Congress Turns Up the Heat on Executive Bonuses

Congress Turns Up the Heat on Executive Bonuses

By Stephen Barr
Monday, August 13, 2007; Page D01

Bonuses for federal executives are getting a congressional grilling.

Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate possible misuse of the bonus program for federal executives. In fiscal 2006, two-thirds of federal executives received bonuses, and at five federal agencies, more than 90 percent of the executives collected bonuses, he pointed out.

In announcing the GAO probe, Dorgan said agencies, rather than rewarding only their high-performing executives, seemed to believe that all of their executives were above average, "a lot like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon." Dorgan said he was concerned by reports that some executives received bonuses when their agencies had failed to meet certain performance standards.

The heat began turning up on executive bonuses in May, when House members faulted the Veterans Affairs Department for awarding $3.8 million in performance bonuses in fiscal 2006, with some executives receiving bonuses of $33,000 each, even though the VA faced a backlog of disability claims and had stumbled in calculating the cost of care for wounded military personnel returning from Iraq.

The grill got a little hotter this month, when lawmakers criticized the Food and Drug Administration for paying $8.3 million in retention bonuses last year. Such bonuses go to scientists, doctors and other employees at risk of leaving to join the private sector, but the critics questioned whether FDA senior managers would really quit.

The perception that agencies are handing out overly generous bonuses "is an embarrassment," said Paul C. Light, a New York University professor who studies public service. "It is an embarrassment to see the lack of connection between what agencies do and what individuals receive."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/12/AR2007081201028.html