Full bonuses for wounded troops win support - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Full bonuses for wounded troops win support

A coalition representing 5.5 million service members, retirees and military families has come out in support of a bipartisan Senate bill entitling combat-wounded service members to full payment of bonuses and special pays if their injuries prevents them from continuing military service.

The Wounded Warriors Bonus Equity Act, S 2400, was left hanging in December when Congress adjourned without reconciling differences between House and Senate versions of the measure.

The Military Coalition, made up of 35 military-related groups, hopes to jump-start work on a compromise now that Congress is returning to business.

In a letter to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., chief sponsor of the Senate bill, Coalition members support a measure guaranteeing that a member who receives a career-ending disability due to a combat injury will not be denied promised pay.

Sessions’ bill promised a lump-sum payment within 90 days of separation for any unpaid portion of an enlistment or re-enlistment bonus or a special or incentive pay that was based on completing a specific period of service.

“The Coalition is in full agreement that these service members should be able to keep their remaining enlistment or retention bonuses when the only reason they could not continue to serve is due to the severe injuries they incurred in combat,” the letter said.

The Coalition does not take sides in the dispute that is holding up the bill. Sessions’ measure would be retroactive for anyone separated for a combat disability since 2001, while a similar House-passed bill applies only to disability retirements or separations since Oct. 1, the start of the current fiscal year.

With the House returning to work Tuesday the Senate due to return next week, congressional aides said they hope a compromise can be reached quickly so a final measure can be passed and sent to the White House.