic hurdles that currently are in place making it easier for the v. A. Secretary to remove employees of all departments in the v. A. Who are found guilty of wrongdoing or misconduct and found guilty of wrongdoing or misconduct. The bill shortens the removal process for all employees in the v. A. And ensures an individual appealing removal from the v. A. Is not kept on the v. A. s payroll indefinitely while they appeal it. The department of Veterans Affairs prohibits the v. A. From awarding bonuses to employees found guilty of misconduct. The bill would remove bureaucratic protection board from appeals by the Senior Management and top management of the Veterans Administration. The department of Veterans Affairs accountability and whistleblower protection act establishes the office of whistleblower protection and accountability to make it permanent in the United States of america. In essence and very simply, this bill ensures and codifies into law the accountability of this agency and its operation to the American People and to the veterans of the United States of america for all that they have done for each and every one of us. Its very important to appreciate that this does not come to us by some senator or some representative coming up with a bunch of crazy ideas at the last minute. This is a response to what weve seen happen over and over again over the past few years. Most, if not all of the employees in the Veterans Administration are hardworking, dedicated, committed individuals. But there have been from time to time questions arisen about the handling of certain situations, a situation that took place in phoenix, arizona, in terms of of appointments. In iraq the number of mishandling of pharmaceuticals near where i am in atlanta, georgia. The situation that took place in transfers in philadelphia, pennsylvania, where people were transferred rather than disciplined and were paid their moving expenses and cost of living adjusts upward all to get rid of somebody in one office and moving them to another instead of handling them the way they should have been. We took those instances where people had instances themselves breaking the law and violating the law and were now holding them accountable because what is written into the v. A. Accountability and whistleblower act. Quite simply put weve taken the worst performance in isolated cases in the past few years and done whats right. Weve corrected where it needs to be corrected. We eliminated where it needs to be eliminated and given the authority of the secretary of Veterans Affairs and employees under the Veterans Affairs in holding them accountable and encouraging them to do the right thing. I reiterate, though, that were not singling out an agency that has a large number of people that are not performing. Were singling out an agency that has had some situation where a few glees employees did things that need to be addressed, which will be able to be addressed under the status of the new law and held accountable for their actions. Nothing happens when one person does it. Everything happens when people come together as a team. Its been a pleasure for me to have a great teammate in this effort and thats jon tester from montana. Ive been on the committee 12 years. I think jon has been on the committee for eight or nine; right . Youre on the Veterans Affairs committee because you want to go. Its what we refer to as the b committee which means its the second tier. A lot of times its a fill in committee but for me and jon its our primary responsibility. We know to whom we owe everything and that is our veterans that we owe everything. Jon tester has been a great teammate. Hes been great to work with. Hes helped us get through some difficult times of difficulty and through some good times of common understanding and settlement and i appreciate that very much. I want to ask jon a question and i want to ask jon to tell me what the people of montana are telling him about our Veterans Administration and the need for a stronger accountability in the v. A. Of montana. Tell us what theyre saying in montana, jon. Mr. Tester thank you, chairman isakson. First i want to thank you very much for your leadership on this committee. It has been great to work with you. You have a reputation of being a man of honesty and integrity and fair dealing, and youve once again lived up to that reputation. I could not ask for a better chairman of the senate Veterans Affairs committee than you and very much appreciate the work youve done on this bill. I too want to thank rubio, moran, shaheen, blumenthal, angus king, donnelly, baldwin, duckworth. Theres a number of folks on both sides of the aisle that have stepped up, some on the committee, some off the committee, who have done such a great job making sure we ended up here today. You know, chairman isakson knows this. We got a bill over from the house, and we sat down together and we negotiated. We gave and took and massaged the bill. We ended up with a bill that probably johnny would not have written and probably i would not have written but its a bill thats going to work, and its going to give the v. A. What they need to hold people accountable. And i also want to echo what johnny said that, you know, the veterans across this country are very, very happy here at the v. A. And its because of the great people that are on the ground within the v. A. But every once in a while we get a bad apple, and the v. A. Needs to be able to remove that bad apple because that bad apple reflects poorly on everybody within the v. A. And so this bill is about making sure the v. A. Has the tool it needs to hold itself accountable and hold itself accountable to the veterans. And i will tell you what i hear from the folks in montana is how come it took so long. Weve been at this for awhile. And i will tell you, its i hope its worth the wait because i think weve got a good bill here. I think weve got a bill that really holds folks accountable while protecting workers rights moving forward. And the v. A. Is a different kind of animal than any other agency. We owe it to the people who put it on the line for this country. And when things dont go just right, weve got a problem. And weve got a problem that needs to be fixed and not fixed yesterday. Fixed today. And because these folks have given their all to this country and theyve earned these benefits, these health care benefits. So we need to make sure that when they need them theyve got them and there isnt any mistakes made. Look, what i hear from the veterans in montana also, is how can we rebuild the v. A. To make it all it can be . And i think this