Huelskamp Votes for Funding for Military, VA, and Zika

Today Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) voted for the Fiscal year 2017 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and Zika Response and Preparedness Act, which passed the House 239-171.

The bill included several legislative provisions Congressman Huelskamp has introduced, including text of Huelskamp’s legislation, H.R. 2981, the Whistleblower Testimony Travel Act, to make sure the voices of VA whistleblowers are heard in Congress.

“Whistleblowers were critical to shedding light on the VA scandal in Phoenix, AZ two years ago. Yet under current VA policy, they have to use personal vacation time and personal resources to come and testify before Congress. My language would remove the barriers constructed by the VA and allow whistleblowers to come and shed light on what’s really happening inside the VA as part of their official responsibilities as a federal employee.”

Another win for Huelskamp came with the inclusion of language to prohibit bonuses for all Senior Executive Service employees at the VA. In 2013, Huelskamp demanded a VA bureaucrat now found to be responsible for $1.1 billion in cost overruns at the Denver Hospital Construction site justify his $55,000 bonus. After he grilled that bureaucrat, every single House Military Construction and VA Appropriations bill since then has included language to prohibit these senior employees from receiving bonuses. In addition, this year’s language allows any of these lavish bonuses to be recouped from poor-performing VA employees.