U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, along with Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), has introduced legislation to prevent the use of veterans’ benefits funding for bonuses to senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO) in Washington, D.C.
The Stop Government Rewards Enriching Executives in the District (Stop GREED) Act follows a VA Office of Inspector General report revealing that the VA’s Under Secretaries of Health and Benefits improperly approved $10.8 million in PACT Act Critical Skill Incentive (CSI) payments to VACO’s senior executives rather than to rank-and-file employees nationwide.
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Last month, the VA announced a budget shortfall of $3 billion for Fiscal Year 2024 and nearly $12 billion for Fiscal Year 2025, potentially delaying veterans’ benefits without Congressional action by September 20. Despite this, VACO senior executives involved in the budget mismanagement received CSI bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars. Although the VA has been recovering the improper payments, legislative action is needed to ensure that such bonuses are not awarded again in the future.
“The PACT Act was intended to expand benefits to the men and women who wore our nation’s uniform and are now living with toxic exposure-related illnesses due to their service,” said Boozman. “This legislation will ensure funds support veterans’ needs, not VA executives.”
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“The critical skills incentive payments included in the PACT Act were meant to improve recruitment and retention for difficult-to-fill positions across the VA, not to increase the salaries of senior executives in Washington, D.C.,” said Moran. “The bonuses to executives were a gross misuse of funds, especially in light of the VA’s budget shortfall, and we must ensure it does not happen again.”
“The VA must be held accountable for its egregious mishandling of the critical skill incentives included in the PACT Act,” said Blackburn. “We must restore integrity and trust within the VA, and the Stop GREED Act would help ensure such a failure does not happen again.”
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The CSI authority from the PACT Act was intended to strengthen the delivery of healthcare and benefits to veterans by providing incentives to retain highly-skilled, rank-and-file employees across the country, including human resources staff, police officers, and housekeepers in the VA.
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