[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},"mediaId",6159603,"mediaKeyId","5453428-25d3ddfa1d6b51ae8470c7c1a2834046","parentId",5453428,"title","Lawmakers and union reps warn VA staffing losses, telework changes and bargaining restrictions threaten care","audioSeconds",2927,"startMs",1993000,"endMs",4920000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5453428-25d3ddfa1d6b51ae8470c7c1a2834046&start=1993&end=4920","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5453428-25d3ddfa1d6b51ae8470c7c1a2834046/thumbnail_1993000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6159603/Lawmakers-and-union-reps-warn-VA-staffing-losses-telework-changes-and-bargaining-restrictions-threaten-care","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6159603-12719d930c6dbf24dca460e34b4c1350/orig.mp4?Expires=1770755775&Signature=UYpkD4HfUA9Cvg7yH8um05bUvkKJQdmD0xiQXXsjWR4ZpWWfE8RPCei6eQRGRmaitt4lUoaBQpXeaane7RaoFs6XVLbpa48YoeEoYdtKfdRPvYsvoiw-8op70M0fBmdsaM2pHwvLq-V1448ZvWclP4u-lhObqWspFGH-9dPoPeSDwuT0g~RQr5mHJC~zyqvvsxP0ao78oYASkcQQS6MW-UG6nNZT8htNg7uR2-BBnyLhXPg1szU~HXEPkomNuqLFhvaT5leOIkfqeDE3xPz-Ofl37UGeuQsHeId7YMMCSJhsWYNqQMywwJEavuOYNIZuld36ExN1eE8voI4TwROSpg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs","date","2025-07-23T17:21:02.247Z","article","Lawmakers and a union witness told a House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee in July 2025 that steep staffing losses, restrictions on telework and limits on collective bargaining have undermined the VA's ability to recruit and retain mission-critical staff.

\"Earlier this month, Secretary Collins celebrated the VA will lose nearly 30,000 employees by the end of the fiscal year. I find that despicable,\" Ranking Member Ramirez said in opening remarks, adding that \"Every VA employee is mission critical.\" Ramirez cited data from the VA workforce dashboard and detailed net losses in several veteran-facing occupations during the current fiscal year.

Dr. Sheila Elliott, a pharmacist at the Hampton VA Medical Center and president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2328, told the subcommittee that Hampton faces severe vacancies. \"At our facility, we have a 43% ... out of a 100 positions, 43 of them are vacant,\" she said, describing a case where \"we are in the process now of losing a psychologist ... [who] lived far away and could not come to Hampton with no relocation bonus offered.\" Elliott said recruitment often begins only after staff depart, shifting patient loads and causing appointments to be rescheduled.

Union witnesses and some members attributed part of the recruitment and retention problem to policy changes that affect workplace flexibility and bargaining rights. Dr. Elliott told the panel that \"in March, President Trump signed an executive order eliminating the collective bargaining rights of 1,500,000 federal employees at agencies, including VA,\" and that the rollback of telework had hurt morale and retention for clinicians who used telemedicine. \"Most telework has been rescinded by this administration,\" she said, adding the requirement that clinicians report to facilities and work in crowded spaces has \"harmed morale and retention of mission critical and hard to recruit clinicians at the VA.\"

Members on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about whether targeted personnel reductions would spare mission-essential roles. Representative Brendan Kennedy and others cited VA dashboard figures showing estimated losses in nurses, physicians and claims processors; Kennedy said such losses contradict assurances from the secretary that mission-essential roles will be preserved. Committee members pressed VA officials to provide location- and occupation-level separation and declination data and asked for the number of veteran appointments canceled because of staffing shortages; VA agreed to follow up with detailed data for the record.

