[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9730 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9730

   To expedite the rehiring of certain former career members of the 
                Foreign Service, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 16, 2026

   Mr. Beyer (for himself, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Walkinshaw, Ms. Titus, Mr. 
  Olszewski, and Ms. Norton) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To expedite the rehiring of certain former career members of the 
                Foreign Service, 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 ``Foreign Service Test-Free Reentry 
Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. EXPEDITED REHIRING OF FORMER CAREER MEMBERS.

    Section 308 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3948) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c)(1) With respect to any former career member of the Service 
involuntarily separated or retired as part of a reduction in force or 
other expedited retirement process during the period beginning January 
20, 2025, and ending January 31, 2030, who was serving in good standing 
as of the date of such separation or retirement, the Secretary may 
reappoint such former career member without requiring any written or 
oral examination or other threshold qualification described in section 
301.
    ``(2) For purposes of this subsection--
            ``(A) the term `serving in good standing', with respect to 
        an individual who was separated or retired, means that the 
        individual did not receive any low rankings within the 5 years 
        prior to their separation or retirement date to the extent that 
        such review with respect to such individual is clearly 
        documented; and
            ``(B) the authority provided under paragraph (1) may not be 
        exercised with respect to any former career service member that 
        was not involuntarily separated or retired--
                    ``(i) during the period described in that 
                paragraph; and
                    ``(ii) as part of a reduction in force or other 
                expedited retirement process.''.
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