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Coburn Questions VA Over Employee Union Work

Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma are seeking information about Department of Veterans Affairs employees who they say perform full-time union duties instead of their government work.

They sent a letter Wednesday to the head of the VA suggesting employees doing other duties could hinder the VA in its goal of eliminating the backlog of veterans' disability claims.

They say VA documents show more than 100 employees since January 2012 were paid government salaries while performing union work unrelated to their government duties.

The senators want information including numbers and job descriptions of such employees in the past 10 years. They also want to know if other employees are hired to perform the government duties and any costs.

A message was left at the VA.

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