Department of Veterans Affairs
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The Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General says the VA's suicide hotline has been struggling to keep up with the growing volume of calls, and in some cases, veterans have been transferred to voicemail without getting through to a live operator.
February 25, 2016 -
Give Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he'll agree that in some jobs, feds do earn less than their private sector counterparts.
February 25, 2016 -
Senior leaders at the Veterans Affairs Department say the bill that was supposed to help them hold agency senior executives more accountable isn't working. Agency leaders are considering changes to the VA Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (Choice Act).
February 25, 2016 -
Kimberly Graves and Diana Rubens, who were reinstated to their positions as directors of the St. Paul and Philadelphia regional veterans benefits offices, could face another form of punishment, following the results of a second investigation from VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson. The results of the investigation, which took longer than Gibson expected, should come in another week.
February 22, 2016 -
Art Gonzalez, the deputy chief information officer for service, delivery and engineering at the Veterans Affairs Department, announced he will leave his post on March 5.
February 22, 2016 -
One prominent attorney believes MSPB is signaling to Congress it doesn't like the curtailment of employee civil rights.
February 18, 2016 -
Some members of Congress are taking aim at the Merit Systems Protection Board, after it released its third decision in nearly a month to reverse punishments for senior executives at the Veterans Affairs Department. MSPB is standing by its decisions, arguing that it must comply with the 2014 Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act.
February 16, 2016 -
VA Secretary Bob McDonald and Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson are working with Congress on a proposal that would strip senior agency executives of their rights to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board when they face disciplinary action. But the proposal faces growing criticism from the Senior Executives Association and others.
February 12, 2016 -
The Veterans Affairs Department is asking for a 5 percent boost in across-the-board funding next fiscal year. But Congress is questioning whether new VA programs are doing enough to solve an array of tough problems at the department.
February 10, 2016 -
Cybersecurity tops the list of spending priorities at the Office of Personnel Management in 2017. But President Barack Obama's budget request also addresses several governmentwide initiatives the administration already started.
February 09, 2016 -
Here's a breakdown of major agencies and the proposed funding amounts for fiscal 2017, which are included the President Obama's $1.1 trillion budget.
February 09, 2016 -
Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson has launched an investigation to determine whether or not he will seek different disciplinary actions for two VA senior executives. Gibson said the investigation should take one week but did not give a timeline on when he would make a decision on punishment.
February 03, 2016 -
The Treasury Department, thanks largely to the Internal Revenue Service, held its rank as the agency with the lowest satisfaction rating in 2015.
February 02, 2016 -
The second of two Department of Veterans Affairs senior executives had her demotion reversed by a Merit Systems Protection Board judge. Diana Rubens was demoted from her executive position by the VA for allegedly abusing her power for her own personal gain. Fellow SESer Kimberly Graves received a similar decision from a judge last week.
February 01, 2016 -
A Merit Systems Protection Board judge reversed the decision by the VA to demote one of its senior executives for alleged misconduct involving a relocation program. Reports also say another VA official demoted for the same reason is currently defending herself in a Philadelphia court.
January 28, 2016