Congress has made the VA almost impossible to manage by restricting the agency’s ability to fire, discipline and transfer its employees. This problem, of course, is not unique to the VA. Congress has ordained a system of “merit protection” that, in effect, confers lifetime tenure on many federal employees, however incompetent. To fire or seriously discipline them, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and his staff would have to invest immense time and effort. This helps explain why the VA’s malpractice costs are so high, why the federal government’s employee discharge rate is only about one-eighth the private-sector rate and why Shinseki has not fired even the senior VA officials responsible for so much documented, life-endangering negligence. A bill that would make it easier for him to do so recently passed the House and has bipartisan support in the Senate — but even if enacted, this reform would be too late for the victims of the VA’s incompetence.

Congress has held scores of oversight hearings about the VA but has failed to produce adequate VA performance. For example, it has allowed the VA’s computerization effort to lag so badly that almost 40 percent of its claims files are still in paper form, while the VA has also bungled its interface with the Pentagon’s medical records. Congress has countenanced an incentive system that encourages VA claims workers to prioritize the easiest cases, rather than those warranting the most urgent attention, and to make “provisional” rulings in old cases, encouraging payments with little or no scrutiny.