KERRY L. BENTIVOLIO: “I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding. Mr. Speaker, common sense is something often discussed here but…”

“I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding. Mr. Speaker, common sense is something often discussed here but it is rarely put into practice. It's time for that to change. That's why we need the Common Sense in Compensation Act. While the administration plays political games with the sequestration by forcing hardworking Americans to take a furlough, they continue to hand out bonus checks to highly paid bureaucrats. Between 2008 and 2011, the Federal Government spent $340 million on cash bonuses for Senior Executive Service employees. Some of these bureaucrats have used their time to attack the average American through regulations and the Tax Code. The American people are not getting what they paid for from many of these Federal regulators and senior staff. The Common Sense in Compensation Act brings much-needed reform to the bonus system for Federal employees. Under this legislation, employee discretionary bonuses are limited to no more than 5 percent of their base salary while the sequestration is in effect. Additionally, it limits the total amount of Senior Executive Service performance awards to 33 percent of all SES employees in a given agency. Both of these changes prevent the most wealthy in the Federal system from becoming richer while those actually engaging and serving the general public are getting laid off. Opponents of the bill may claim that limiting Federal Government employee bonuses may be an unsound business move.…”