Title: No Back Pay for Bergdahl Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
No Back Pay for Bergdahl Act
This bill amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice to deny payments or benefits to any person found guilty of desertion or attempted desertion for any period during which the person is treated as being in a missing or captive status after the date the person was first determined to be absent without authority.
The Department of Defense shall use payments or benefits denied to a deserter under this bill to provide compensation to members of the Armed Forces who were wounded or injured while searching for the deserter and to representatives of members killed while searching for the deserter.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4413 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4413

To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to prevent the receipt of 
  unpaid pay and allowances by Bowe Bergdahl and other members of the 
Armed Forces who are guilty of desertion and to reserve such unpaid pay 
  and allowances to provide additional compensation to members of the 
Armed Forces who are killed, wounded, or injured while searching for a 
   missing member of the Armed Forces who turns out to have deserted.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 15, 2017

  Mr. Pearce introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to prevent the receipt of 
  unpaid pay and allowances by Bowe Bergdahl and other members of the 
Armed Forces who are guilty of desertion and to reserve such unpaid pay 
  and allowances to provide additional compensation to members of the 
Armed Forces who are killed, wounded, or injured while searching for a 
   missing member of the Armed Forces who turns out to have deserted.

    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 ``No Back Pay for Bergdahl Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON RECEIPT OF UNPAID PAY AND ALLOWANCES BY MEMBERS 
              OF THE ARMED FORCES GUILTY OF DESERTION.

    (a) Prohibition.--Section 885 of title 10, United States Code 
(article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), is amended by 
adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d)(1) Any person found guilty of desertion or an attempt to 
desert is not entitled to any payments or benefits otherwise provided 
under section 552 or 559 of title 37 for any period during which the 
person is treated as being in a missing or captive status after the 
date on which the person was first determined to be absent from the 
person's post of duty without authority.
    ``(2) If payments or benefits described in paragraph (1) have 
already been made for that period, the person is indebted to the United 
States for the full amount of such payments or benefits.
    ``(3) The punishment under paragraph (1) is in addition to the 
punishments authorized under subsection (c).
    ``(4) The Secretary of Defense shall use amounts unpaid by reason 
of operation of paragraph (1) or recovered under paragraph (2) to 
provide compensation, in such amounts as the Secretary considers 
appropriate, to--
            ``(A) any members of the armed forces who were wounded or 
        injured while searching for the person found guilty of 
        desertion or attempt to desert; and
            ``(B) the designated representatives of any members of the 
        armed forces who were killed while searching for the person.
    ``(5) In the absence of members of the armed forces described in 
subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (4), the Secretary of Defense 
shall use the amounts as provided in section 2601(b) of this title.''.
    (b) Application of Amendment to Bowe Bergdahl.--Subsection (d) of 
section 885 of title 10, United States Code (article 85 of the Uniform 
Code of Military Justice), as added by subsection (a), shall apply with 
respect to Bowe Bergdahl.
                                 <all>