Ordered stop-loss payouts still undelivered - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Ordered stop-loss payouts still undelivered

Two months after Congress ordered special pay of up to $500 a month for anyone involuntarily kept on active duty under stop-loss orders, nobody has received a dime.

But the wait may be coming to an end. Senior Army officials are close to issuing a recommendation on whether to pay the full $500 allowance authorized by Congress and when payments might begin, according to Senate aides monitoring the program.

The decision, one of the last military pay actions by the Bush administration, must be cleared by the House and Senate Appropriations committees before payments begin.

Army spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks could not say when an announcement would be made, but he noted that top Army officials are reviewing a payment plan for submittal to Congress.

“Congress authorized the payment, but the amount could be anywhere from zero to $500,” Banks said.

Senate aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Banks appears cautious about not overpromising.

“I would be very surprised if the amount was less than $500, especially because we provided full funding for that amount,” one aide said. “The Army would have to make a very strong case why it needs to pay less.”

Anyone who spends even one day of a month in fiscal 2009 under stop-loss orders would be eligible for what the law calls “stop-loss special pay.”

Banks’ statement and those of Senate aides come after several soldiers under stop-loss orders have complained that they went to local finance offices to look into collecting the promised money, only to find that no one knows anything.

“I have been having a hell of time trying to find information on this bonus,” said an Army sergeant who asked not to be identified. “My finance people know nothing about it.”

The soldier received stop-loss orders in January and does not expect to be released from active duty until March.

The allowance, included in Public Law 110-329 that was signed by the president Sept. 30, is a special pay available only during fiscal 2009, which began on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30, 2009.

It covers all personnel whose military service is involuntarily extended or whose retirement is involuntarily delayed.

While all of the services have used stop-loss since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Army is the only one that still has people under stop-loss orders. Army officials said they expect about 12,200 people will qualify for payments once they begin.

The chief sponsors of the stop-loss pay, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, have vowed to try in 2009 to make the payments permanent and to apply them retroactively to anyone affected by stop-loss orders since 2001.