{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sinema.house.gov/latest-news/sinema-supports-legislation-to-hold-va-accountable-fire-poorperforming-employees/", "Sinema Supports Legislation to Hold VA Accountable, Fire Poor-Performing Employees", "2016-09-15", "2016", "2016-09", "Democrat", "House", "AZ", "Kyrsten Sinema", "S001191", "sinema.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema voted with a bipartisan majority to pass the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016, legislation reforming the VA benefits claim process and giving the Secretary of Veterans Affairs new authority to hold VA employees accountable and improve performance at the VA.\r\n\r\n\t\u201cIt took more than two years to remove three leaders responsible for the tragedies at the Phoenix VA,\u201d said Congresswoman Sinema. \u201cIt\u2019s outrageous that it takes this long to fire employees responsible for the poor treatment of veterans. Today\u2019s legislation gives the Secretary of the VA the authority to hold employees accountable and change the culture of the VA to finally put veterans first.\u201d\r\n\r\n\tThe VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016 authorizes the VA to remove or demote a VA employee based on performance or misconduct. It also strengthens protections for whistleblowers and allows the VA secretary to recoup bonuses from poor-performing employees.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sinema.house.gov/latest-news/sinema-supports-legislation-to-hold-va-accountable-fire-poorperforming-employees/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.832017045468092, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}