Obama ordered pentagon to stop making vets repay bonuses

[Redpath]

Obama Just Ordered The Pentagon To Stop Making Vets Repay Bonuses



By Colin Taylor

Posted on October 26, 2016


The Obama administration has ordered the Pentagon to immediately cease demanding the repayment of enlistment bonuses from some 10,000 National Guardsmen who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service argued that the soldiers were not qualified to receive the money or that accounting errors had resulted in improper payments, despite many of them having served multiple tours.

However, the Obama administration is still not bowing to bipartisan pressure from Congress to fully forgive the money.



Thank you Mr President.

Now can the Republicans explain why they have been against this? If crooked trump is elected, will he reverse this and take the vet's money away from them? Of course not.

Write your congress person and demand they stop trying to take this money away from our vets.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Obama ordered pentagon to stop making vets repay bonuses

until after the elections

--LOL

from your link

"However, the Obama administration is still not bowing to bipartisan pressure from Congress to fully forgive the money. "

 

[jon_berzerk]

so it looks like from the link

that obama is the one dragging his feet

not the republicans

 

[Redpath]

Department of Defense: Join IAVA in Telling Uncle Sam to #PayThemBack

 

[Harry Dresden]

Obama Just Ordered The Pentagon To Stop Making Vets Repay Bonuses



By Colin Taylor

Posted on October 26, 2016


The Obama administration has ordered the Pentagon to immediately cease demanding the repayment of enlistment bonuses from some 10,000 National Guardsmen who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service argued that the soldiers were not qualified to receive the money or that accounting errors had resulted in improper payments, despite many of them having served multiple tours.

However, the Obama administration is still not bowing to bipartisan pressure from Congress to fully forgive the money.



Thank you Mr President.

Now can the Republicans explain why they have been against this? If crooked trump is elected, will he reverse this and take the vet's money away from them? Of course not.

Write your congress person and demand they stop trying to take this money away from our vets.

so where does it say republicans are against giving the money back?....

 

[jon_berzerk]

Obama Just Ordered The Pentagon To Stop Making Vets Repay Bonuses



By Colin Taylor

Posted on October 26, 2016


The Obama administration has ordered the Pentagon to immediately cease demanding the repayment of enlistment bonuses from some 10,000 National Guardsmen who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service argued that the soldiers were not qualified to receive the money or that accounting errors had resulted in improper payments, despite many of them having served multiple tours.

However, the Obama administration is still not bowing to bipartisan pressure from Congress to fully forgive the money.



Thank you Mr President.

Now can the Republicans explain why they have been against this? If crooked trump is elected, will he reverse this and take the vet's money away from them? Of course not.

Write your congress person and demand they stop trying to take this money away from our vets.

so where does it say republicans are against giving the money back?....

it doesnt

it says obama is dragging his feet

 

[MarathonMike]

How many Vet bonuses could we have paid with Obama's vacation bills for the past 8 years?

 

[jon_berzerk]

How many Vet bonuses could we have paid with Obama's vacation bills for the past 8 years?

probably all of them and more

 

[ogibillm]

Obama Just Ordered The Pentagon To Stop Making Vets Repay Bonuses



By Colin Taylor

Posted on October 26, 2016


The Obama administration has ordered the Pentagon to immediately cease demanding the repayment of enlistment bonuses from some 10,000 National Guardsmen who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service argued that the soldiers were not qualified to receive the money or that accounting errors had resulted in improper payments, despite many of them having served multiple tours.

However, the Obama administration is still not bowing to bipartisan pressure from Congress to fully forgive the money.



Thank you Mr President.

Now can the Republicans explain why they have been against this? If crooked trump is elected, will he reverse this and take the vet's money away from them? Of course not.

Write your congress person and demand they stop trying to take this money away from our vets.

no. a lot of it was fraud.

vet or not you don't et to steal money from the government

 

[rightwinger]

How many Vet bonuses could we have paid with Obama's vacation bills for the past 8 years?

