VA's performance bonuses draw scrutiny..

From McClatchy Newspaper:

Performance bonuses given to members of the VA have drawn fire from Congress. It turns out that 'Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance bonuses last year at the Veterans Affairs Department also sat on the boards charged with recommending the payments.' Among them 'rewarded was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who manages a system with severe backlogs of veterans waiting for disability benefits.'

Bonus proposals for 2006 that were obtained by the AP show that senior officials who received top payments of $33,000 were sometimes credited for achievements that were questionable, if not inaccurate. Also, no mention was made of agency-wide problems.