Lawmakers OK aid for troops facing bonus repay demand
WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators announced a compromise Tuesday that would permit the Pentagon to forgive debts owed by thousands of California National Guard soldiers who received improper bonuses during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The agreement, included in a defense bill due to be voted on by the House on Friday and the Senate next week, seeks to strike a balance between the Pentagon’s concerns about fraud in the bonus system and lawmakers’ attempts to resolve a scandal that sparked a public furor.
The compromise calls on the Pentagon to forgive the enlistment bonuses and student loans benefits unless the soldier who received the money “knew or reasonably should have known” that he or she was ineligible for it.