The Pentagon will temporarily stop trying to collect bonuses erroneously paid to California National Guardsmen while a more streamlined system is put in place, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Wednesday.
Carter said in a statement that the suspension of any effort to collect the bonuses will begin as soon as possible and continue until he is “satisfied that the process is working effectively.”
“I want to be clear: this process has dragged on too long for too many service members. Too many cases have languished without action,” Carter said. “That’s unfair to service members and to taxpayers.”
Thousands of National Guardsmen in California were paid bonuses, either on accident or because of criminal behavior, and are now being ordered to repay the money, causing financial hardship for some families. The call for repayment sparked outrage among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
There is a process to appeal a request for repayment which has helped “hundreds” of those impacted in California, but Carter said it has moved too slowly.
Carter has directed a team of senior Defense Department officials to create a “streamlined, centralized” process to resolve these cases quickly by Jan. 1. Decisions are set to be made on all of these 2,000 cases by July 1.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he was “pleased” with the decision, he wants to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“I am very pleased that the Department of Defense responded to the outcry from Americans across the nation,” he said in a statement. “As I discussed with the deputy secretary of defense last night, our veterans have already given more than what they owe to this nation, and today’s swift action demonstrates that the Department agrees. While I am happy we were able to work with officials at the Department of Defense to address this issue, we must continue to work to provide a long-term legislative solution so that this never happens again.”
