The $611 billion National Defense Authorization Act goes before the U.S. Senate this week: the house approved it on Friday. It is expected to free thousands of California soldiers from paying back millions of dollars they owed the Pentagon for receiving unauthorized bonuses for extending their service. Reporter David Haldane has more…
It looks like thousands of California veterans will soon be officially free from paying back millions of dollars to the Pentagon. The new agreement was folded into the latest defense appropriations bill, which the Senate takes up this week. Roughly ten years ago, in an effort to increase the number of troops at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 10,000 California guardsmen and women were incorrectly offered bonuses to re-up their service. Now, Congress appears to be coming together to protect them from their employer’s mistake. U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of Los Angeles, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, says if you mistakenly got a bonus for re-enlisting in the National Guard during the Iraq or Afghanistan War, you’ll probably get to keep it.
“Several of these soldiers then paid them back, or suffered consequences in terms of their credit. Others really faced a terrible predicament because they used this money to buy a home or to get an education. So, it’s a terrible position to be in.”
Schiff’s petition to allow the guard members to keep the bonus money was widely supported. But the defense bill has plenty of detractors who say it is bloated, increasing military spending by more than $3 billion over what the president had asked for. It also gives troops a pay raise of just over two percent, slightly more than the Pentagon had requested. And it fails to deliver on the Obama Administration’s promise to close Guantanamo Bay detention base in Cuba, which the bill specifically prohibits.
The defense appropriations bill is expected to pass in the Senate, and will likely be signed by the president. In the meantime, the Pentagon has until July of next year to bring any case against soldiers it believes committed fraud in receiving bonuses. Schiff says he’s ready to stand by the vets.
“These soldiers had every right to feel betrayed. They were made this bargain, they were offered these bonuses; there was no reason for them to question them. And for the Pentagon, so many years later, to come after them and essentially say, ‘You shouldn’t have been offered that bonus, we want you to pay it back’ – it’s just a terrible disservice.”
NEW BILL FREES SOLDIERS FROM HAVING TO PAY BACK SIGNING BONUSES
