Sponsor
Mike Flood
Representative · R-NE
Representative · R-NE
The bill increases transparency and standardizes pay protections for VA senior staff, but does so at the cost of reduced managerial pay flexibility (which could hinder recruitment/retention), added administrative burden, and some privacy concerns for employees.
Taxpayers and congressional oversight bodies will get clearer transparency into VA performance awards because reports must disclose the appropriations accounts used and each award recipient's annual basic pay, improving fiscal oversight and ability to check bonus equity.
Federal career appointees transferring to or appointed within the VA will have clearer, standardized pay rules aligned with SES pay rules, reducing ambiguity and helping preserve pay protections for career employees.
Veterans and VA service recipients — and the VA’s ability to recruit and retain senior executives — could be harmed if requirements to keep VA pay consistent with SES aggregate limits and limits on internal pay adjustments reduce the agency's flexibility to offer higher pay for hard‑to‑fill positions.
Additional, more detailed reporting requirements will increase VA administrative workload and costs, with taxpayers ultimately funding greater compliance and reporting efforts.
Publishing individual senior employees' annual basic pay in reports raises privacy and personnel‑information concerns for affected federal employees.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires VA to report appropriations used and recipients' basic pay for senior performance awards and ties VA senior executive pay to SES pay rules.
Official title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to modify pay rates for certain Senior Executive Service employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 16, 2025 by Mike Flood · Last progress December 16, 2025
Requires more detailed public reporting about performance awards paid to senior Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees and sets rules for how senior executive pay at VA is determined and adjusted. It directs that performance award reports list the appropriations accounts used and each recipient’s annual basic pay, and it ties VA senior executive pay to the pay ranges and limits that apply to the federal Senior Executive Service (SES), with transition rules for career appointees moving into VA or between VA senior positions.