California National Guard official: Congress knew about bonus repayments

A senior National Guard official is claiming that California lawmakers knew the Pentagon was trying to recoup $22 million in reenlistment bonuses from about 10,000 soldiers for at least two years but took no action.  

Andreas Mueller, the chief of federal policy for the California Guard, said in an email to California lawmakers on Monday that the California National Guard informed them at least two years ago and even offered a proposal to mitigate the problem, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

{mosads}Mueller also reportedly said the California Guard sent draft legislation to each California congressional office in 2014 but that Congress did not act at the time, due to the cost.

However, the Times notes, it is not clear whether members of Congress understood the scope of the problem at the time. 

The Pentagon is in the hot seat after the Times reported on Saturday that it was attempting to claw back more than $20 million in bonus payments paid to soldiers for reenlisting during a difficult recruitment time, at the height of the Iraq War and during the war in Afghanistan. 

The bonuses were often $15,000 or more and were supposed to be given soldiers with in-demand skills. However, the bonuses were applied more liberally in every state, the Times reported.  

Of each state’s National Guard, California’s was the only one that has conducted an audit so far. That audit, which was completed last month, found that 9,700 soldiers were erroneously offered bonuses because they were either not entitled to them or there were errors in their paperwork.  

Those soldiers are now being hit with interest charges and threats of wage garnishments and tax liens. 

The Pentagon said it is looking at ways to assist soldiers and that there are avenues for individual soldiers to seek waivers but said it cannot waive debts.

The House’s 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which has to be merged with the Senate’s version and approved by both houses of Congress, contains legislation that would establish a 10-year limitation on the collection of overpayment of salaries, benefits or unpaid bills. However, even if passed, it would not go into effect until 2027.  

A House aide said in explaining the delay that the provision would change the policy in the future but not trigger the immediate demand for a mandatory spending offset, which would be difficult to find in the current budget.  

However, the aide said lawmakers are now looking at immediate fixes for the problem. The House passed the defense bill and the provision in May, before the audit was finished and the scope of the problem became known. 

On Monday, more than two dozen House GOP and Democratic lawmakers called on the Pentagon to halt the recoupment efforts immediately and pledged to work on an immediate legislative fix. 

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (Calif.), House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (Texas), House Veterans Affairs Committee Jeff Miller (Fla.) and 21 other GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday asking for the Pentagon to halt recoupment. 

A handful of other lawmakers also wrote letters to Carter on their own or called on the Pentagon to halt recoupment, including Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.) and Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.). 

California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer also sent a letter to Carter insisting that the Pentagon has the authority to waive the debts without a legislative fix. 

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote a letter to Carter to stop the recoupments; Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a retired Navy reservist, called on the administration to intervene and for a legislative fix; and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a former Marine and member of the Armed Services Committee, called for the debts to be absolved.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Monday said “action in the lame duck is possible,” adding that multiple House committees are currently looking into the issue. 

On Tuesday, Ryan said: “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.”

Both Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump weighed in. 

Clinton in a statement said she was “appalled” by the Pentagon’s efforts to retake the bonuses and said Congress should “swiftly pass legislation to right this wrong.” 

Trump said the recoupment was another example of wrongdoing in a “corrupt” political system. 

“This can only happen with these incompetent people we have,” he said at a rally in Florida Monday night. “No common sense. They’re incompetent.” 

A federal investigation in 2011 found that the bonuses and student loan payments were given erroneously to soldiers who were not qualified for them or were approved despite paperwork errors. 

Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, a California Guard incentive manager, pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing false claims of $15.2 million and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Three officers also pleaded guilty to fraud and were put on probation after paying restitution, according to the Times.

This report was updated at 1:57 p.m.