Lawmakers wants VA to explain bonuses. Explained, hell I want it stopped and now

[madokie]

this is bullfucking shit right here :grr:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/veterans_care_bonuses

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders on Thursday demanded that the Veterans Affairs secretary explain hefty bonuses for senior department officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1 billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.

Rep. Harry Mitchell (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on oversight, said he would hold hearings to investigate after The Associated Press reported that budget officials at the Veterans Affairs Department received bonuses ranging up to $33,000.

Sen. Daniel Akaka (news, bio, voting record), who heads the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the payments pointed to an improper "entitlement for the most centrally placed or well-connected staff." He has sent a letter to VA chief Jim Nicholson asking what the department plans to do to eliminate any bonuses based on favoritism.

"These reports point to an apparent gross injustice at the VA that we have a responsibility to investigate," said Mitchell, D-Ariz. "No government official should ever be rewarded for misleading taxpayers, and the VA should not be handing out the most lucrative bonuses in government as veterans are waiting months and months to see a doctor."

[HCE SuiGeneris]

1. Bonuses for mismanagement in the public sector. Sucking the

coffers dry while screwing the troops. Put another yellow sticker on your SUV... My god, I can't take this shit anymore.

[madokie]

2. to say it pisses me off is an understatement

this madness has to end. At the moment America has lost its way, just wandering around not knowing what to do. Well I know what to do and its not to be niceie poo with this band of crooks another damn minute. All I ask for them is to give them their day in court and see where that gets 'em

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. kick

[sam sarrha]

3. this isa Rico Violation.. plain and simple.... put em in JAIL, are they laundering this money to the

Republican party like the Home Land Security money to Right Wing Owners of small bakeries in Montana and the like...

[fed-up]

4. here are links to original story/video and more nt

Here's the video from original AP story
Posted on DU: May 03, 2007
By DU Member: Monkeyman
Views on DU:

Run time: 02:33
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jgn0274wU4

Posted on YouTube: May 03, 2007
By YouTube Member: lscott7224
Views on YouTube: 159




Here is original ap story

"people who nearly shortchanged our veterans shouldn't get a bonus check at the end of the year"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/0...
AP: Senior VA Officials Get Big Bonuses
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, May 3, 2007

Several watchdog groups questioned the practice. They cited short-staffing and underfunding at VA clinics that have become particularly evident after recent disclosures of shoddy outpatient treatment of injured troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
"Hundreds of thousands of our veterans remain homeless every day and hundreds of thousands more veterans wait six months or more for VA disability claim decisions," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "The lavish amounts of VA bonus cash would be better spent on a robust plan to cut VA red tape."

...snip

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said the VA bonuses appeared to reflect a trend in government where performance bonuses were increasingly used to reward loyal associates and longtime employees.
Put in place shortly after the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, executive bonuses were designed to increase accountability in government by tying raises more closely to performance. But while bonuses can help retain key employees, damage can be done when payments turn into an automatic handout regardless of performance, Ellis said.
"Simply put, people who nearly shortchanged our veterans shouldn't get a bonus check at the end of the year," he said.




Here's more background info
fed-up (1000+ posts)
remember a few months ago Nicholson said they didn't have $1M for a database for injured vets??


http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf030807-10.htm
VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 03-08-2007 #10

UPDATE & VIDEO: NICHOLSON DIGGING A DEEPER HOLE

AT THE VA -- He shelved a Seamless Transition program

aimed at helping returning veterans when he

took over as VA Secretary in 2005.

Under VA Chief, Effort to Aid Wounded Vets Stalled, Ex-Employee Charges

Brian Ross and Justin Rood Report:


A proposal to keep seriously wounded vets from falling through the cracks of the bureaucracy was shelved in 2005 when Jim Nicholson took over as the secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, according to the former VA employee who was responsible for tracking war casualties.

As a result, seriously wounded veterans continued to face long delays for health care and benefit payments after being discharged from the military, says former VA program manager Paul Sullivan.

The program, called the Contingency Tracking System, had been approved by Nicholson's predecessor but died once Nicholson took over the VA, Sullivan told ABC News.

Sullivan said he was told the cost of the system -- less than $1 million to build and requiring a handful of staff to maintain -- was prohibitive.

[formercia]

5. The VA should rename them 'Bounties'

for every veteran that doesn't get proper treatment or is denied disabilty benefits.


These assholes are pissing off the wrong crowd.