Obama pays for his own vacations

 

[PredFan]

Typical and successful Democrat strategy:

Create a problem, offer yourselves as the solution.

 

[Iceweasel]

Obama Just Ordered The Pentagon To Stop Making Vets Repay Bonuses

Thank you Mr President.
from our vets.

LOL. It's almost as if an election was coming up.

 

[Iceweasel]

no. a lot of it was fraud.

vet or not you don't et to steal money from the government

How did they steal for re-upping for the bonuses offered?

 

[ogibillm]

no. a lot of it was fraud.

vet or not you don't et to steal money from the government

How did they steal for re-upping for the bonuses offered?

some weren't eligible for those bonuses. some didn't complete their contracts. some were buddies with an e8 currently sitting in jail that had the power to approve and pay bonuses.

 

[Iceweasel]

no. a lot of it was fraud.

vet or not you don't et to steal money from the government

How did they steal for re-upping for the bonuses offered?

some weren't eligible for those bonuses. some didn't complete their contracts. some were buddies with an e8 currently sitting in jail that had the power to approve and pay bonuses.

I see. So obama is saying fraud is OK for now.

LOL

 

[ogibillm]

no. a lot of it was fraud.

vet or not you don't et to steal money from the government

How did they steal for re-upping for the bonuses offered?

some weren't eligible for those bonuses. some didn't complete their contracts. some were buddies with an e8 currently sitting in jail that had the power to approve and pay bonuses.

I see. So obama is saying fraud is OK for now.

LOL

i think he's slowing it down to get past elections.

do you really trust politicians in an election season not to fall all over themselves trying to prove how much they love veterans by giving everyone involved a pass?

 

[Iceweasel]

no. a lot of it was fraud.

vet or not you don't et to steal money from the government

How did they steal for re-upping for the bonuses offered?

some weren't eligible for those bonuses. some didn't complete their contracts. some were buddies with an e8 currently sitting in jail that had the power to approve and pay bonuses.

I see. So obama is saying fraud is OK for now.

LOL

i think he's slowing it down to get past elections.

do you really trust politicians in an election season not to fall all over themselves trying to prove how much they love veterans by giving everyone involved a pass?

You're dodging the point. If it's fraud it's fraud. They walked back the blanket actions due to the election.

 

[Camp]

Obama ordered pentagon to stop making vets repay bonuses

until after the elections

--LOL

from your link

"However, the Obama administration is still not bowing to bipartisan pressure from Congress to fully forgive the money. "

The Republican Congress needs to pass legislation to resolve this issue. Without action from them, the Pentagon and administration's hands are tied.
The administration and Pentagon have put the issue on hold to prevent the soldiers from having to pay back the funds. It is up to the Republican leadership in the House to put in legislation to prevent further difficulties for the veterans involved.

 

[waltky]

Pentagon to forgive 90% of bonus payback...

Official: Pentagon to Relieve Debt of Most Guardsmen
Dec 08, 2016 | DoD officials say they hope to forgive about 90 percent of cases of California National Guardsmen who received improper bonuses.

Defense Department officials told lawmakers Wednesday they hope to forgive about 90 percent of cases involving thousands of California National Guard members that auditors say received improper bonuses during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It is my hope that by the end of the year, we will have something between 1,000 and 2,000 cases total out of the universe of 17,000 that are subject to review," Peter Levine, undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told members of the House Armed Services Committee.

Levine was among Pentagon and Army National Guard officials who testified at the Dec. 7 hearing to tell lawmakers how the Pentagon plans to resolve what some are calling a betrayal of the troops by next summer and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. "Compensation, whether it is a bonus for a service agreement or regular pay, is an obligation to our service members and their families that they should not have to worry about," said Rep. Joseph Heck, a Republican from Nevada and chairman of the panel's Military Personnel Subcommittee. "I find it unacceptable that we would place the additional burden of years of concern about the legitimacy of a bonus payment or a student loan repayment on those who volunteer to serve," he added.

