House Speaker Paul Ryan called on the Department of Defense to “immediately suspend” efforts to force those who served in California’s National Guard to return improper enlistment bonuses awarded years ago.
Ryan, R-Wis., said the House and Senate are negotiating a military spending authorization measure that would “fix this kind of injustice in the future,” by imposing a statute of limitations on the military’s ability to recover overpayments. The House passed the fix on May 18 and is in talks on a compromise measure with the Senate.
“When those Californians answered the call to duty they earned more from us than bureaucratic bungling and false promises,” Ryan said in a statement issued Tuesday. “The House has already taken steps to fix this kind of injustice in the future. Now, the Pentagon should immediately suspend efforts to recover these overpayments, so Congress has time to complete the work we began in May to protect service members from lifelong liability for DoD’s mistakes.”
The issue arose over the weekend after a report that the Pentagon is looking to recover millions in improper re-enlistment bonuses that were given out more than a decade ago by an Army master sergeant who was convicted of illegally handing them out. People who received the money were likely unaware the payments were improper, and Congress has scrambled over the last few days to get ahead of the issue.
The Defense Department, however, has said it is aware of the problem and is encouraging people to apply for waivers, in order to avoid paying back their bonus.
