In the News

A recent Government Accountability Office report found the Department of Veterans Affairs “is not managing its outgoing mail effectively,” and spending more on mail than most in the federal government, including the Social Security Administration and the Department of Treasury, including the IRS. The VA’s reported spending on mail spiked by over $100 million in Fiscal Year 2014, however, the number of mailings went down from previous years. This week, the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing to examine the VA’s mail management program and get answers on where the money is going. In the hearing, U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington (TX-19), a member of the subcommittee, said, “I think it’s incredibly important that we have effective and efficient operations for the Federal Government; especially when you’re a service organization -- especially when you’re serving our heroes.” Using data that the VA reported, lawmakers found several discrepancies in mail volume and costs. For example, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) in Huntington, West Virginia, sent Priority Mail for .03 cents each, while a Memphis Medical Center sent Priority Mail for $39 each. A VA facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, reported sending First Class letters for .08 cents, while a location in Decatur, Georgia, reported sending the same letters for $58.29 each. A Denver Medical Center sent nearly 10,000 Airmail packages and 65,000 UPS Ground Packages at no cost, while facilities in Temple and Waco reported spending $40,000 to mail just 16 business reply letters. The most egregious example was the Decatur, Georgia Medical Center sending one FedEx Ground Package at a cost of $11,257. When pressed for an explanation, the VA explained these as data entry errors. The claimed Priority Mail in Memphis had cost $3.90, the mail in Temple cost $40, the Decatur FedEx was $112, and the First Class in Decatur never existed. “I feel like the taxpayer is being fleeced over and over because of the this not-so-exciting issue of operations and management,” Arrington said. “This is just a symptom of the root problem, and that’s the lack of accountability.”