[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H787-H788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BATTLE FOR SERVICE MEMBERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). The Chair recognizes the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Murphy) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MURPHY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a 
bipartisan bill that seeks to ensure that servicemembers who are 
leaving the military receive the specific training they need to make a 
successful transition to civilian life. The BATTLE for Servicemembers 
Act will better prepare servicemembers to attend college, to learn a 
technical trade, or to start a small business.
  The men and women in our all-voluntary military serve and sacrifice 
for this Nation. When they decide to leave the Armed Forces, it is our 
Nation's moral obligation to take all of the steps necessary to help 
them thrive in the next stage of their lives.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the three original cosponsors of this 
legislation. The first is Congressman Jack Bergman, a retired three-
star Marine Corps general who recently visited in my central Florida 
district as part of a program organized by the Bipartisan Policy 
Center. Congressman Bergman joined me on a visit to the local VA 
hospital and to a meeting of my veterans advisory board.
  The other original cosponsors are Congressman Carlos Curbelo and 
Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, who

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are the co-chairs of the Congressional Future Caucus. I am proud to 
serve as a vice chair of this caucus which promotes policies to empower 
younger generations, including our young men and women in the military.
  I also want to thank the outside organizations that have endorsed 
this bill. Namely, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Iraq and 
Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Student Veterans of America, and 
the Millennial Action Project.
  Let me briefly outline what the bill would do. Over 200,000 
servicemembers are honorably discharged from the military each year. 
Many of them are under age 25, do not have a bachelor's degree, and 
leave the military without having secured a civilian job. Under current 
law, the Department of Defense is required to ensure that eligible 
departing servicemembers participate in the Transition Assistance 
Program, or TAP.
  The content of TAP has evolved over the years and continues to be the 
subject of vigorous debate in Congress and within DOD. As presently 
designed, TAP's mandatory core curriculum consists of a 3-day 
employment workshop, 6 hours of briefing on veterans benefits, and 8 to 
10 hours of briefings on topics such as translating military skills to 
civilian jobs and managing personal finances.
  Beyond this mandatory core curriculum, eligible servicemembers are 
also given the option to participate in a more specialized 2-day 
workshop in one of the following areas: higher education, technical and 
skills training, or entrepreneurship.
  In my view, the core curriculum is necessary, but not sufficient to 
enable most departing servicemembers to successfully transition to the 
civilian world. I believe departing servicemembers should supplement 
the core curriculum with at least one of these 2-day workshops so they 
can receive training tailored to their specific personal and 
professional goals, whether that involves going to school, learning a 
trade, or starting a business. The problem is that these 2-day 
workshops, precisely because they are optional, are rarely utilized.
  According to a report recently released by the Government 
Accountability Office, fewer than 15 percent of eligible Active-Duty 
servicemembers participated in one of the 2-day workshops in fiscal 
year 2016, including only 4 percent of eligible marines.
  Requiring transitioning servicemembers to opt into a 2-day workshop 
sends a signal to servicemembers and their commanders that the 
workshops are unnecessary, thereby discouraging participation. 
Therefore, my bill will require DOD to ensure that all eligible 
servicemembers participate in the core curriculum and one of the 2-day 
workshops. As with the core curriculum, participation in a 2-day 
workshop could be waived for certain departing servicemembers, 
including servicemembers with specialized skills who are needed to 
support an imminent deployment.
  In addition, the bill would allow servicemembers who do not wish to 
participate to opt out of the training. However, the ultimate goal is 
to ensure that more departing servicemembers receive this targeted 
training and to boost the current 15 percent participation rate.
  There is far more that we can do as a country to make certain that 
our warriors are well equipped, both practically and emotionally, to 
deal with the challenges of civilian life. I believe passage of this 
legislation would be a step in the right direction.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to support this bill.

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