bill is going to help with that too. By making sure that we have the best of the best there, by making sure that we have some training for our hospital administrators and be able to hire hospital administrators. Thats part of this bill too. While holding the v. A. Accountable and folks screw up in the areas of misconduct. So theres a bunch in this bill. This is a bill that i think is going to fit the needs of not only veterans in a rural or frontier state like montana, but in more Populated Areas like atlanta, georgia. I think it gives the secretary of the v. A. The tools at his disposal to be able to make the v. A. As strong as it can possibly be. And i will tell you that this bill would not have happened without the good work of johnny and his staff and my staff coming together and getting stuff done. So i think that this is, this is one of the days in the senate where we can look back and say folks came together as democrats and republicans and did the right thing for the veterans of this country. Johnny, im curious to know from you what kind of stuff youre hearing in georgia about this bill and bringing accountability to the v. A. Mr. Isakson senator tester, like you, i get my best information at the legion, the iava and posts around my state. Im a member of the American Legion post in loganville, georgia, and go every once in a while to the bar to get a drink to find out whats going on. I find out more than in an hour than reading every newspaper in america. Let me tell you what the lead organizations are saying because these veterans organizations are the voice of the American People who served in our military and they are the people that communicate to us in the committee. The v. F. W. Wants the secretary to weed out misperformers especially the criminals. The v. F. Duty wants a bill passed because maintaining the status quo does not work for those that have borne the battle and fight. They want to make sure the v. A. Holds employees to the standard the veterans of america feel they committed themselves as veterans serving in the military. The American Legion applauds the bipartisan effort to provide the secretary the additional tools to increase accountability and address poor performance within the department of Veterans Affairs. And i want to underscore there because in the bill jon and i assured that we motivated the management to understand it was their job to seek out nonperformance and correct it before it ran amock. This bill incentivizes the management of the Veterans Administration to find those employees who are not performing well and turn them around and reward those employees who are turned around to be the comeam comeam example for the rest of the employees. It will give secretary shulkin the authority he needs to hold the Department Employees responsible for their actions. We strongly agree with the senate to take up the bill immediately and pass it said dan caldwell, concerned American Veterans of america. Once and for all all around our state our organizations are getting the response they asked of us and that is what this bill does. Jon, there is some misinformation out there, rumors flying around in montana and georgia. Can you clear the air . Mr. Tester there this bill does not trample on the workers rights. This maintains the bargaining rights of Union Workers at the v. A. One of the problems we had with the house passed bill was it did away with the bargaining. This toes not. This does not. It does not have due process protections. It keeps all the existing due process protections under current law. Unlike the house bill, it doesnt shorten or eliminate the appeals process for employees who are fired. Moreover, we provide a judicial review to employees who are directed to repay a bonus and other protection. This bill does not allow v. A. Supervisors to fire anyone who challenges them. That evidence must go through general counsel. So this is all critically important as we go forth to gave account ability, to be accountability, to be able to protect the rights of the workers doing the job. I think we found the sweet spot there. More importantly than anything else in this bill, and it does a lot of things, its really about a culture of accountability in the v. A. Johnny, can you tell us here in the senate about what else this bill does for veterans . Mr. Isakson i want to talk about the culture that you just mentioned. I think you are right. The main thing that people will see from the Veterans Administration is a culture throughout that organization of excellence to serve the veterans the way sthid be served and the way they should be served. And that anything that is not right is corrected. Our veterans deserve the highest quality care and the secretary has asked to hold those accountable not meeting standards. And to eliminate those who have exceeded standards as well. The this will expedite the removal of a bad employee, but it doesnt motivate them to get rid of people. It shortens the process to remove an employee to 15 days. It means that you act expeditiously to see to it that if you have a problem, it is addressed quickly for the benefit of all the agencies. It removes the merit system protection board for appeal process for Senior Executives. There is some bad talk about removing the merit system protection board for all employees, but it doesnt do it. The most senior need to be held accountable without lots of hoops to go through. By taking the merit system protection board away from Senior Executives, you are holding them accountable for their own actions without some hoop to go through for the agency to try to remove them. Prohibits bonuses and relocation expenses for employees guilty of wrongdoing. I mentioned in my earlier remarks and i will reiterate. It deals with things like what happened in pennsylvania where two employees were reassigned for a discipline but given bonuses and cost of living and pay upward for doing something wrong. That sends the wrong signal. For anyone who is doing a good job, it pats them on the back and lets them know they can do a better job. And it is critical we have far too many people in the v. A. System today that are acting director or acting assistant. We dont need anymore acting in the v. A. This is about the performance of the delivery of health care to veterans, encourages those who are not doing a good job, to do a better job and that all veterans get the services they deserve. The need for this bill does not come out of thin air. Senator tester, can you tell me why the veterans need this legislation to strengthen their accountability at the v. A. . Mr. Tester yes. It ha