Roby, colleagues pass amendment prohibiting bonuses for VA executives

The U.S. House recently passed the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill of 2014, which included an amendment co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Martha Roby.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a backlog of more 800,000 unresolved disability claims.

According to Roby, the problem isn't budget related. In the last four years, the number of VA claims has risen 2,000 percent despite a 40 percent increase in the VA's budget.

Roby, along with Rep. Keith Rofus, of Pennsylvania; Rep. Scott Tipton, of Colorado; and Rep. Mike Kelly, of Pennsylvania, sponsored an amendment to the bill that prohibited VA executives from receiving bonuses.

According to Roby, a 2011 audit of the VA showed the agency paid its senior executives about $2.8 million on bonuses for the fiscal year. In 2012, the total was $2.3 million.

While addressing the House floor, Roby said, "An award of a bonus should be a special recognition of success and accomplishment, not a right or a routine payment."

Roby said each unresolved case represents a person who has served his or her country and represents a veteran who may have earned a benefit that is currently being denied because of bureaucratic delay.

"Restricting the ability to award bonuses until that backlog is cleared is a commonsense good government policy," Roby said as she addressed the House floor.

The bill, including the amendment, passed June 4 by a vote of 421 to 4.