Republican Tim Walberg of Michigan during his 2010 election campaign. (Carlos Osorio/AP) If Congress can get away with the dubious constitutional move of cutting due process rights for senior executives in the Department of Veterans Affairs, why not do the same thing for top civil servants across government? That’s the approach the House took last week when it approved legislation, primarily along party lines, that would sharply limit the ability of individual Senior Executive Service (SES) members to challenge personnel actions against them. “There are many hardworking public servants in the federal workforce, but they are often overshadowed by bad actors who abuse their position of power,” said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), a sponsor of the legislation. “Instead of continuing to violate the public’s trust, this bill establishes tools to help create a culture of accountability when wrongdoing occurs and provide greater stewardship of taxpayer dollars.” But at what price? Violating the Constitution? Unlike political appointees, who come and go after elections, senior executives are career employees who are known for their management skills and direct major government programs and facilities. But too many of them succumbed, inappropriately, to a push to make VA service data look good. The result was a scandal over the cover-up of long patient wait times that erupted in 2014. That led to a bipartisan law, supported by President Obama, that severely undermined VA senior executive employment rights. Like the VA law, the current legislation, known as the Government Reform and Improvement Act, would prohibit appeals by senior executives to the full Merit Systems Protection Board, the quasi-judicial, presidentially appointed body that hears unfair labor practice cases from federal employees. The bill would allow SES complaints to be heard under a significantly abbreviated timeline by administrative judges whose decisions “shall be final and shall not be subject to any further appeal.” That’s a problem, belatedly, for the Obama administration. Curiously, it offered praise when Congress approved a similar VA provision two years ago. Obama’s words of support then are now being turned against his administration by Republicans. He spoke of the need for the VA secretary to “move quickly to remove senior executives” who behave or perform poorly. “Why won’t the Obama administration defend the reforms that President Obama actively supported and signed into law?” asked Dan Kotman, a spokesman for Walberg. The White House explains with double-barreled shots at the fast-track firing authority. The first was a May 31 letter from Attorney General Loretta Lynch telling Congress that the Justice Department would not defend or enforce that section of the 2014 “Choice Act” that includes the expedited firing procedures for VA senior executives. | 