[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13173]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     IN SUPPORT OF THE SOLDIER ACT

  (Mr. NUGENT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss a simple solution to 
a straightforward problem.
  Eleven years after retiring from the military, one of my constituents 
received a bill for $1,500 for an alleged overpayment by the Department 
of Defense. This is more than a decade later, and the first she is 
hearing about it is in a letter, demanding payment. Moreover, the 
servicemember is expected to track down and find whatever receipts or 
documents may be relevant from 11 years ago.
  This isn't an isolated case. This is happening to veterans across 
this Nation. Often, these bills are the result of DOD accounting or 
system errors. Certainly, if there were an error, whether it be the 
fault of the servicemember or of the DOD, steps should be taken to 
remedy that; but the government should not wait a decade before sending 
the first letter.
  I am introducing a bill today that would place a statute of 
limitations on DOD's authority to initiate the collection process. This 
does not prevent the DOD from collecting debts; it simply says it must 
do it in a timely fashion. I urge my colleagues to join me in 
supporting the SOLDIER Act.

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