{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr280-114/featured_to-authorize-the-secretary-of-veterans-affairs-to-recoup-bonuses-and-awards-paid-to-employees-of-the-department-1454545658.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr280-114/featured_large_to-authorize-the-secretary-of-veterans-affairs-to-recoup-bonuses-and-awards-paid-to-employees-of-the-department-1454545658.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr280-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-01-12","title_override":"Should The Department of Veterans’ Affairs Be Able To Take Back Employee Bonuses?","summary_override":"

In 2014, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs faced a huge scandal involving cooked books, excessive wait times, and preventable deaths. This bill seeks to punish those involved by granting the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs the ability to demand that employees repay (a part or full amount of) reward or bonus money that they received.

That can be a bonus that was paid to a VA employee before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act. The Secretary would have to give advance notice to the employee and, if they wished, a hearing by the Secretary. But, if the Secretary did find it necessary to recoup payment, that would be the end of the line. The bill would ban reviews of the Secretary’s decision by outside agencies.

As the CBO notes in it's cost estimate of this bill:

\"Based on discussions with the agency,\nCBO expects that this provision would be used infrequently, primarily to recoup payments\nmade to senior VA employees who were determined to have committed a serious violation\nof the agency’s standards of conduct. Of the roughly $400 million that VA pays out each\nyear for awards and bonuses, about $4 million goes to senior staff.\"

","official_title":"To authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recoup bonuses and awards paid to employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs.","short_title":null,"popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to issue an order directing a VA employee to repay the amount, or a portion of the amount, of an award or bonus paid to the employee if: (1) the VA determines that such repayment is appropriate, and (2) the employee is afforded notice and an opportunity for a hearing conducted by another federal agency. Makes such repayment decisions final and unreviewable.\n\nMakes this Act applicable to awards or bonuses paid before, on, or after the date of this Act's enactment.","summarized":true,"cost":0,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate found that implementing this bill would decrease personnel costs by less than $500,000 over the 2016-2020 period.","impact":"VA employees (current and former), Veterans receiving VA care, the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs, and the department's budget. ","argument_for":"Bonuses should go to people that do their jobs well. Many executives in the VA organization have done their jobs poorly and still got bonuses. It is unfair to the taxpayers and those employees need to fork the money over. ","argument_against":"This bill gives the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs gives the ability to take away bonuses willy-nilly. While taking away bonuses may be appropriate in the case of the recent VA scandals, it should be a rare occurrence. This bill authorizes too much power. ","bill_type":"hr","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"hr280-114","bill_id":"hr280-114","formal_id":"H.R. 280","chamber":"house","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2015-03-03T00:00:00.000Z","active":true,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":"2015-03-02T23:58:02.000Z","debated_on":"2015-03-02T00:00:00.000Z","congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/house-bill/280","plain_text_url":"http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114hr280rfs/html/BILLS-114hr280rfs.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr280-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/house-bill/280/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2015-01-12","related_bill_ids":["hr5620-114","hr6062-114","s3170-114"],"progress":"Passed House","house_passage_result":true,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":154,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Oversight and Reform","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSGO","subcommittee":false},{"name":"Committee on Veterans' Affairs","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSVR","subcommittee":false},{"name":"Committee on Veterans' Affairs","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSVA","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=hr280-114","details":"/api/bills/hr280-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/hr280-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/hr280-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/hr280-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":9,"slug":"hr280-114-to-authorize-the-secretary-of-veterans-affairs-to-recoup-bonuses-and-awards-paid-to-employees-of-the-department-of-veterans-affairs","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":2802,"yea_vote_count":1884,"nay_vote_count":915,"passed_house":true,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["defense"],"issue_ids":["defense","veterans-affairs"],"sponsor_id":312}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"defense","name":"Defense","slug":"defense","description":"Federal legislation related to Defense spending, the active duty military, intelligence activities, war powers and veterans’ care. Make your voice heard about the issues you care about.","page_title":"US Armed forces and Defense related Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/defense/black_defense-1429042040.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/defense/grey_defense-1429042040.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/defense/white_defense-1429042040.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false},{"id":"veterans-affairs","name":"Veterans Affairs","slug":"veterans-affairs","description":"Legislation impacting Veterans Affairs and funding. \r\n\r\nCountable empowers you with the knowledge and tools necessary to directly influence Veterans Affairs policy. Countable is live on the web, as an iPhone app in the App Store, and on Android on Amazon and Google Play.\r\n\r\nTell your Senators and Representative what you think about how they’re doing for Veterans Affairs– not every six or two years – but every day!\r\n","page_title":"Veterans Affairs Issue Desk at Countable - Vote on Legislation, Stay informed, Hold Government Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/veterans-affairs/black_veterans-affairs-1429042036.svg","grey":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/veterans-affairs/grey_veterans-affairs-1429042036.svg","white":"https://assets.causes.com/issue/icon/veterans-affairs/white_veterans-affairs-1429042036.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"Cheryl","vote_count":51,"photos":{"large":"https://graph.facebook.com/1616462566/picture?width=150&height=150","small":"https://graph.facebook.com/1616462566/picture?width=75&height=75","tiny":"https://graph.facebook.com/1616462566/picture?width=20&height=20","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/1616462566/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/e9XAaLWw/following","followers":"/api/users/e9XAaLWw/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":1,"is_following":null,"influence_score":20,"influence_level":10,"follower_count":0,"following_count":0,"position_count":8,"id":"e9XAaLWw","partner_id":null},{"name":"Elinor","vote_count":1909,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-flags.png","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-flags.png","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/default-with-flags.png"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/OWlR51mJ/following","followers":"/api/users/OWlR51mJ/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":12035,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":41,"following_count":4,"position_count":806,"id":"OWlR51mJ","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"f31e24d1-58da-4c9b-ab93-a5de7509a0be","argument_for":"I am against giving bonuses in government jobs. They are paid better than the private sector and have better job security. It used to be considered an honor and a sacrifice to serve your government. Government departments are bloated with money and waste. It's our money!","argument_against":null,"show_argument_for":true,"show_argument_against":false,"upvote_count":1,"upvotes_for_count":1,"upvotes_against_count":null,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":1,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/f31e24d1-58da-4c9b-ab93-a5de7509a0be"},"body":"I am against giving bonuses in government jobs. They are paid better than the private sector and have better job security. It used to be considered an honor and a sacrifice to serve your government. Government departments are bloated with money and waste. It's our money!","stance":"yea","created_at":"2015-04-04T15:07:41.119Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/f31e24d1-58da-4c9b-ab93-a5de7509a0be.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"hr280-114","user_id":"e9XAaLWw","endorser_ids":["OWlR51mJ"]}}

Like Causes?

Cheryl

Should The Department of Veterans’ Affairs Be Able To Take Back Employee Bonuses?