Rep. Bill Shuster, R-9th District, has signed on to a bill that would direct Veterans Affairs to fill open leadership roles, shortly after the Van Zandt VA Medical Center got its fifth interim head in less than a year.

Sponsored by Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., the resolution proposed Thursday would direct the federal department “to develop and implement a plan to hire directors of the (VA) medical centers.” Shuster and several other Congress members in both parties have signed on as co-sponsors.

The bill’s full text wasn’t publicly available as of Friday.

“It’s ridiculous that we have more than 20 VA medical centers without a permanent director across the country, including James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona,” Shuster said in a written statement accompanying the resolution. “It makes it difficult for these facilities to succeed when there is no permanent leadership, and I strongly support legislative efforts to require the VA to address this problem.”

The Altoona medical center’s fifth interim leader in less than a year, regional Chief Financial Officer Charles Thilges, took charge late last month.

In a written statement, Bost, the resolution’s main sponsor, decried the “revolving door” leadership at many VA facilities and called for greater stability in the system.

“At a time when restoring accountability and leadership at the VA is a primary focus, we can’t afford to continue operating in this haphazard way,” he said.

Tens of thousands of jobs in the VA system, from leadership roles to rank-and-file, remain unfilled. Last month, President Donald Trump issued a blanket hiring freeze at federal agencies but left possible exemptions for key jobs at departments like the VA.

Robert Snyder, then the acting VA secretary, said at the time he intended to issue exemptions for needed roles like those in medicine.

“The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to exempt anyone it deems necessary for public health and safety, including frontline caregivers,” he wrote in late January.