“For the health and well-being of every current and future veteran, Secretary [James] Nicholson should step down immediately,” said Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., an Army Reserve veteran and member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee...

Nicholson has survived worse blows than this — such as the loss of personal information for 26 million people last year and claims that VA is not fully prepared to handle Iraq and Afghanistan combat casualties.
Hare said veterans deserve better. “Our veterans have suffered tremendous setbacks on Secretary Nicholson’s watch,” Hare said. “After presiding over a $1 billion shortfall, a backlog of 600,000 disability cases, staffing shortages at vet centers, two security breaches that jeopardized the personal information of our veterans, and now, lavish bonuses to the very VA officials responsible for the whole mess, it is time to say enough is enough.”

VA spokesman Matt Burns said bonuses are used to narrow the pay gap with the private sector and help retain the agency’s top executives.
“Without such tools, VA would be much less likely to retain its most experienced career civil servants — which could reduce the quality of services provided to veterans and increase costs to taxpayers in the long run,” Burns said in a statement.

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