This bill limits bonus pay, called “critical skill incentives,” for top leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Senior executives who are based at VA’s Central Office would not be allowed to get these bonuses. Some senior leaders not based at Central Office could still receive a bonus, but only one person at a time and only if specific VA officials sign off. If a senior leader is mostly a Central Office employee but spends part of their time working at other VA facilities, any bonus must be tied only to the time spent at those non–Central Office sites and be proportional. The VA would also have to report to Congress every year on which senior leaders received these bonuses .

Here’s what that means in everyday terms:

• It aims to stop large bonuses for VA leaders working at headquarters, while still allowing carefully reviewed, case-by-case bonuses for certain senior staff working in the field. This is meant to focus extra pay on hard-to-fill skills where they’re most needed and add more oversight and transparency .

Key points:

• Who is affected: Senior VA executives, especially those at Central Office (including Veterans Health, Veterans Benefits, and National Cemetery)
• What changes: No bonuses for Central Office-based executives; individual, approved bonuses only for other senior leaders; proportional bonuses for time worked away from Central Office; yearly public reporting to Congress
• When: Annual reporting starts one year after the bill becomes law and continues every year after that