House Republican leadership is pursuing a probe into a report that nearly 10,000 veterans are being forced to repay bonuses that were offered for their service.
“It is disgraceful that the men and women who answered their country’s call to duty following September 11 are now facing forced repayments of bonuses offered to them,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in a statement Sunday.
McCarthy called on the Department of Defense to waive the repayments and asked that the Army and National Guard provide a briefing on the matter.
The anger centers on the California National Guard a decade ago offering thousands of soldiers bonuses of $15,000 or more to reenlist and fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The order to repay the large bonuses extends to nearly 10,000 soldiers. The Pentagon could garnish wages or levy tax liens if any soldiers refuse, reports said.
McCarthy said that soldiers shouldn’t have to shoulder the “burden of military recruiters’ faults from over a decade ago.”
