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The head of the Veterans Affairs Department told lawmakers he intends to try out a new law that makes it easier to fire — and keep fired — deficient department employees. The test case: the former director of the agency’s main medical center here. The center’s director, Brian Hawkins, oversaw an operation that the department’s inspector general said was plagued by the “highest levels of chaos.” After the inspector general findings were released in a rare interim report in April, the department immediately transferred Mr. Hawkins to a job at its nearby headquarters. It then fired him in late July, saying in a statement that he had “failed to provide effective leadership at the medical center” or live up to the department’s values. (Fandos, 8/9)

A federal board has blocked the firing of the director of D.C.’s troubled hospital for veterans, setting up a showdown with the Trump administration as it pursues expanded authority to clean house at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Brian Hawkins, who until recently served as the head of the VA Medical Center in Washington, was removed from his post in April and fired two weeks ago for what VA officials said was a failure to “provide effective leadership.” (Jamison, 8/9)