WASHINGTON — The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee warned the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday to expect much more aggressive oversight in the coming months as lawmakers review the department’s conference and travel spending.
“The truce is over,” said Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida, the committee’s Republican chairman, at the conclusion of an often contentious hearing regarding spending at employee-training conferences.
Miller called the hearing in response to an inspector general’s report from Oct. 1 that described some $762,000 in expenses from two Orlando, Fla., conferences that were deemed wasteful or unnecessary, like a $50,000 video featuring a parody of former Gen. George Patton.
W. Scott Gould, a deputy secretary at the VA, said the department had taken several steps in response to the inspector general’s report, including ethics training for all VA personnel involved in planning and overseeing the conferences. He also noted that one employee, an assistant secretary, resigned.
Miller’s committee has sought more detailed information from the VA about the department’s overall training and travel budgets.
He said that while he could get little information from the VA, social media websites used by VA employees hinted at some extravagance. He noted one Facebook page comment on a trip to Italy, but it was not clear that the pictures were part of an official trip or an employee’s vacation. One viewer responded to the pictures by saying “tough trip,” prompting a response from the VA’s Canteen Service stating: “Research is tough, but someone has to do it.”
“Is this a boondoggle or not a boondoggle?” Miller said.
Gould said the VA is working to improve its health care at every turn, and that can include leaving the country on occasion to hear from leaders in various health fields. Gould said he was not aware of the pictures that the committee reviewed, but VA officials made clear after the hearing that the pictures were part of an employee’s own personal vacation and not paid for by taxpayers. They said the VA will work to ensure that personal photos are no longer uploaded to the VA’s socialmedia outlets.
Miller went on to say that the committee has made 91 requests for information from the VA since September, but three-quarters of their queries have gone unanswered.
Gould said part of the lag in response stems from the large number of requests made to the VA, adding it also takes time to make sure the information provided is accurate. He noted that the VA has responded to 1,100 congressional briefings and more than 3,000 questions from lawmakers, but Gould did not provide a time frame.
As the hearing began to wrap up, Gould talked about the need to avoid criticizing the VA’s staff, prompting an outburst from Miller, who said the VA should never accuse any member of the committee of taking a slap at the department’s 320,000 employees.
“Rest assured, it’s the leadership we’re concerned with,” Miller said as he adjourned the hearing.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 11/29/2012