In a letter addressing potential changes, Sen. Jerry Moran has joined other lawmakers in urging for greater accountability within the Department of Veterans Affairs. This move highlights the importance of ensuring that the Department of Veterans Affairs is functioning efficiently and effectively for the benefit of those who have served our country.
The VA made payments that were later canceled, as per the report. The cancellation was followed by informing Congress and conducting a review of the handout by the VA Office of Inspector General. The report highlights that the inspector general’s office discovered several leadership breakdowns, lack of transparency and communication, and failure to detect legal issues that collectively resulted in the ‘improper’ payments.
On Thursday, Moran teamed up with Senator Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana, and 11 other lawmakers to denounce the Department of Veteran Affairs’ inappropriate utilization of recruitment and retention incentives.
In 2023, after the initial report, committees in the House and Senate that focused on the VA, including Moran, wrote a letter urging the department to conduct more thorough research, increase oversight, and enhance planning.
In similar fashion, a letter directed to the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough in 2024 was written.
In a letter, the senators expressed their disappointment over VA’s misuse of recruitment and retention incentives, which were designed to enhance the delivery of healthcare and benefits for veterans by strengthening VA’s front-line workforce. The senators labeled VA’s actions as unacceptable and disturbing, stating that utilizing this critical authority to boost the salaries of executives in VACO is unethical, goes against VA policy, and directly opposes the intention of Congress.
The 2022 PACT Act introduced Critical Skill Incentives as a means of providing healthcare and compensation to veterans who had been exposed to harmful chemicals, including burn pits. These incentives were designed to draw in highly skilled employees, thereby bolstering the VA workforce.
According to reports, most of the individuals who received incorrect bonuses were high-ranking senior executive service employees working for the Veterans Health Administration. In fact, a staggering 81% of the erroneous bonus recipients fell under this category. The remaining individuals who received the incorrect bonuses were executives working for the Veterans Benefits Administration.
Senators Patty Murray, John Boozman, Sherrod Brown, Bill Cassidy, Richard Blumenthal, Thom Tillis, Mazie Hirono, Kevin Cramer, Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema and Angus King have all endorsed and signed the letter.