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The House voted Wednesday to cut workplace protections for Department of Veterans Affairs employees and extend their probationary period, making it easier to fire new staffers. The “VA Accountability Act of 2015” was approved with a 256 – 170 vote, largely, though not strictly, along party lines, despite a White House veto threat. (Davidson, 7/29)

The House on Wednesday approved a bill making it easier to fire or demote hundreds of thousands of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, as lawmakers expressed continued frustration at the slow pace of change at the beleaguered agency. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said the VA hasn’t moved quickly enough to respond to a scandal over long waits for veterans seeking medical care and falsified records by VA employees to cover up the delays. (7/29)

As part of the deal, Congress was also tacking on a provision to help the Department of Veterans Affairs avoid closing healthcare clinics amid its own budget shortfall. The agency will be able to tap $3 billion over the next two months to cover rising costs associated with providing veterans faster health services in order to avoid long wait times. (Mascaro, 7/29)

Congress will slide toward its August recess this week by doing what every high school student dreams of: putting off the hardest projects until later. ... In many ways, the last few months have been quite productive under Republican control, particularly when viewed through the lens of sheer expectations. ... After years of patches, lawmakers finally established a new formula for paying doctors under Medicare. ... Mr. Boehner, who has grown grudgingly accustomed to the chaff tossed up by the right, has found ways to work with just enough Democrats to lead the way on things like fixes to the Medicare payment system and some funding measures. (Steinhauer, 7/29)