U.S. Representative Ed Royce

Pentagon to Pay Back Soldiers Whose Reenlistment Bonuses Were Garnished Thousands of veterans who were forced to pay back the millions of dollars in bonuses they'd gotten for reenlisting to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan will get their money back. The Pentagon announced Tuesday it has set up a process to reimburse or eliminate the debts of some 17,000 members of the California Army National Guard who got the bonuses between 2004 and 2010. "The process is in place," said acting Undersecretary of D... Read more

Federal agencies don’t do enough to track and justify their use of live animals for research, several members of Congress wrote in a letter asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office to examine the issue. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) led the letter, which also was backed by Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey), Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Mimi Walters (R-Irvine) and eight other House members. “We have discovered it is impossible to determine what federal animal... Read more

House passes two sanctions bills, sending foreign policy message on Iran and Syria The House laid down markers Tuesday as to how it will try to shape foreign policy going into the new administration by passing two sanctions bills: one targeting Iran, the other Syria. The House overwhelmingly passed a 10-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) by a vote of 419 to 1. The ISA forms the basis for energy, banking and defense sanctions against Iran’s nuclear and missile activities, and was set ... Read more

House launches investigation of National Guard bonus reclaiming A House oversight committee on Tuesday launched an investigation into the Army National Guard reclaiming wartime re-enlistment bonuses. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requested the service turn over all documents and audits related to it taking back the decade-old payments of $15,000 or more to soldiers who agreed to re-enlist for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Tuesday, President Obama called on the Defense D... Read more

Stumpf’s Bad Day: A Summary of Lawmakers’ Withering Attacks John Stumpf walked into a firing line Thursday when he appeared before lawmakers who were furious over revelations that Wells Fargo & Co. may have opened 2 million customer accounts that were fictitious or unauthorized. Attacks from members of the House Financial Services Committee ranged from implying that he sold shares in 2013 because he knew the scandal would tank the stock to assertions that he should be imprisoned and that the ent... Read more

North Korea Nuclear Test Puts Pressure on U.S. Washington assesses options for acting on own in face of China’s apparent reluctance to rein in ally Calls for punitive action echoed around the world after North Korea’s nuclear test on Friday, but the narrow scope for international cooperation against Pyongyang is putting pressure on Washington to act on its own. South Korea’s president said she would seek stronger sanctions through the United Nations Security Council, and the top U.S. and Russian... Read more

Rep. Ed Royce Seeks to Block Cash Ransoms to Iran On Tuesday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) introduced legislation to prevent and ensure that the United States will never again makes ransom payments, or other cash payouts, to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The “Prohibiting Future Ransom Payments to Iran Act (HR 5931)” has three main objectives: It makes clear that the Obama Administration violated longstanding U.S. policy by releasing prisoners and paying ransom for the... Read more

The Fix Is Out: Fannie and Freddie Heading for New Troubles The hole at the corner of 15th and L streets, in downtown Washington, is deep -- and getting deeper. Earth-movers there are laying the foundations of a shiny new headquarters for Fannie Mae, the bailed-out giant of American mortgages. But the sleek design, replete with glass sky bridges, belies a sober reality: Fannie Mae and its cousin, Freddie Mac, are once again headed for trouble. In fact, there’s almost no way around it. On Jan. 1,... Read more

Republicans are slamming President Obama for sending 15 detainees out of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, the administration's largest batch of transfers to date. “In its race to close Gitmo, the Obama administration is doubling down on policies that put American lives at risk,” Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a written statement. Late Monday, the Pentagon announced that 15 detainees from Guantánamo had been sent to the United Arab Emirates. Ther... Read more

Cal State Fullerton’s Talent Search program has been awarded two U.S. Department of Education grants that are expected to total $2.62 million over the five-year award period. The program was established in 1991 to identify students from disadvantaged backgrounds who attended Anaheim, Katella, Magnolia and Savanna high schools — where 87 percent of the two student bodies are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches — and provide a wide range of services and support in order for these students t... Read more