Tennessee Senator Blackburn Involved In Legislation to Restrict Bonuses to Senior Executives at VA

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and John Boozman (R-Ark.) – members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee – introduced the Stop Government Rewards Enriching Executives in the District (Stop GREED) Act to prohibit PACT Act recruitment and retention incentive payments from going to Senior Executive Service (SES) employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO) in Washington, D.C.

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“The VA must be held accountable for its egregious mishandling of the critical skill incentives that were included in the PACT Act,” said Senator 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.”

“The critical skills incentive payments that were included in the PACT Act were meant to improve recruitment and retention for difficult-to-fill positions across VA, not to increase the salaries of senior executives in Washington, D.C.,” said Senator Moran. “The bonuses to executives were a gross misuse of funds, especially in light of the VA’s budget shortfall failure, and we must make certain it does not happen again.”

“The PACT Act was intended to expand benefits to the men and women who wore our nation’s uniform now living with toxic exposure-related illnesses as a result of their service,” said Senator Boozman. “This legislation will ensure funds will be used to support the needs of veterans, not VA executives.”

BACKGROUND:

• The Stop GREED Act follows the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that found the VA’s Under Secretaries of Health and Benefits improperly approved $10.8 million in PACT Act recruitment and retention incentive payments to VACO’s senior executives rather than rank-and-file employees across the country.

• The Stop GREED Act also follows the VA’s recent announcement of a budgetary shortfall of $3 billion in FY2024 and nearly $12 billion in FY2025 that may cause a delay in veterans benefits without action from Congress by September 20. VACO senior executives involved with this budget mismanagement were approved for recruitment and retention incentive bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars. The VA has been recovering the improper recruitment and retention incentive payments since the scandal became public but without legislative action, the VA would be able to use these bonus payments to reward VACO executives again in the future.

• The recruitment and retention incentive authority from the PACT Act was intended to strengthen the delivery of health care 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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