The hearing included calls for legislative remedies. AFGE urged support for legislation to nullify the executive order limiting bargaining rights; some members noted recent bipartisan bills that would impose further guardrails on senior-level incentive payments. No formal legislative action occurred at the hearing; members said they would continue oversight and seek the detailed workforce data requested from VA.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Oversight Hearing","oneSentenceSummary","Members of the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee and an AFGE representative described large net losses of VA staff, examples of local morale and recruitment problems, and concerns that an administration executive order and telework policy changes have worsened retention.","taxTitle","Veterans Affairs: House Committee, Standing Committees - House & Senate, Congressional Hearings Compilation, Legislative, Federal","taxId",1825,"location","","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},6159608,"VA officials describe new controls and training after OIG audit of incentive payments",475,2593000,3068000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5453428-25d3ddfa1d6b51ae8470c7c1a2834046&start=2593&end=3068","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5453428-25d3ddfa1d6b51ae8470c7c1a2834046/thumbnail_2593000.jpg","/articles/6159608/VA-officials-describe-new-controls-and-training-after-OIG-audit-of-incentive-payments","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6159608-3aba2fbd690e43cdaf787d34ad8ba544/orig.mp4?Expires=1770755775&Signature=lOM113tXoVTS-zBm6IUwX3Fg0T3y7yUPCk3L2qmvNJAaA7VFhSvtUe8dgDeWE3kM3WKMF-oTE6Z9bl0pBGYOaGvCTllAOPBxW2hOfyyHB0AdFlGcWLQM1rKEAu6u0sqGjXgDTYb-2ieaf7P8y8r7PG7DmnzTEF7GNSENCFKHsyLxZ2Q5lh290JkcYdUQGoRVR6qo7RkVmNTTG5hCvVdw7oS6O7B1C81a~v~8UT7M3kC09INQh3ZGqEq9wUoSiJXj2IerHHtdESRueWZ52E~bgw-8ZySWX1MDLjJB97zgoHcbaf~Fhh8Dxgh-WbeHcGUGh~DwU3aB-FyDcLUqH00gyg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Veterans Affairs officials told a House subcommittee in July 2025 that the department has implemented and will expand procedural controls intended to improve governance of recruitment, relocation and retention incentives.

Tracey Thuritt, identified in the hearing as chief human capital officer for the VA's Office of Human Resources and Administration, said VA \"began requiring annual certification of the incentive,\" adopted a standard form to capture legally required information and aligned the use of 3R incentives with shortage and hard-to-fill positions. She told the committee that VA is \"tracking unfulfilled service obligations, improving coordination of debt collection and enforcing debt collection, and reviewing incentives annually and terminating them in a timely manner when they are no longer needed.\"

Thuritt described additional measures at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) level, including programmatic quarterly monitoring, uniform checklists, templates, training on documentation for succession plans and strengthened technical review processes. She said VHA is \"creating oversight plans and a strengthened technical review program to assess every incentive for technical adherence\" and that specific performance metrics will be tied to operational and human resources leadership.

David Perry, chief officer for workforce management and consulting at VHA, told the subcommittee the department is shifting responsibility for earlier review to compensation teams within VISNs so reviews occur on the front end rather than after payments are made. \"We agree where the VISN is needed to do a more proactive approach, we are shifting that responsibility over to the compensation aspect of the VISN to do that on the front end versus the back end,\" Perry said. He also described delegations of authority that typically place recommending officials at the medical center director level and approving officials at VISN or network director levels depending on incentive size.

Officials told members the VA updated departmental policy in 2020 to align practice with regulation, introduced standard forms (referred to in testimony as Form 10,016 for recruitment/relocation and Form 10,017 for retention) and said they will enforce a one-year recertification requirement for retention incentives. VA witnesses said they will work toward greater consistency across VISNs and that national-level oversight will act as a second-level check.

