{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/8/issues/veterans/blackburn-moran-boozman-introduce-legislation-to-restrict-bonuses-to-senior-executives-at-va", "Blackburn, Moran, Boozman Introduce Legislation to Restrict Bonuses to Senior Executives at VA", "2024-08-09", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Marsha Blackburn", "B001243", "www.blackburn.senate.gov", "blackburn", "https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/news/cc8c80c1-d564-4bbb-93a4-f1d772346ae0", "scraper", "NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and John Boozman (R-Ark.) \u2013 members of the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee \u2013 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.\n\n\u201cThe VA must be held accountable for its egregious mishandling of the critical skill incentives that were included in the PACT Act,\u201d said Senator Blackburn. \u201cWe must restore integrity and trust within the VA, and the Stop GREED Act would help ensure such a failure does not happen again.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe 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.,\u201d said Senator Moran. \u201cThe bonuses to executives were a gross misuse of funds, especially in light of the VA\u2019s budget shortfall failure, and we must make certain it does not happen again.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe PACT Act was intended to expand benefits to the men and women who wore our nation\u2019s uniform now living with toxic exposure-related illnesses as a result of their service,\u201d said Senator Boozman. \u201cThis legislation will ensure funds will be used to support the needs of veterans, not VA executives.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nThe Stop GREED Act follows the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that found the VA\u2019s Under Secretaries of Health and Benefits improperly approved $10.8 million in PACT Act recruitment and retention incentive payments to VACO\u2019s senior executives rather than rank-and-file employees across the country.\n\nThe Stop GREED Act also follows the VA\u2019s 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.\n\nThe 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.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:36:13Z"]], "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://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/8/issues/veterans/blackburn-moran-boozman-introduce-legislation-to-restrict-bonuses-to-senior-executives-at-va"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9777671657502651, "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"}