Editorial: Rewarding red tape?

Monday, May 21, 2007 | 7:57 a.m.

One of the most stunning revelations of the year is that top officials in the Veterans Affairs Department received $3.8 million in performance bonuses in 2006.

While the VA has been praised by medical experts for the quality of its health care, many veterans have told shocking stories about the ridiculously long delays they have endured to access that care.

After the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer and the Associated Press reported these bonuses earlier this month, members of Congress were understandably outraged and wanted answers.

The agency's initial response, as reported by AP, was that the bonuses were necessary to retain hardworking career officials. Each of these officials received up to $33,000, or roughly 20 percent of their salaries.

In a follow-up story, AP reported on Wednesday that 21 of the 32 officials who sat on VA performance review boards that oversaw the bonuses themselves received more than $500,000 in bonuses.

In other words, senior officials at an agency buried in red tape are being rewarded by others who are turning a blind eye.

Two key statistics that point to problems at the VA are a budget that has come up $1.3 billion short, and delays that average 177 days in getting benefits to injured veterans. But many delays have been far worse than the average, often dragging out for years when veterans file appeals against rejected or reduced claims. Newhouse News Service reported last week on the case of a Korean War veteran who endured 10 years of appeals simply to get a dental exam.

Following pressure from Congress and from groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson requested that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management review the bonuses.

Our recommendation is that the bonuses ought to be scrapped until the VA reduces the delays and endless appeals that prevent veterans from getting the health care they were promised and deserve.