Mrvan Opening Statement for Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing on Protecting Whistleblowers

Washington, DC – Today, Ranking Member Frank J. Mrvan participated in the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing entitled, “Trust in Transparency: Holding VA Accountable and Protecting Whistleblowers.”

A video of the hearing is available here, and the Congressman’s opening statement as prepared for delivery is below:

Whistleblowers are the unsung heroes of our government that expose corruption, abuse, fraud and waste.  Reporting evidence of wrongdoing from the inside is a courageous task, and whistleblowers often risk their livelihoods to expose critical issues.  Their actions are paramount in holding the government accountable, and whistleblowers should be commended for the courage it takes to come forward. 

VA is entrusted with caring for our nation’s veterans.  VA employees must feel empowered to call out problems, including wrongdoing.  Managers need to be trained on rules and policies, so they are also empowered to create and foster an open and transparent culture, which benefits everyone – from the public, to staff, to veterans – that engages with VA. 

Over many decades, Congress has authorized important institutions, which are charged with oversight and investigative authority, with administering whistleblower protection laws, and with holding the federal government accountable. 

We have the VA Office of Inspector General, the Office of Special Counsel, and the Government Accountability Office as long-standing parts of that oversight and accountability structure.  In 2017, Congress established another layer by creating the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP) in response to a very serious and catastrophic accountability failure, which is the Phoenix wait times scandal.  

However, OAWP quickly failed at its mission due to egregious abuses by leadership, which were investigated by the Inspector General, and current leadership has had an uphill battle rebuilding OAWP into an office that can meet the mission established by Congress.  From my perspective, OAWP has done a commendable job.  It is now staffed up with dedicated individuals who are taking its responsibilities seriously.  We are starting to see outputs that show the office can and wants to do the job.

From our oversight work, we can see significant progress on the investigations side of the office.  Over the past year, OAWP has worked to clear the backlog of complaints.  Improvements have been made in case timelines and referrals.  Now we are starting to see what is possible on the accountability side.  We need more information on how VA is implementing OAWP’s recommendations and understanding if this work is leading to institutional change.  OAWP has a mandate to advise the Secretary on accountability matters and conduct data analysis to identify trends and issue reports.  We’ve seen some of the results of efforts in these areas, but there are other areas that would benefit from this analytics work, such as settlement agreements, ensuring that disciplinary actions are being used equitably across VA, and how the Department can further build a culture that values accountability.

From reading the testimony of the organizations on the second panel, it is clear that a trust gap still exists between the whistleblower community and OAWP.  I know OAWP is working in earnest to bridge that gap, and I look forward to discussing a few specifics about ongoing concerns with both VA and the good government groups. 

I know there have been questions since the 2017 law was passed about ways to enhance OAWP’s independence.  There are also fundamental questions about its purpose and how it should or should not differ from other oversight organizations, such as the IG and OSC.  I hope we can have a thoughtful discussion on these, and other issues.

Whistleblower protections and accountability are different sides of the same coin.  They should not be in conflict.  We should work hard towards accountability so that employees don’t have to become whistleblowers.  They should be able to speak up about concerns and have those concerns taken seriously by management.  This is the goal we all should be working towards because that is what we owe to our veterans.

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