Bush Appointee Takes Home $3.8 mil – Asks For More Funding

A House of Representative committee was recently told by Jim Nicholson, Department of Veterans Affairs secretary, that he intends to work hard to turn around the poor progress the VA medical system has experienced recently. He and other officials at the VA received almost $4 million in bonuses from last year.

Rep. John Hall (D – NY) wondered how the VA can justify the bonuses when the average delay for a veteran was 177 days and there is over 600,000 disability cases backlogged. This comes in a time of war, when more and more soldiers are coming home with serious injuries and soon become wards of the VA.

The highest individual bonuses were $30,000 and are now automatic, instead of performance related, which was the original intention. Luckily, Rep. Hall is trying to freeze bonuses this year until the VA’s backlog is reduced 500,000 or more. Democrats in the Senate are furiously considering whether or not to hold hearings on the issue. On average VA officials are making more in bonuses than any other sector of government making the VA “the most lucrative in government.”

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