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ByMatthewDaly The Associated Press WASHINGTON Nearly 80 percent of senior executives at the Department of Veter- ans Affairs got performance bonuses last year despite widespread treatment de- lays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals and clinics, a top official said Friday. More than 350 VA exec- utives were paid a total of $2.7 million in bonuses last year, said Gina Farrisee, assistant VA secretary for human resources and ad- ministration. That amount is down from about $3.4 million in bonuses paid in 2012, Farrisee said. The totals do not include tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded to doc- tors, dentists and other medical providers through- out the VA's nearly 900 hos- pitals and clinics. Workers at the Phoenix VA Health Care System — where officials have con- firmed dozens of patients died while awaiting treat- ment — received about $3.9 million in bonuses last year, newly released records show. The merit-based bo- nuses were doled out to about 650 employees, in- cluding doctors, nurses, administrators, secretaries and cleaning staff. Farrisee defended the bonus system, telling the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the VA needs to pay bonuses to keep executives who are paid up to $181,000 per year. "We are competing in tough labor markets for skilled personnel," Farri- see said Friday. "To remain competitive in recruiting and retaining the best per- sonnel to serve our veter- ans, we must rely on tools such as incentives and awards that recognize su- perior performance." Farrisee's testimony drew sharp rebukes by law- makers from both parties. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Vet- erans Affairs Committee, said the VA's bonus system "is failing veterans." Instead of being given for outstanding work, the cash awards are "seen as an en- titlement and have become irrelevant to quality work product," Miller said. Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., said awarding bonuses to 80 percent of executives means that the VA was setting the bar for perfor- mance so low that "anybody could step over it. If your metrics are low enough that almost everybody ex- ceeds them, then your met- rics are not very high." Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H., said the VA suffered from "grade inflation, or what (humorist) Garrison Keillor would refer to as 'all of the children are above av- erage.'" Kuster and other law- makers said they found it hard to believe that 80 per- cent of senior employees could be viewed as exceed- ing expectations, given the growing uproar over pa- tients dying while awaiting VA treatment and mount- ing evidence that work- ers falsified or omitted ap- pointment schedules to mask frequent, long delays. The resulting election-year firestorm forced VA Secre- tary Eric Shinseki to resign three weeks ago. Miller, the panel's chair- man, noted that in the past four years, none of the VA's 470 senior executives have received ratings of mini- mally satisfactory or un- satisfactory, the two lowest ratings on the VA's five-tier evaluation system. Nearly 80 percent of senior exec- utives were rated as out- standing or exceeding "fully successful," according to the VA. "Based on this commit- tee's investigations, out- side independent reports and what we have learned in the last few months, I wholeheartedly disagree with VA's assessment of its senior staff," Miller said. An updated audit re- leased this week showed that about 10 percent of vet- erans seeking medical care at VA hospitals and clinics have to wait at least 30 days for an appointment. More than 56,000 veterans have had to wait at least three months for initial appoint- ments, the report said, and an additional 46,000 veter- ans who asked for appoint- ments over the past decade never got them. VETERANS VA: 80 percent of senior executives got bonuses JOSELUISMAGANA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson leaves a er speaking during a news conference at the VA Medical Center in Washington on Wednesday. By Dirk Lammers The Associated Press NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. A swollen river that threat- ened homes where Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota meet crested earlier and at a lower level than expected early Friday. Minnesota of- ficials toured water-logged areas of that state, saying the severity and breadth of flooding make a federal di- saster request a near cer- tainty. The less-serious crest of the Big Sioux River prompted crews take down sandbags and other con- tainers blocking a section of Interstate 29 that acted as a temporary levee to pro- tect an at-risk South Dakota city. The road reopened by mid-afternoon Friday. The National Weather Service had predicted the river would hit a record high around midday, but then said it crested at Sioux City, Iowa, around mid- night a couple of feet below the previous record. Days of thunderstorms