Bernie Sanders touts his 2014 Veterans Choice and Accountability Act as a major bipartisan achievement. Too bad it didn’t actually fix the Veterans Administration.
The law was a response to the scandal at VA hospitals across the country that parked hundreds of vets on hidden waiting lists. That led to at least 40 cases of veterans dying while waiting for care, even as the administrators responsible collected bonuses for “efficiency.”
Only a handful of heads rolled for those outrages — and the VA still can’t fire even flagrant wrongdoers.
Notably, this month saw two employees who’d been demoted for official misconduct suddenly reinstated.
That includes Kimberly Graves, a St. Paul, Minn., regional director who pocketed $130,000 in bogus relocation fees.
Another official — Diana Rubens — orchestrated an underhanded move from her Virginia office to one in Philadelphia while getting $274,000 in excessive “moving expenses” approved.
Graves and Rubens were each demoted and reassigned to a new office. Both appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board — which is supposed to protect civil servants from unfair discipline.
And both won. The board declared that the VA’s failure to punish others for similar misconduct made the discipline unfair and arbitrary.
In other words, this fraud goes on across the VA system — so nobody gets punished.
The ruling means both Graves and Rubens get reinstated in their old jobs — and likely get the VA to cover their attorney’s fees.
VA Deputy Director Sloan Gibson hopes to bring lesser discipline to both women. We’ll believe it when we see it.
The simple fact is that Sanders’ “reforms” were designed to help protect public employees.
Indeed, the Vermont socialist killed a Marco Rubio amendment that would’ve given the VA greater ability to fire managers caught adjusting the books in order to give themselves bigger bonuses.
Remember that next time Sanders starts thundering about justice and health: When the pedal hits the metal, Bernie puts bureaucrats’ rights above veterans’ care.