I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2292 
To prohibit the payment of bonuses to certain officers of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs unless fewer than 100,000 disability compensation 
claims are pending before the Department. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 14, 2007 
Mr. HALL of New York (for himself, Mr. SPACE, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. WALZ 
of Minnesota, Ms. HOOLEY, Ms. BEAN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. HARE, Mr. 
COURTNEY, Mr. MAHONEY of Florida, Mr. ALTMIRE, and Mr. KAGEN) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To prohibit the payment of bonuses to certain officers of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs unless fewer than 
100,000 disability compensation claims are pending be-
fore the Department. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pay Veterans First 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON PAYMENT OF SALARIES AND PER-
FORMANCE BONUSES TO CERTAIN OFFICERS 
OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) LIMITATION ON PAYMENT OF BONUSES.—For 
fiscal year 2007, no bonus described in subsection (b) may 
be paid to any officer of the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs who is appointed by the President, by and with the 
consent of the Senate, or who is a senior politically ap-
pointed officer unless, at the time such payment is made, 
fewer than 100,000 claims for disability compensation 
under chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code, are 
pending before the Department. 
(b) BONUSES DESCRIBED.—A bonus described in 
this subsection is any of the following: 
(1) A performance award under section 5384 of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(2) A performance-based cash award under sec-
tion 4505a of such title. 
(c) DEFINITION
OF
SENIOR
POLITICALLY
AP-
POINTED OFFICER.—For purposes of this section, the 
term ‘‘senior politically appointed officer’’ means any offi-
cer who serves— 
(1) as an Assistant Secretary; 
(2) as a Deputy Under Secretary; 
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(3) in a Senior Executive Service position and 
is not a career appointee as defined under section 
3132(a)(4) of title 5, United States Code; or 
(4) in a position of a confidential or policy-de-
termining character under schedule C of subpart C 
of part 213 of title 5 of the Code of Federal Regula-
tions. 
(d) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.—For any 
fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2007 during which the per-
centage of claims for disability compensation processed by 
the Department of Veterans Affairs that are disallowed 
exceeds the percentage that is 10 percent higher than the 
percentage of such claims that were disallowed during fis-
cal year 2006, the Comptroller General shall conduct an 
audit of the Department’s processing of such claims to de-
termine the reason for the increase in the percentage of 
disallowed claims and, not later than 30 days after the 
last day of that fiscal quarter, shall submit to Congress 
the results of such audit. 
Æ 
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