Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “I believe the gentleman from Florida misspoke, so let me make clear that this amendment prohibits incentive bonus…”

“I believe the gentleman from Florida misspoke, so let me make clear that this amendment prohibits incentive bonus payments to anyone in the senior executive service in the entire VA, not just the central office. Let's be clear what this amendment does. It goes much further than the gentleman described. The VA has acknowledged that they made a mistake in issuing bonus payments to certain employees in the VA central office and they have taken steps to address this error and recoup these funds. In fact, 92 percent of these funds have already been recouped and the remaining will likely be recovered soon. This issue is on its way to being resolved. It is an administrative mistake, and this amendment is completely unnecessary and takes a sledgehammer where a chisel would be more appropriate. This amendment would go further by disincentivizing dedicated public servants from serving the VA by preventing any merit-based bonuses, not just from the central office as the gentleman from Florida described. We should be investing in ways to attract talent to the VA and this amendment takes us backward. Humans make mistakes. That is the reality, and I think all of us would acknowledge that we have made some mistakes in our lives. Sometimes big ones, but we shouldn't be cutting off our nose to spite our faces by taking away merit-based bonuses for the entire senior executive service at the VA going forward.…”