Legislation responds to 2023 report on improper payments to VA executives
WASHINGTON – This week, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment introduced by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – that included language 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 amendment is based on the Stop Government Rewards Enriching Executives in the District – or Stop GREED Act – which Sen. Moran introduced with Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) after the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that in 2023 VA’s Under Secretaries of Health and Benefits improperly awarded $10.8 million in PACT Act CSI payments to VACO’s senior executives rather than rank-and-file employees across the country.
“The PACT Act’s critical skill payments were meant to improve VA recruitment and retention, not raise the salaries of senior executives in D.C.,” said Sen. Moran. “The bonuses to executives were a gross misuse of funds, especially in light of VA’s budget mismanagement the following year, and this legislation will make certain these funds will not be used to enrich VA bureaucrats.”
The amendment also included two other bills, the Protecting Regular Order for Veterans Act of 2025 introduced by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) – a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – and the Improving Veterans’ Experience Act of 2025 introduced by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who is also a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
To avoid a repeat of the VA’s budgetary mismanagement that occurred last year, the Protecting Regular Order for Veterans Act of 2025 would require quarterly briefings to Congress on VA’s budget and any shortfall the Department may be experiencing. The Improving Veterans’ Experience Act of 2025 would formally authorize VA’s Veterans Experience Office within the VA Secretary’s Office.
The full text of the amendment can be found here.
