VA Changes Could Set Precedent for Other Agencies

The potential wide-ranging changes in disciplinary and other policies at the VA–the measure also would boost protections for whistleblowers, for example–are widely seen as a precedent for imposing similar changes government-wide. VA’s nearly 370,000 employees represent about a fifth of the overall non-postal federal workforce and there are frequent arguments against such basic policies differing among agencies. However, the House counterpart committee has been advocating a series of bills that would be even stricter, leaving fast action in question. In 2014, the House had passed a bill that essentially would have deprived senior executives at the VA of any appeal rights but the language was softened in a conference with the Senate. Those provisions regarding senior executives likewise were seen as setting precedent for government-wide changes, based on similar reasoning. However, proposals in the years since to widen them to other agencies have not been enacted. With relatively little working time remaining for Congress already on this election year, it is questionable whether a wide-ranging federal personnel reform would be attempted this year.