Vetoed authorization bill puts military bonuses on hold

After relying heavily on financial incentives to attract recruits and retain war-weary troops, the military has had to put the brakes on awarding signing bonuses until Congress and the Bush administration resolve a dispute over President Bush's veto of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.

House Democrats announced Monday they would hold a vote Tuesday night "disposing of" the president's veto of the annual policy measure over a provision the administration fears would tie up the assets of the current Iraq government in court claims filed by Saddam Hussein's victims.

A Democratic aide said a vote to override the veto is possible Tuesday, even though the White House contends the bill was killed by a pocket veto, a rejection that cannot be challenged by Congress.

But the likely course of action, the aide said, would be to refer the bill back to the House Armed Services Committee, which would then "fix" the provision to smooth the way toward enactment.

The Democrats' strategy breaks down to an "issue of how much the Democrats would want to push this at a constitutional level when you've got some enormous pressure to come back, take this provision out and [send] the bill through," said Norman Ornstein, a political scientist at American Enterprise Institute.

Indeed, the Pentagon needs congressional authorization -- in addition to money in the annual spending bills -- to award bonuses the military has come to depend on to keep monthly recruiting and retention numbers on target.

Defense officials said the legal authorization to pay out bonuses expired at the end of 2007, forcing the military to abandon what arguably has been its most important recruiting and retention lure until Bush signs a fiscal 2008 authorization measure into law.

As Democrats weighed their next step on the authorization bill, at least one military advocate expressed fear that the interruption in bonus awards already has hurt efforts to re-enlist troops.

"This particular hiccup will cause some immediate problems," said retired Lt. Gen. Ted Stroup, a former Army personnel chief who now is a vice president at the Association of the U.S. Army.

But Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who served as the Pentagon's personnel chief during the Reagan administration, said the situation is not dire because bonuses ultimately will be authorized.

Korb chided the White House for not raising concerns earlier that possible court claims might harm the Iraq government, but also acknowledged the delay in enacting an authorization bill could have a marginal impact on recruiting and retention and "make a difficult job harder."

In a Dec. 31 memo to the military services, Michael Dominguez, the top Defense official for personnel and readiness, directed the services to either suspend awarding new bonuses or issue a "contingent bonus addendum" making clear that the incentives are not guaranteed.

For its part, the Defense Department "will work to ensure the final bill features no interruption of bonus authorities," Bill Carr, an official overseeing military personnel policy, said in a written statement.

Dominguez's memo listed 26 types of incentives affected by the delayed enactment of the authorization bill, including referral bonuses, re-enlistment and enlistment bonuses and "special pay" for reservists, aviators, health care professionals and officers in nuclear fields.

The delayed authorization also affects a 3.5 percent military pay raise backed overwhelmingly by Congress that was to begin Jan. 1.

For now, military personnel are receiving a 3 percent raise.

The Democratic aide said Congress would make the full pay raise retroactive to Jan. 1. Aside from military pay and bonuses, many military construction projects, including family housing at many domestic installations, must be postponed because they, too, require an annual authorization.