The Department of Veterans Affairs is an absolute disgrace and must be reformed so that we can live up to our promises to our veterans, who have sacrificed everything in the name of duty and honor. Politicians who pay lip service to our veterans but vote against their interests must be shamed and held accountable for their disingenuous and, frankly, questionable actions.

Pete Hegseth, the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, penned an op-ed in The Hill that explained 307,000 veterans died “before their applications for health care were completed, according to a report by the agency’s inspector general.” Jonah Goldberg put it simply, stating, “There is only one guaranteed way to get fired from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Falsifying records won’t do it. Prescribing obsolete drugs won’t do it. Cutting all manner of corners on health and safety is, at worst, going to get you a reprimand. No, the only sure-fire way to get canned at the VA is to report any of these matters to authorities who might do something about it.”

Every single American that cares about our veterans is outraged with the disgusting stories they see seemingly every day in the news, and, while real people are livid and veterans are being hurt, politicians are playing games.

A hint of good news came this summer, though, when the House of Representatives passed, 256-170, the VA Accountability Act of 2015. This much-needed bill will give the Secretary of Veterans Affairs the ability to fire VA employees who are found to be incompetent or who are found to have engaged in mismanagement or misconduct. The measure also protects whistleblowers. While the bill passed the house with bipartisan votes, Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis all three shamefully voted “no” on the bill. It is shocking mainly because, in public, they talk about how much they care about veterans. It’s not showing through their action, and their rhetoric is meaningless. Choosing bureaucrats over veterans should be considered a crime.

One-upping their disgracefulness, President Barack Obama threatened to veto the VA Accountability Act in a statement claiming it would create “disparity” between VA workers and officials at other government agencies. How on earth can someone defend this sick practice of allowing the VA to continue its bad behavior? James Freeman criticized the president’s threat in the Wall Street Journal, saying, “Perhaps the next Miller bill should instruct the executive branch that potential employees put off by the idea that they might be fired for letting a patient die while they process his paperwork are not ‘top talent.'”

Now that the Aurora VA hospital project looks like it can continue moving forward, it is time to enact sweeping changes to fundamentally reform the VA’s toxic culture that is hurting our veterans.

The VA Accountability Act is one way of taking the necessary steps to ensure our veterans get the health care they deserve and that employees within the VA are treated properly. The VA cannot continue to take its funding and run with it. The VA’s generous funding absolutely must be backed by the tight leash of accountability and reform. Look no further for proof this is an accurate assessment of the situation when even VA Secretary Robert McDonald admitted the VA has a leadership crisis.

As if abusing our veterans wasn’t damage enough, though, the VA is hurting its own employees, namely women who have been sexually harassed. U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, who has been at the tip of the spear fighting the corruption and dangerous practices of the VA, suggested that the Department of Veterans Affairs “has an internal policy preventing it from working out a dispute with whistle-blowers who are accusing a VA supervisor of sexual harassment and assault.” Coffman’s letter stemmed from “incidents with five female nurses at a VA outpatient clinic in Aurora who said they were sexually assaulted or harassed by a male nurse.”

Negative headline after negative headline has plagued the VA, but, more importantly, the VA has plagued America. Concerned veterans, taxpayers and women are waiting for the VA Accountability Act to be passed in the Senate and to be signed into law so we can hold VA employees accountable for outright misconduct and incompetent mismanagement. Now it is up to U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet to help pass the VA Accountability Act in the Senate so it can be slapped down on the president’s desk. Our veterans deserve better than this outrage, and people need to know the truth. Advancing Colorado will continue to ring the alarm on this issue because Coloradans expect our representatives to take these critical issues seriously.

Jonathan Lockwood is executive director of the nonpartisan Advancing Colorado, a nonprofit seeking to advance a culture of opportunity and freedom in Colorado.