Bush Cabinet Officials Gave Big Bonuses as Terms Ended

At least five Cabinet secretaries in the George Bush Administration authorized tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses for senior employees in the closing months of their tenures.

Five minutes before Bill Clinton took the oath of office last month, departing Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. proposed cash bonuses for 12 senior career officials in his department.

Calling that timing “outrageous,” new Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Wednesday that he will review the bonuses.

Former Labor Secretary Lynn Martin awarded eight bonuses totaling $22,000 for departing political appointees between Nov. 1 and Inauguration Day, and the Agriculture Department gave year-end bonuses of up to $12,500 to more than 50 senior employees, spokesmen said.

Several senior employees at the Housing and Urban Development Department also received bonuses, said a department source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that in his last weeks in office, former Atty. Gen. William P. Barr awarded a total of more than $108,000 in bonuses to 37 Justice Department employees.

The bonuses Lujan proposed for Interior officials totaled about $170,000, congressional sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said. They said five of the officials were supposed to receive about $20,000 each and the other seven were to get $10,000 each. The money has not yet been paid.

The practice of giving cash bonuses to government employees is legal, and Bush Administration officials say it has occurred under earlier presidencies.