SEAL Vet-Turned Congressman Calls on VA Secretary to Resign Over Bonus Scandal

Published on June 5, 2024

Retired U.S. Navy SEAL-turned-congressman Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) confronted U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough on Tuesday with calls for his resignation after senior VA executives allegedly raked in millions in “unjustified” bonuses. In September, the VA revealed it had erroneously awarded millions of dollars in critical skill incentive (CSI) payments to senior executives at its central office. A subsequent investigation by the VA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) concluded in May, that the department had awarded $10.8 million in CSIs to 182 senior executives in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) at the VA’s central office. The OIG report found some senior VA executives received bonuses as high as $100,000 in these improper CSI awards. The OIG investigation concluded nearly all of these VHA and VBA central office executives lacked adequate justification for the bonuses and that the awards were not consistent with department policy or federal law known as the PACT Act....

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