[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2400 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2400

  To amend title 37, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
   Defense to continue to pay to a member of the Armed Forces who is 
  retired or separated from the Armed Forces due to a combat-related 
   injury certain bonuses that the member was entitled to before the 
 retirement or separation and would continue to be entitled to if the 
      member was not retired or separated, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 3, 2007

  Mr. Sessions (for himself, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. McCain, Mr. Casey, Mr. 
 Martinez, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Lautenberg, and Mr. Dorgan) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 37, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
   Defense to continue to pay to a member of the Armed Forces who is 
  retired or separated from the Armed Forces due to a combat-related 
   injury certain bonuses that the member was entitled to before the 
 retirement or separation and would continue to be entitled to if the 
      member was not retired or separated, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Wounded Warrior Bonus Equity Act''.

SEC. 2. CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN BONUS PAYMENTS TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 
              FORCES RETIRED OR SEPARATED DUE TO A COMBAT-RELATED 
              INJURY.

    (a) Payment Required.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 17 of title 37, United States 
        Code, is amended by inserting after section 903 the following 
        new section:
``Sec. 904. Continued payment of bonuses to members retired or 
              separated due to combat-related injuries
    ``(a) Payment Required.--In the case of a member of the armed 
forces who is retired or separated for disability under chapter 61 of 
title 10, due to a combat-related injury, the Secretary of Defense 
shall require the continued payment to the member of any bonus 
described in subsection (b) that the member--
            ``(1) was entitled to immediately before the retirement or 
        separation of the member; and
            ``(2) would continue to be entitled to if the member was 
        not retired or separated.
    ``(b) Covered Bonuses.--The bonuses referred to in subsection (a) 
are the following (numbers refer to the corresponding section in 
chapter 5 of this title):
            ``(1) 301b. Special pay for aviation career officers 
        extending period of active duty.
            ``(2) 301d. Multiyear retention bonus for medical officers 
        of the armed forces.
            ``(3) 301e. Multiyear retention bonus for dental officers 
        of the armed forces.
            ``(4) 302d. Accession bonus for registered nurses.
            ``(5) 302h. Accession bonus for dental officers.
            ``(6) 302j. Accession bonus for pharmacy officers.
            ``(7) 302k. Accession bonus for medical officers in 
        critically short wartime specialties.
            ``(8) 302l. Accession bonus for dental specialist officers 
        in critically short wartime specialties.
            ``(9) 308. Reenlistment bonus.
            ``(10) 308b. Reenlistment bonus for members of the Selected 
        Reserve.
            ``(11) 308c. Bonus for affiliation or enlistment in the 
        Selected Reserve.
            ``(12) 308g. Bonus for enlistment in elements of the Ready 
        Reserve other than the Selected Reserve.
            ``(13) 308h. Bonus for reenlistment, or voluntary extension 
        of enlistment in elements of the Ready Reserve other than the 
        Selected Reserve.
            ``(14) 308i. Prior service enlistment bonus.
            ``(15) 308j. Affiliation bonus for officers in the Selected 
        Reserve.
            ``(16) 309. Enlistment bonus.
            ``(17) 312. Special pay for nuclear-qualified officers 
        extending period of active duty.
            ``(18) 312b. Nuclear career accession bonus.
            ``(19) 312c. Nuclear career annual incentive bonus.
            ``(20) 315. Engineering and scientific career continuation 
        pay.
            ``(21) 316. Bonus for members with foreign language 
        proficiency.
            ``(22) 317. Special pay for officers in critical 
        acquisition positions extending period of active duty.
            ``(23) 318. Special pay for special warfare officers 
        extending period of active duty.
            ``(24) 319. Surface warfare officer continuation pay.
            ``(25) 321. Judge advocate continuation pay.
            ``(26) 322. 15-year career status bonus for members 
        entering service on or after August 1, 1986.
            ``(27) 323. Retention incentives for members qualified in 
        critical military skills or assigned to high priority units.
            ``(28) 324. Accession bonus for new officers in critical 
        skills.
            ``(29) 326. Incentive bonus for conversion to military 
        occupational specialty to ease personnel shortage.
            ``(30) 327. Incentive bonus for transfer between armed 
        forces.
            ``(31) 329. Incentive bonus for retired members and reserve 
        component members volunteering for high-demand, low-density 
        assignments.
            ``(32) 330. Accession bonus for officer candidates.
    ``(c) Time for Payment.--A bonus required to be paid to a member 
under this section shall be paid to the member in a lump sum not later 
than 90 days after the date of the retirement or separation of the 
member, notwithstanding any terms to the contrary in the agreement 
under which the bonus was originally authorized.
    ``(d) Combat-Related Injury Defined.--In this section, the term 
`combat-related injury' means an injury--
            ``(1) for which the member was awarded the Purple Heart; or
            ``(2) that was incurred (as determined under criteria 
        prescribed by the Secretary of Defense)--
                    ``(A) as a direct result of armed conflict;
                    ``(B) while engaged in hazardous service;
                    ``(C) in the performance of duty under conditions 
                simulating war; or
                    ``(D) through an instrumentality of war.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of chapter 17 of such title is amended by inserting 
        after the item relating to section 903 the following new item:

``904. Continued payment of bonuses to members retired or separated due 
                            to combat-related injuries.''.
    (b) Cessation of Collection of Previously Paid Bonuses.--Effective 
as of the date of the enactment, any collection of bonuses described in 
subsection (b) of section 904 of title 37, United States Code (as added 
by subsection (a) of this section), that were paid before the date of 
the enactment of this Act to members of the Armed Forces retired or 
separated under chapter 61 of title 10, United States Code, for a 
combat-related injury (as defined in subsection (d) of such section 
904) shall cease.
    (c) Retroactive Payment of Bonuses.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense shall pay to each 
        member of the Armed Forces retired or separated under chapter 
        61 of title 10, United States Code, for a combat-related injury 
        (as defined in subsection (d) of section 904 of title 37, 
        United States Code (as so added)) during the period beginning 
        on September 11, 2001, and ending on the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, an amount equal to the amount of any continued 
        payment of bonus or bonuses to which such member would have 
        been entitled at the time of retirement or separation under 
        applicable provisions of such section 904 if such section 904 
        had been in effect as of September 11, 2001.
            (2) Audit.--The Secretary shall identify the former members 
        of the Armed Forces to be paid amounts under this subsection, 
        and shall determined the amounts to be paid such members under 
        this subsection, through a financial audit or such other 
        mechanisms as the Secretary considers appropriate for purposes 
        of this subsection.
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