S-124-119
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-35.
Sponsored by Jerry Moran (R-KS)
What it does
This bill would create a new, faster disciplinary process for supervisors and managers at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), allowing the Secretary to remove, demote, or suspend them based on a "substantial evidence" standard. It would also modify existing disciplinary procedures for all VA employees and senior executives, narrowing the factors decision-makers must consider, shortening timelines to as few as 15 business days, eliminating the requirement to place employees on a performance improvement plan before firing them, restricting the Merit Systems Protection Board's ability to review or reduce penalties, and superseding conflicting collective bargaining agreements.
Who benefits
Veterans who receive VA care and may benefit from faster removal of underperforming or misconduct-prone staff. VA leadership and the Secretary, who would gain broader and faster authority to discipline employees. Taxpayers, if faster accountability reduces waste or harm. Whistleblowers receive some explicit protections — the bill bars discipline of employees who have made protected disclosures until those disclosures are resolved. Future VA employees hired to replace removed personnel.
Who is hurt
Current VA supervisors, managers, and employees who would face a faster, more limited appeals process with fewer procedural protections. Federal employee unions, whose collective bargaining agreements would be superseded where they conflict with the new procedures. Employees who may be disciplined based on management discretion with limited external review, particularly those without resources to pursue judicial review. The Merit Systems Protection Board, which would lose jurisdiction over a category of cases. Employees in the 100K+ VA workforce who could face retroactive application of the new standards back to 2017.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the VA's existing civil service protections have made it extremely difficult to remove employees who harm veterans, pointing to high-profile cases of patient neglect and misconduct that took years to resolve under standard federal procedures. They contend that the 2017 VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act was a step in the right direction but left gaps — particularly for supervisors — and that this bill closes those gaps by setting clear timelines, defined decision factors, and a streamlined appeals path that still preserves judicial review and whistleblower protections.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that compressing disciplinary timelines to as few as 15 business days, eliminating performance improvement plans, and stripping the Merit Systems Protection Board of penalty-review authority removes safeguards that protect employees from arbitrary or retaliatory firings. They contend that the VA already has enhanced removal authority under the 2017 law, and that weakening due process protections — including retroactive application back to 2017 — could expose career employees to politically motivated discipline with limited recourse, ultimately harming workforce morale and VA's ability to recruit and retain qualified healthcare and administrative staff.
Constitutional context
The Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause requires that government employees receive meaningful procedural protections before being deprived of a property interest in their employment. Courts have long recognized federal civil service positions as protected property interests; the bill's compressed timelines and restricted appellate review could face due process challenges, though Congress has broad authority to define the scope of those protections for federal employees under Article I.
Checks and balances
The Executive Branch (VA Secretary) gains significantly expanded and faster authority to discipline employees, with the Merit Systems Protection Board largely removed from the process; the primary remaining check is judicial review in federal court, though courts are explicitly barred from reviewing or mitigating the severity of penalties except on constitutional grounds.
Historical precedent
The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-41) established similar expedited removal authority for VA employees and was upheld in subsequent federal court challenges, providing the direct statutory foundation this bill seeks to expand.