119-HR-6755 Journalist Public Summary
119 · HR 6755 Accountable Leadership for Veterans Act of 2025
H.R. 6755 would let VA fill up to 10% of its Senior Executive Service (SES) jobs with political (noncareer) appointees instead of the current 5% cap, and it would drop the statutory search‑commission and merit‑criteria rules for selecting VA’s two top career leaders (the Under Secretaries for Health and Benefits), leaving them as direct presidential appointments with Senate confirmation; backers say this speeds accountability, while critics warn it risks politicization; as of March 19, 2026, it remains in the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. (law.cornell.edu)
Headline Summary
A VA leadership shake‑up bill that doubles the ceiling on political appointees at the Department of Veterans Affairs and streamlines how VA’s top two Under Secretaries are chosen. (congress.gov)
What It Does
- Raises the limit on how many VA Senior Executive Service (SES) jobs can be filled by noncareer (political) appointees from 5% to 10%. That would align VA’s ceiling with the government‑wide SES noncareer limit in Title 5. (law.cornell.edu)
- Rewrites the law on filling VA’s two top operational posts—the Under Secretary for Health and the Under Secretary for Benefits—by removing today’s statutory search‑commission process and merit‑criteria language. The posts would still be filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation, but without the extra commission and qualification requirements now in statute. (law.cornell.edu)
Who’s For It
- Rep. Nancy Mace (R‑SC), the sponsor. She argues the bill will "improve care for veterans" by strengthening leadership accountability, aligning VA with the rest of the executive branch, and simplifying appointments. (mace.house.gov)
- As of March 19, 2026, Congress.gov lists no cosponsors and the bill remains in the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. (congress.gov)
Who’s Against It
- Federal employee unions (e.g., National Federation of Federal Employees) have opposed broader efforts to expand political appointments or reduce merit‑based safeguards at VA, warning this can politicize management and erode nonpartisan expertise. (These statements address the overall trend, not this bill specifically.) (nffe.org)
- Scholars studying federal management performance have found programs led by political appointees—especially patronage/campaign appointees—tend to score lower on OMB’s Program Assessment Rating Tool than those led by career executives, fueling concerns that expanding noncareer leadership could hurt outcomes. (cdn.vanderbilt.edu)
- Current law explicitly requires nonpartisanship and a stakeholder commission when selecting VA’s Under Secretaries; opponents argue removing these guardrails increases the risk of politicized selections. (law.cornell.edu)
What’s Next
Status: Introduced and referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on December 16, 2025. Next typical steps would be a committee markup, a House floor vote, then consideration in the Senate if it passes the House. (congress.gov)
Discussion