Rep. Marsha Blackburn blasted the "bureaucrats" who ordered California National Guardsmen to pay back re-enlistment bonuses, telling Newsmax TV the practice is "horrific."
During an interview on "Steve Malzberg Show," the Tennessee Republican blamed the Pentagon for making a mistake that is now costing veterans thousands of dollars each.
"This is horrific. Absolutely horrific," Blackburn said. "Let me tell you who should pay that bonus back: the bureaucrats who make the mistake. They're over there at the Pentagon making six-figure salaries and they're the ones that messed up.
"When you look at our enlisted men and women and our guardsmen, they are presented a contract and they sign that contract. These contracts included a reenlistment bonus because there were quotas that had to be met. So in good faith, they accepted the contract, they executed on that contract, they fulfilled their duty, and then 10 years later some of these individuals have had multiple deployments, some were injured in the line of duty, some are suffering from PTSD, and now they're coming to them and saying, 'give us the money back, you owe us this much.'"
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A report Sunday claimed that as many as 10,000 soldiers from California are being asked to repay bonuses that were apparently given in error.
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