{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://vanorden.house.gov/media/press-releases/van-orden-flood-introduce-bonus-transparency-act", "Van Orden, Flood Introduce the BONUS Transparency Act", "2024-12-06", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "House", "WI", "Derrick Van Orden", "V000135", "vanorden.house.gov", "vanorden", "https://vanorden.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congressman Derrick Van Orden (WI-03), joined by House Veterans\u2019 Affairs (VA) Committee Chairman Mike Bost (IL-12), and Congressmen Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) and Adrian Smith (NE-03), introduced the BONUS Transparency Act. The legislation follows a recent report by the VA\u2019s Inspector General, which revealed that funds allocated by Congress for recruitment and retention of VA employees that assist in processing veterans\u2019 benefits claims, were instead used to award bonuses to SES employees.\n\nThe BONUS Transparency Act requires that all bonuses awarded to SES employees must be reported to Congress, including the employee\u2019s name, job title, and annual rate of pay. Additionally, federal agencies must disclose the accounts from which the performance awards were funded.\n\n\u201cOversight on the use of taxpayer dollars is not optional \u2013 it is a necessity,\u201d said Congressman Van Orden. \u201cIf this magnitude of financial misconduct can occur at the Veterans Administration, it can happen at any other federal agency, and that will not be tolerated. The BONUS Transparency Act will draw a clear line to ensure that federal agencies are held to the highest standard and any misuse of funds is fully exposed\u201d\n\n\u201cThe VA\u2019s inappropriate awarding of nearly $11 million to SES employees must be addressed,\u201d said Congressman Flood. \u201cWhat makes this situation even worse is that the public only became aware of this misuse of funds because of the VA\u2019s Inspector General. This cannot happen again, which is why I\u2019ve introduced the BONUS Transparency Act. Congress has the obligation and authority to oversee how taxpayer funds are used by federal agencies. This bill promotes transparency\u2014and, in turn, accountability\u2014across our federal government, ensuring these funds are not abused for personal gain by Washington bureaucrats in the future.\u201d\n\n\u201cAfter the Biden-Harris administration tried to line the pockets of its senior VA executives during the bonus scandal earlier this year, we need my friend Rep. Flood\u2019s bill. The BONUS Transparency Act would ensure that this type of government waste never happens again. My Committee\u2019s investigation over the summer revealed that too often bureaucrats are getting ahead of their skis and money doesn\u2019t go to the right people \u2013 those who had actually earned it,\u201d said Chairman Bost. \u201cThis commonsense bill would increase transparency and accountability throughout the federal government overnight.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T22:13:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://vanorden.house.gov/media/press-releases/van-orden-flood-introduce-bonus-transparency-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.803999999538064, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}