Bill bans bonuses for feds under investigation

Federal employees at the General Services Administration who are under investigation for misconduct would not receive bonuses under an amendment to a House spending bill.

The House Appropriations Committee accepted the amendment, offered by Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, as part of the fiscal 2013 Financial Services and General Government spending bill. Flake offered the amendment in response to a report that found the agency awarded more than $1 million in bonuses since 2008 to 84 employees under investigation by GSA’s inspector general.

“Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for doling out bonuses to government employees under investigation for misconduct,” he said. There is not a similar measure in the Senate’s version of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations legislation.

Jeff Neely, the former Public Buildings Service commissioner who planned the 2010 lavish Western Regions conference triggering the massive GSA scandal, received a $9,460 performance award in 2011.