Committee members sought details on how the breach-of-agreement and debt collection processes are escalated; Thuritt and Perry described a chain in which waivers and repayment requests move up supervisory chains and, in limited cases, to the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration. VA officials committed to provide requested workforce and appointment-cancellation data to the committee for follow-up oversight. No formal actions were taken at the hearing.","VA witnesses told a House subcommittee that the department has adopted standard forms, annual certifications, and new oversight steps to better govern recruitment, relocation and retention incentives and that VHA will add enterprise-level monitoring and training.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},6159613,"OIG: VA failed to document $341 million in recruitment, relocation and retention incentives",1702,1718000,3420000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5453428-25d3ddfa1d6b51ae8470c7c1a2834046&start=1718&end=3420","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5453428-25d3ddfa1d6b51ae8470c7c1a2834046/thumbnail_1718000.jpg","/articles/6159613/OIG-VA-failed-to-document-341-million-in-recruitment-relocation-and-retention-incentives","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6159613-2776a0c51d21c5a2565cfb650ebb4bdf/orig.mp4?Expires=1770755775&Signature=NPAHdKWi3IndChC19iQn6TvVF-2WAhkRbofUennljR7UE-sVLaeeRahzaZNYI-8XHtxvW35o6z0PdAd8gv5V7Y0tJZk3P7ue7TntMfCQsJCMhu67XA3wcRHE7ToVbdOhYMmi5ynj0DYdaxfWCP9tdph45Jl2yl0Yq2Dg6FWf0PokNLQUmLdjrk8jWL-pJp6U2Ipx7UYfgR0haMdeZJlQpUu5qWQs0SnzWjg1vbnMCFisrAhu0q4MTpTfLH9rndFuRC55Ebub2a8JJ9LNRpTrfKvuS0DDTOL0TGR6x9koY2doFi4wuUVua4dnT0UMaYBuZ62myvQ92RvV7dwhOwwaZA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations heard July 2025 that the Department of Veterans Affairs failed to adequately document hundreds of millions of dollars in recruitment, relocation and retention incentive payments.

Sean Steele, director of the Human Capital and Operations Division in the Office of Audits and Evaluations at the VA Office of Inspector General, told the subcommittee the OIG \"estimated that the award justification could not be verified or is insufficient for 30% of VHA employees that received incentive payments. This amounted to about $341,000,000 in incentives that were not adequately supported.\" He added that some employees continued to receive retention payments long after their award periods expired, saying, \"These individuals were improperly paid for an additional 8 years on average, totaling about $4,600,000.\"

The hearing traced the issue to an earlier OIG review: committee remarks noted a 2017 OIG audit that found weaknesses in controls and $158,000,000 in unsupported spending. Committee leaders and the OIG said corrective steps taken after 2017 were not consistently followed. According to opening remarks entered into the record, \"Between 2020 and 2023, more than 134,000 employees received incentive payments totaling $1,200,000,000; $341,000,000 of those incentives were found by the OIG to be improperly documented.\"

The OIG testified that missing forms, inadequate justifications and absent approval signatures undermined oversight. Steele told the panel that in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 \"nearly 90% of incentives went to employees and occupations on staffing shortage lists,\" but that the lack of documentation prevented verification that incentives were properly authorized and effective. The OIG also reported examples the subcommittee cited in which relocation payments were made to employees who did not relocate and where VA did not recoup improper payments.

Committee members framed the problem as both a stewardship and patient-care issue: undocumented incentives reduce the ability of oversight offices and Congress to determine whether funds were used in ways that improved recruitment and retention. The OIG committed to continued monitoring of VHA staffing needs and incentive usage.

The OIG's findings prompted calls from committee members for stronger, enforceable documentation and for the VA to follow through on prior recommendations to prevent further improper payments. The subcommittee did not take any formal votes during the hearing; members requested additional data and pledged follow-up oversight.","A June 2025 Office of Inspector General report found that the Veterans Health Administration could not verify or adequately document roughly $341 million in incentive payments and that prior fixes after a 2017 audit were not sustained, the OIG told a House subcommittee in July 2025.","actionData","errors"]

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Lawmakers and union reps warn VA staffing losses, telework changes and bargaining restrictions threaten care

VA officials describe new controls and training after OIG audit of incentive payments

OIG: VA failed to document $341 million in recruitment, relocation and retention incentives