CLEAN VA Act

Key Points

• Makes it faster for the Veterans Affairs Department to discipline or fire certain employees, with a goal of quicker accountability (a full process capped at 15 business days).
• Raises criminal penalties when a Veterans Affairs employee uses their job access to steal, lie, take bribes, or commit benefits-related fraud, including required payback of losses and possible loss of federal pension in certain cases.
• Strengthens whistleblower protections at Veterans Affairs by pushing retaliation investigations to finish within 60 days and requiring more reporting to Congress and a public summary of results.
• Creates cash awards up to $10,000 for proven internal tips that help stop or uncover major fraud, when the fraud is valued over $100,000 and when funding can come from recovered money.
• Orders a full review of the Veterans Affairs disability rating rules and adds the use of data tools and artificial intelligence to flag suspicious claims, with human review required before action is taken. A report to Congress is due within 180 days after the law starts.