In a story reported by Yahoo news by Hope Yen of the Associated Press,
it was reported that Congressional leaders on Thurs. demanded that the Veterans Affairs secretary explain why hefty bonuses were given to senior department officials involved in creating a budget which came up some billion dollars short and jeopardized our veterans’ health care.
In fact, as AP reported, the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on oversight, said he would hold hearings to investigate after it was reported that budget officials at the Veterans Affairs Department received bonuses ranging up to thirty three thousand dollars a piece.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, aDemocrat from the state of Hawaii, and who heads the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, stated that the payments pointed to an improper “entitlement for the most centrally located or well-connected staff.” He has sent a letter to VA chief Jim Nicholson asking what the department plans to do to get rid any bonuses based on such blatant favoritism.
He is quoted as saying, “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.”
This almost sounds like the case of wall street titans getting massive bonuses despite huge losses to investors, or corporate ceo’s getting incredibly lush retirement packages after heavy losses and downsizing.