upstream swelled the 420-mile-long river and threatened homes and busi- nesses in the three sur- rounding states, including up to 400 in a neighbor- hood of North Sioux City, South Dakota. Crews had built a temporary levee across Interstate 29, forc- ing motorists to make de- tours along country roads. "Great news," Gary Bo- genrief, 65, who lives near McCook Lake, said upon hearing the levee was com- ing down. Floodwaters blocked many of the roads connect- ing South Dakota and Iowa between Sioux Falls and Sioux City. The change in the crest was due to a large amount of water released Tuesday night when a levee failed upstream at Akron, Iowa, said Mike Gillispie, a hy- drologist at the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. "Enough water went through the levee failure out into agricultural land there that it lowered the amount of water coming through at peak crest at Sioux City," he said. The river had been ex- pected to crest at Sioux City about a foot above the 108.3- foot record set in 1969. In- stead, it peaked at 105.6 feet and began dropping. As a result, the river in the Sioux City area will stay at a higher level longer than previously predicted, Gil- lispie said. He expects it to stay above the 99-foot flood stage, the level at which farmland around Sioux City is underwater, into Sunday or Monday. He said as long as the area doesn't get heavy rain over the next few days, the water should fall back be- low flood levels. While there is potential for scattered thunderstorms, he doesn't anticipate widespread rain that could send the river significantly higher. In Minnesota, heavy rains over several days left farm fields are under wa- ter and roads washed out. Dams have failed and wa- ter has infiltrated homes from the far north to the far south of the state. Four state parks have been fully or partially closed because of high water. "The damage is really un- precedented and very wide- spread," Gov. Mark Dayton said. In Minneapolis, a large section of mud gave way on a cliff near the Mississippi River. The slide occurred not far from a hospital near the University of Minneso- ta's campus. Minneapolis Assistant Fire Chief Charles Brynteson said the hospital building is set on bedrock and is sound. Two motorists accelerated to safety as the mud and debris were fall- ing. "They very easily could have been trapped," he said. "It was close." Downstream, the Omaha Public Power District said it will reduce power as it pre- pares for rising water on the Missouri River. FLOODING Big Sioux River crests; Interstate 29 reopens DIRK LAMMERS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS National Guard soldiers and South Dakota Transportation workers begin dismantling a levee across Interstate 29that blocked traffic between Iowa and South Dakota on Friday in North Sioux City, S.D. By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Army is reducing the rank of a brig- adier general at the center of a sexual misconduct case by two grades for his pend- ing retirement, in a rare move that will slash his benefits and force him to re- tire as a lieutenant colonel. Army Secretary John McHugh announced the decision Friday, saying that Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair "displayed a pattern of in- appropriate and at times illegal behavior both while serving as a brigadier gen- eral and a colonel." Sinclair is due to retire in late summer. McHugh's move comes three months after Sinclair pleaded guilty at a court martial to adultery and con- ducting inappropriate rela- tionships with two other women. Over the past year, his case has been a central topic in Congress in the de- bate over whether the mil- itary has adequately han- dled sexual assault cases. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Ca- lif., a member of the Armed Services Committee and one of the key voices in the House pushing for stronger action on sexual assault in the military, said Friday that McHugh's action was inadequate. "This punishment is in no way proportional to the laundry list of serious of- fenses Sinclair pled guilty to," Speier said. "The final outcome of this case can only be seen as further ev- idence that the military jus- tice system is broken and that the chain of command cannot adequately address the gravity of these offenses." Sinclair had a three-year affair with a female captain who accused him of twice forcing her to perform oral sex on him. The former dep- uty commander of the 82nd Airborne Division was orig- inally brought up on sex- ual assault charges punish- able by life in prison. Sin- clair was spared prison but fined $20,000 and issued a reprimand. He was believed to be the highest-ranking U.S. military officer ever court- martialed on such charges. And, the Army said this is the first time in a decade that the service has reduced a retiring general officer by two ranks. "Gen. Sinclair has con- sistently taken responsi- bility for his mistakes and agreed to a reduction in re- tirement