San Francisco Chronicle: Legislators vow to help California guardsmen keep bonuses

Members of Congress in both parties vowed Tuesday to halt Pentagon efforts to force nearly 10,000 former California National Guard soldiers to repay bonuses they received in a deceptive scheme to get them to re-enlist for combat duty a decade ago.

More than $15 million in bonuses were paid fraudulently or mistakenly by state National Guard recruiters under pressure to meet recruitment goals during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Enticed by a promise they could earn $15,000 or more, thousands of California National Guard members accepted.

But the bonuses they received were given illegally or, in some cases, handed out mistakenly, according to a Los Angeles Times report over the weekend. Now, demands by the Pentagon that the soldiers return the money after all this time are being met by bipartisan outrage in Congress.

“There are people who have served tours of duty in combat zones being asked to repay this money,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, a Vietnam War veteran. “It’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard of in my life.”

California’s two most powerful congressional leaders, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, promised to fix the problem when Congress returns after the Nov. 8 election. California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both Democrats, are also urging action.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Tuesday demanded that the Pentagon “immediately suspend efforts to recover these overpayments,” and promised legislation “to protect service members from lifelong liability” for Defense Department mistakes.

There was nearly universal agreement in Congress that any money already repaid to the government by innocent service members would be returned and that the problem extends to other states as well.

The National Guard reportedly offered the re-enlistment enticements during 2005 and 2006, when the Pentagon relied heavily on the service to supply troops for two wars. An audit later showed that 9,700 California National Guard members, many who had served multiple tours of duty, were not entitled to the payments or their paperwork was never completed, according to the Times report.

The Pentagon has claimed it has no recourse but to demand repayment from the enlistees, but Rep. Mark Takano of Riverside, the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that Congress will make sure the money does not have to be repaid. Some of those who have repaid their bonuses have had to mortgage their homes to do so, he said.

Congress has known about the problem for two years, but legislation by Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock (Stanislaus County), to address it was rejected by GOP leaders for lack of offsetting budget cuts. Under a budget austerity regime in the House, any additional spending has to be offset by tax increases or budget cuts.

“Part of the problem,” Takano said, “was that the Congressional Budget Office said any remedy would require new spending, even though the money was already paid to the soldiers.

“I am mystified as to why it would be regarded as new spending. Ultimately, Congress will find a way because there is bipartisan consensus that this needs to be solved.”

Both Republicans and Democrats pinned blame for the fiasco on the California National Guard, which they accused of underplaying the scope and urgency of the problem when it submitted its budget request two years ago. A request from the Guard for remedial funds was buried in a list of budget priorities, lawmakers said.

Guard officials, in turn, have blamed Congress for neglecting to act. Andreas Mueller, the California National Guard’s federal policy chief, told members of the state’s delegation in a letter Monday that they had been alerted to the problem in 2014.

Documents obtained by The Chronicle, however, show that the Guard highlighted other budget priorities at the time for such things as equipment and firefighting funds.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, said the Guard made a request in 2014, but “buried (it) in a slew of requests” on the annual defense bill, and made no requests after that. But, she added, “There’s no point in pointing fingers here. It’s high enough on everyone’s radar now that we know we have to address it,” she said.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, said the additional spending, supposedly targeted at combat soldiers and special forces at high risk, should have raised red flags when the bonuses were paid out a decade ago. He called for the House Oversight Committee to investigate, along with the Armed Services Committee, which has primary jurisdiction.

According to the Times, reports of fraudulent claims led to a federal investigation in 2010. The California Guard’s incentive manager, Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing $15.2 million in fraudulent claims and was sentenced to more than two years in prison. Three other officers who pleaded guilty to fraud were put on probation.

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Creek, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, has introduced legislation to stop the forced reimbursements and said it could be easily added to the pending defense bill and “signed before Christmas” by President Obama.