Soldiers of the California National Guard's 40th Infantry Division rehearsing an air assault mission at Fort Hunter Liggett​

Lawmakers have come up with a compromise as part of the National Defense Authorization Act that calls on the Pentagon to forgive the enlistment bonuses and student loan benefits unless the soldier who received the money "knew or reasonably should have known" that he or she was ineligible for it. The Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau reported last month that the Pentagon was demanding repayment of enlistment bonuses given to California Guard soldiers to help fill enlistment quotas for the wars. Many of the soldiers served in combat, and some returned with severe injuries.

Many of soldiers were told to repay bonuses of $15,000 or more years after they had completed their military service. Student loan repayments, which were also given out improperly to soldiers with educational loans, sometimes totaled as much as $50,000. "Many reasons these cases are particularly troublesome," Levine said. "Many of them are based on a technical deficiency. "Particularly in cases like this, where we have a service member who made a commitment on the basis of a bonus and served out that commitment, so when we come in later after someone has fulfilled their commitment and then question on a technical ground why they received a bonus in the first place -- that is a particular hardship," he said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Other problems in Guard bonus payback scheme...

Army Audits Find Guard Repayment Problems in at Least 4 Other States
Dec 15, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- Pentagon audits found problems in enlistment bonuses given to soldiers in several National Guard units across the country.

Pentagon audits found widespread problems in enlistment bonuses given to soldiers in several National Guard units across the country, but soldiers facing repayment demands in those states won't be eligible for waivers under a new federal law that will apply only to the California National Guard. The bonus mistakes appeared less common than in the scandal that has rocked the California Guard, although the Army Audit Agency looked only at a small sample of the bonuses and only at four states. Agency audits obtained by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau found "little or no oversight" of bonuses and other financial incentives given to soldiers in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2010, the only states reviewed. The audits said those Guard units paid "incentives to ineligible soldiers" and later -- like the California Guard -- sought to recover the money. The reports did not say how many soldiers were affected in the other states.

In October, following stories in the Times, the Pentagon suspended an aggressive effort to recover improper bonuses from about 9,700 California Guard soldiers and veterans. Congress last week passed a law that is expected to produce waivers for most of them. But the provision, part of the $619 billion defense authorization bill that President Barack Obama is expected to sign, applies only to the California Guard. Soldiers and veterans from other states facing repayment demands are not covered. Among those ordered to repay their bonuses are soldiers who did not complete their enlistments after they were injured in combat. Dennis Lang, a former Army reservist from Columbia, Mo., said he received a letter from the Pentagon in March ordering him to repay $5,000 of a $20,000 enlistment bonus after he was discharged from the Army because of injuries he received in Iraq.

A civil affairs sergeant assigned to a small outpost in east Baghdad in 2007 and 2008, he was injured in a mortar attack. He was later diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and memory loss due to his head injuries. He says he first learned that he owed the Army $5,000 when he got a call from a debt collection agency last year, informing him that he was delinquent. The Pentagon had turned the matter over to a private collection agency because Lang had not responded when it mailed a letter demanding repayment to an address he hadn't lived in for more than a decade, he said. The debt stemmed from his failure to attend training with his Missouri Guard unit after he returned from Iraq. The Pentagon then demanded partial repayment of his bonus.

When he refused to pay, they began taking $300 out of his Social Security disability check every month. "I think it's just disgusting but I haven't really been fighting it," he said Wednesday in an interview. While the California's bonus fiasco has received the most attention, other states were also lax in ensuring that soldiers were eligible for the bonuses they got, according to the audits obtained by the Times. None of the audits blamed fraud for the overpayments. In California, state and federal investigations focused on what prosecutors described as "massive fraud" although only one person who issued improper bonuses was sent to jail. But the audits revealed other major problems.

MORE