benefits," his law- yer, Richard Scheff, said in an emailed statement. "He is a highly decorated war hero who made great sacri- fices for his country, and it's right that he be permitted to retire honorably." While retirement bene- fits are mandated by federal law, there is a requirement that an individual must have served satisfactorily in rank before receiving those benefits, McHugh said in a statement. McHugh deter- mined that Sinclair's ac- tions as both a one-star gen- eral and colonel provided enough evidence to reduce his rank in retirement by two grades. MILITARY Ge ner al r ed uc ed 2 g ra de s in s ex m is co nd uc t ca se By Eileen Sullivan The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Inter- nal Revenue Service com- missioner said Friday the agency will not share with Congress additional de- tails about its lost emails related to the ongoing tea party investigation until its own review is finished because he said Republi- cans are releasing inaccu- rate, interim information. "We're not going to drib- ble out the information and have it played out in the press," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. He addedthatanyemailsrecov- ered from inside the agency willbesharedwithlawmak- ers as they were found. Nev- ertheless, it was a remark- ably bold statement for an executive branch official to make to the congressional committee that oversees its activities. Koskinen's promise to al- low the IRS to complete its internalinvestigationbefore sharing its findings with Congress about lost emails stored on malfunctioned computers was intended to blunt what has become a fierce, politically charged inquiry ahead of this year's congressionalelections.The IRS is accused of improp- erly reviewing applications of tea party and other con- servative groups for tax-ex- empt status. Friday's congressional hearing was unusually tense, as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, and other Republicans occasionally interrupted Koskinen and pressed him on other questions before Koskinen had an opportu- nity to answer. Congress has sought documents related to for- mer IRS executive Lois Le- rner's involvement in the tea party investigation since 2012. The IRS has provided thousands of doc- uments, including many of Lerner's. But it was only in February of this year that the IRS learned some of Lerner's emails might be missing and unrecover- able. WASHINGTON Congress probes how IRS emails could go missing By Donna Cassata The Associated Press WASHINGTON In an elec- tion-year challenge to President Barack Obama, the Republican-led House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a $570 billion de- fense bill that halts any Guantanamo transfers for a year amid the furor over the American-for-Taliban swap and pulls back on government spying. The vote was 340-73 for the measure that provides money for military opera- tions in Iraq and Afghani- stan, personnel, ships and aircraft. An unusual coali- tion of libertarian Repub- licans and liberal Demo- crats pushed through new limits on National Secu- rity Agency surveillance as the year-old revelations of bulk collection of mil- lions of Americans' phone records still roil the debate of security versus privacy. Weeks after the prisoner exchange, Republicans railed against Obama's decision to trade five Tali- ban leaders who had been held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than a decade for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a captive for five years in Afghanistan. The Taliban were transferred to Qatar, where they must remain for a year. Republicans said Obama broke the law by failing to notify Congress at least 30 days before the swap and increased the terrorism risk to the United States with the exchange. Obama has defended the deal to spare Berg- dahl, with officials saying the government needed to move expeditiously due to his failing health. The ad- ministration has tried to reduce the population at Guantanamo, where 149 are being held. The House added a pro- vision to the bill that would bar funds for transfers, im- posing a one-year morato- rium on moving Guanta- namo detainees to a for- eign country. It also voted to bar funds for transfer- ring Guantanamo detain- ees to Yemen. "President Obama's re- cent exchange of five high- level terrorists without no- tifying Congress illustrates his blatant disregard for its role as a co-equal branch of government," Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who called the five "cold-blooded ter- rorists," said in a statement. DEFENSE BILL US H ou se b ac ks l im it s on Obama's authority Lic.#911130 If you're tired of potholes and dusty roads HOWABOUTCHIPSEAL! Familyowned&operatedsince1975 275-2195 TheAffordableAlternativetoAsphalt ForPrivateandCommunityRoads Hourly rates also available on: • Grader • Truck & Transfer • Loaders • Dump Trucks • Grading Tractor • Water Trucks • Backhoe • Oil Truck 1375MontgomeryRd. 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