WASHINGTON (AP) -- The VA says nearly 80 percent of its senior executives got performance bonuses last year, despite widespread treatment delays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals and clinics.<br />
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Gina Farrisee is an assistant VA secretary for human resources. She told Congress Friday that more than 350 VA executives were paid nearly $3 million in bonuses last year. Farrisee says the VA needs to pay bonuses to keep executives who are paid up to $181,000 per year.<br />
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Florida Republican Jeff Miller is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Miller says the VA's bonus system "is failing veterans."<br />
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He said that instead of being given for outstanding work, the cash awards are "seen as an entitlement and have become irrelevant to quality work product."
