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How Jim Jordan tried to connect the dots on Biden’s $8 million book deal

‘Never Trump?’ ‘Never Biden’ voters might loom larger.

Ukraine gamble pays off: Republicans face little backlash in primaries

Biden’s false claim that inflation was 9 percent when he took office

Did Obamacare ‘massively’ increase the cost of health care?

Blue Origin to fly again as space tourism struggles to get off the ground

Why this company’s biggest fans turned against it

Boeing delays spaceflight again as it continues to struggle with leak

She finished chemo then got a medical degree: ‘The dream is real now’

Puppy abandoned with heart-rending note is adopted, named Minerva

Man, 91, shocks tiny firehouse with $500K gift: ‘Nobody knew how much I’d saved’

Joey Gallo returns, but Nats endure another quiet offensive night

Walter Johnson’s jersey from 1920 showdown with Babe Ruth sold at auction

Bryce Harper, Joey Gallo and a bond forged by baseball since they were kids

Carolyn Hax: Is it weird to ask other people to care about you?

Ask Amy: Can’t a single woman eat alone without interruption?

Miss Manners: Miss Manners: Gag gift falls flat

The world’s coolest hotels want to tell you a story

Cruise ships to return to Baltimore two months after bridge collapse 

Some cruise prices are about to get a little more clear

Book Tour: At home with Amor Towles

In photos: The scene in Houston after severe storms killed at least 7 people

Deadly storm blasts Houston

Russia shows resilience. There is more to do for Ukraine.

Trump promises tax cuts and fewer rules. CEOs shouldn’t fall for it.

Tariffs against China hamstring the transition to a clean energy future

At campus protests, ‘DO NOT TALK TO THE MEDIA’!

CNN gets a presidential debate — and a much-needed win

Netflix will air NFL’s Christmas games, a major step for streaming service

Zelensky’s chief aide flexes power, irks critics — and makes no apologies

IDF recovers bodies of 3 Israelis killed on Oct. 7

With its energy network nearly destroyed, Ukraine already fears the winter

Trump

House lawmakers plan to press top Veterans Affairs officials this week to explain why, after a series of scandals, they have had limited success holding employees accountable for misconduct.

At a hearing Wednesday, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs says it will examine VA’s “continued and pervasive lack of accountability” for employees who deceived taxpayers and veterans by covering up long waiting times for treatment at 100 medical centers.

Across the system, just three low-level employees have been fired after the scandal, which unfolded last year in Phoenix, with no firings of senior executives who were involved. Committee aides also say that no employees in Phoenix have been successfully disciplined for their roles, while several remain in limbo on paid leave.

[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/09/30/senior-va-executives-coerced-managers-whose-jobs-they-wanted-to-transfer-then-took-the-jobs-themselves-watchdog-says/">Senior VA officials used their positions to get plum jobs and perks, watchdog says</a>]

But lawmakers in both parties have broader concerns about VA’s slow progress punishing poor performers and holding employees involved in misconduct accountable, a fault line Secretary Robert McDonald pledged to correct when he took over the agency last year.

Lawmakers are expected to press Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson on Wednesday on the case of two senior executives who were demoted in November in response to allegations that they manipulated VA’s hiring system for their own gain.

Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves were demoted from senior executives, the highest rank for career employees, one rank down to GS 15 on the General Schedule.

[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/11/03/top-va-official-on-hiring-scheme-we-werent-paying-attention-to-everything-we-should-have-been-paying-attention-to/">After VA payment scheme is uncovered, top official admits, ‘We weren’t paying attention to everything we should have’</a>]

VA’s deputy inspector general found in a report this fall that Rubens and Graves forced lower-ranking regional managers to accept job transfers against their will. The women then took the vacant positions themselves, keeping their pay but reducing their responsibility.

Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), joined by the American Legion, criticized the demotions as inadequate punishment and said Rubens and Graves should have been fired. The women also face possible criminal prosecution. They had received more than $400,000 in questionable moving expenses through a relocation program for VA executives, the watchdog found. Miller has criticized VA officials for not recouping the money.

The other federal agencies, VA is struggling with a personnel system that makes firing and disciplining problem employees a cumbersome and costly process that is not always successful.

[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/08/03/in-controversial-va-bill-a-little-noticed-boon-for-whistleblowers/">In controversial VA firing bill, a little-noticed boon for whistleblowers</a>]

The House last summer passed a controversial bill that would give the government more power to fire poor performers at VA; the bill has not passed the Senate.

McDonald has been under pressure to show he is doing more to hold wrongdoers accountable. He has publicly given conflicting numbers of employees his staff has disciplined and fired since he has been in charge. The committee is likely to press Gibson on the secretary’s varying accounts.

[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/11/10/va-secretary-misstates-the-number-of-wait-time-manipulation-disciplinary-actions-again/">VA secretary misstates the number of wait-time manipulation disciplinary actions — again </a>]

VA has settled dozens of cases with whistleblowers who report wrongdoing, particularly those who revealed the patient wait-times scandal. But there has been little accountability for managers who retaliated against the whistleblowers, according to advocates and lawmakers.

U.S. special counsel Carolyn Lerner wrote to President Obama about this issue in September, noting the disparity in punishments for whistleblowers and those who retaliate against them.

Wesleyan University, B.A. history

Lisa Rein covers federal agencies and the management of government in the Biden administration. At The Washington Post, she has written about the federal workforce; state politics and government in Annapolis, and in Richmond; local government in Fairfax County, Va.; and the redevelopment of Washington and its neighborhoods.

Lisa Rein

The Washington Post

Biden administration

The Fix

The Briefs

Polling

Democracy in America

Election 2024

Politics

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Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.

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