The Trump Administration's Campaign to Weaken Civil Service Ramps Up at the VA

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Pro Publica
March 12, 2018

FIRINGS SURGED AT THE VETERANS AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT LAST YEAR IN THE WAKE OF A NEW LAW - NOW THE PRESIDENT WANTS TO REPLICATE THAT LEGISLATION ACROSS THE GOVERNMENT.

(This story was co-published with Politico)

Last June, President Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign promise by signing a bipartisan bill to make it easier to fire employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The law, a rare rollback of the federal government's strict civil-service job protections, was intended as a much-needed fix for an organization widely perceived as broken.
"VA accountability is essential to making sure that our veterans are treated with the respect they have so richly earned through their blood, sweat and tears," Trump said that day.
"Those entrusted with the sacred duty of serving our veterans will be held accountable for the care they provide."

At the time, proponents of the bill repeatedly emphasized that it would hold everyone - especially top officials - accountable: "senior executives," stressed Veterans Committee chair Johnny Isakson; "medical directors," specified Trump; anyone who "undermined trust" in the VA, according to Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.
Shulkin advocated for the measure, called the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, by highlighting a case in which the agency had to wait 30 days to fire a worker caught watching porn with a patient.

"I do not see this as a tool that's going to lead to mass firings," Shulkin said last June.
"I would never support that as secretary. I see this as a tool that's going to be used on a small number of people, who clearly have deviated from accepted practices and norms."

The law's effect was nearly instantaneous: Firings rose 60 percent during the second half of 2017, after the law took effect, compared to the first half of 2017.
Since June, the VA has removed 1,704 of it's 370,000 employees.

More:
https://www.propublica.org/article/veterans-affairs-the-trump-administration-campaign-to-weaken-civil-service-ramps-up

[Wellstone ruled]

1. All being done to

clean out the VA and Privatize it for Purchase by the Koch Industries Clinical Unit.