HR 9406: To amend title 38, United States Code, to eliminate the cap on the number of waivers to certain pay limitations that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may issue for critical health care personnel of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

HR 9406 in plain English: This bill is early in the legislative process and detailed text is not yet available. Sponsor: Rep. Harder, Josh [D-CA-9] (D) · Status: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Stated purpose

This bill aims to remove the existing cap on how many pay waivers the Secretary of Veterans Affairs can grant to critical health care workers at the VA, allowing more of those workers to be paid above standard pay limits.

Arguments supporters make

• Removing the cap lets the VA compete with private hospitals for top medical talent, helping fill hard-to-recruit critical positions.
• A fixed numerical cap is an arbitrary limit that may leave important clinical roles unfilled when the VA faces shortages in specific specialties.
• Veterans deserve access to highly qualified health care providers, and paying competitive wages is key to making that happen.

Arguments opponents make

• Eliminating any ceiling on waivers removes a guardrail on federal spending, potentially allowing VA payroll costs to grow without a defined limit or oversight check.
• Unlimited waiver authority concentrates too much pay discretion in a single official with no built-in congressional check on how often or how generously it is used.
• Higher pay for some VA staff through waivers could create internal pay inequities or pressure to raise compensation more broadly, adding unplanned costs to the department.

Tradeoffs

Giving the VA more flexibility to pay critical staff competitively may improve recruitment and veteran care, but it reduces a built-in limit on how many high-pay exceptions can be made, trading fiscal predictability for workforce flexibility.

Current status in Congress: In committee.