Veterans

Lawmakers Look to Strip a Maligned Whistleblower Protection Office of Key Powers

Leaders insist the office is turning a corner, but lawmakers and advocates say its structure is fundamentally flawed and in need of reform.

  • Eric Katz

Agency Doesn’t Have to Reconsider Benefits Decisions After Misinterpreting the Law, Supreme Court Rules

Opponents call it "inexcusable" to deny a veteran a new hearing after VA admitted it made a mistake.

  • Eric Katz

Black and Hispanic Vet Mental Health Improved after Obama’s Election

After the presidential election of Barack Obama, Black and Hispanic veterans, on average, experienced about two fewer poor mental health days a month.

  • Futurity

Congress Closes in on a Nearly $7B Investment in the VA Workforce and New Facilities

Pay raises, student loan repayment and new recruiting tools are part of the sweeping package as lawmakers prepare VA for a surge of new patients.

  • Eric Katz

Lawmakers Grill VA Tech Officials Over Stalled Progress on Cybersecurity

Top cyber officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs told Congress they are opposed to a bipartisan bill seeking to strengthen the agency’s cybersecurity standards—despite its ongoing failures to meet oversight recommendations.

  • Chris Riotta

A New Law Will Make It Harder to Escape Investigation By Leaving Federal Service

The measure will allow the Veterans Affairs Department IG to subpoena former feds and contractors.

  • Eric Katz

VA Launches Competition to Boost Gun Safety, Other Suicide Prevention Ideas

Winners of the "marketplace for innovation" will receive $3 million.

  • Eric Katz

As Turnover Soars, Most VA Employees Say They Were Not Emotionally Supported During the Pandemic

Front-line staff were largely unaware of VA's offerings to support employee well-being, new survey finds.

  • Eric Katz

VA Downplays Its Role at the Border Amid Backlash, But Defends Potential Deployments

Republican lawmakers say tapping VA resources to confront any crisis would harm veterans.

  • Eric Katz

Agencies Ease Disability Benefits Rules for Feds, and More

A weekly roundup of pay and benefits news.

  • Erich Wagner

VA Has Been Dinged By Its Watchdog Over Project Management Woes

The multibillion electronic health records modernization project at the Veterans Affairs Department needs to improve scheduling and coordination, according to a critical report from the agency's inspector general.

  • Adam Mazmanian

VA Will Provide Presumptive Disability Coverage to Vets with Respiratory Cancers

Veterans who have developed any number of nine rare cancers associated with burn pits will no longer have to prove that their conditions were caused during their service overseas.

  • Erich Wagner

VA Has Fired Just Six Employees Over Its COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

The department was carved out from an injunction on Biden's governmentwide mandate, offering a preview of how the soon-to-be-resumed requirement may play out.

  • Eric Katz
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Aviator Cancer Bill Would Push VA to Study Toxins Air Crews Faced, Assess Links to Cancers

Ground crew and flight crew cancers would be reviewed. So would the fuels, chemicals, and emissions they were exposed to.

  • Tara Copp

Years After Scandal, the VA Is Still Reporting Misleading Medical Appointment Wait Times for Veterans

The department is not "clearly and accurately presenting" how long patients wait for appointments, IG says.

  • Eric Katz

'It's Life Shattering:' Employees and Lawmakers Denounce VA's Efforts to Shutter Facilities

The department is telling employees not to panic, but the message is not getting through.

  • Eric Katz

VA Begins Deploying Its New Electronic Healthcare System In Washington

After years of bureaucratic backlog, the VA is working to stand up the EHR system in two hospital clinics by the end of April.

  • Alexandra Kelley

Another Agency Calls Employees Back to the Office, but is Not Asking Them to Work There Full Time

“We’ve got a lot more to do to invest in our workforce,” a top official says.

  • Eric Katz

The VA Aims to Boost Pay for More Workers, Retain Employees at Facilities It Wants to Close

Congress just approved increases to top-level pay for some staff.

  • Eric Katz

The VA Proposes Closing a Dozen Hospitals, and Using Pay to Attract Workers to New Locations

Department also recommends closing 172 outpatient clinics, though it would build new nursing homes, hospitals and other health care facilities as well.

  • Eric Katz

VA to Propose Closing Some Medical Centers and Outpatient Facilities

While Secretary Denis McDonough says VA will seek to maintain jobs, the union blasts the department's plan as privatization.

  • Eric Katz