{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-fights-secure-payments-national-guard-members", "Johnson Fights to Secure Payments for National Guard Members", "2024-04-04", "2024", "2024-04", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) urged National Guard Bureau Chief Daniel R. Hokanson to ensure the availability of incentive programs for National Guard members.\n\n\u201cMissing or delayed bonus payments for our soldiers has become a troubling trend\u2014one that cannot continue,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cOur servicemembers are counting on bonuses they were promised to pay their bills. We must uphold our word to the men and women serving our country.\u201d\n\nOn March 1 of this year, the Army National Guard suspended reenlistment bonuses. While the incentives program was restarted on March 8, this is not the first time incentives programs were suspended or delayed. In October 2023, more than 9,000 soldiers experienced delays in receiving their enlistment bonus, some by up to five years. A similar scenario occurred in 2021. Further, the National Guard suspended student loan repayments for soldiers in July of 2023.\n\nThe Armed Services significantly missed its recruitment goals for 2023 by over 40,000 people. This leaves our military with the smallest active-duty force since 1940. Johnson\u2019s letter asks if the Armed Services are short of their recruiting goal, why the incentive programs are not funded properly.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T20:47:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-fights-secure-payments-national-guard-members"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7780079506337643, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}