WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) – members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee – introduced legislation to prohibit PACT Act Critical Skill Incentive (CSI) payments from going to Senior Executive Service (SES) employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO) in Washington, D.C.

The Stop Government Rewards Enriching Executives in the District – or Stop GREED Act – comes after the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that VA’s Under Secretaries of Health and Benefits improperly approved $10.8 million in PACT Act CSI payments to VACO’s senior executives rather than rank-and-file employees across the country. The Stop GREED Act also follows 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 CSI bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars. VA has been recovering the improper CSI payments since the scandal became public but without legislative action, VA would be able to use these bonus payments to reward VACO executives again in the future.

“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 Sen. 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 Sen. Boozman. “This legislation will ensure funds will be used to support the needs of veterans, not VA executives.”

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

The full text of the bill can be found here.

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