House lawmakers plan to press top Veterans Affairs officials this week to explain why, after a series of scandals, they have had limited success holding employees accountable for misconduct.

At a hearing Wednesday, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs says it will examine VA’s “continued and pervasive lack of accountability” for employees who deceived taxpayers and veterans by covering up long waiting times for treatment at 100 medical centers.

Across the system, just three low-level employees have been fired after the scandal, which unfolded last year in Phoenix, with no firings of senior executives who were involved. Committee aides also say that no employees in Phoenix have been successfully disciplined for their roles, while several remain in limbo on paid leave.

But lawmakers in both parties have broader concerns about VA’s slow progress punishing poor performers and holding employees involved in misconduct accountable, a fault line Secretary Robert McDonald pledged to correct when he took over the agency last year.

Read the article “Will Wrongdoers at VA Ever Be Held Accountable?” on washingtonpost.com.