[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 96 (Monday, June 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S3691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2689. Mr. HELLER (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 2282 proposed by Mr. 
Inhofe (for himself and Mr. McCain) to the bill H.R. 5515, to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES REVIEW OF 
                   EFFECT OF OTHER-THAN-HONORABLE DISCHARGES ON 
                   VETERAN EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES.

       (a) Review Required.--Not later than one year after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 
     the United States shall, in consultation with the Secretary 
     of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and the 
     Secretary of Labor, commence a review of the effect of 
     discharges and releases from service in the active military, 
     naval, or air service under conditions other than honorable 
     on employment outcomes for veterans who were so discharged or 
     released.
       (b) Elements.--The review required by subsection (a) shall 
     include the following:
       (1) An assessment of the effect of a discharge or release 
     described in subsection (a) on a veteran's employment 
     outcomes.
       (2) Development of recommendations for legislative or 
     administrative action to reduce the negative effect of such a 
     discharge or release on employment outcomes, including 
     potential educational campaigns.
       (3) An assessment of agency outreach or other relevant 
     efforts to inform veterans of their ability to seek a change 
     to their character of discharge through a discharge review 
     board.
       (4) An assessment of the progress of the Secretary of 
     Defense in implementing the recommendations of the 
     Comptroller General published in the Government 
     Accountability Office report GAO-17-260 in May of 2017 on 
     actions needed to ensure post-traumatic stress disorder and 
     traumatic brain injury are considered in misconduct 
     separations.
       (5) A review and development of recommended areas for 
     improvement in the implementation by the Department of 
     Defense of its August 25, 2017, clarifying guidance to 
     Military Discharge Review Boards and Board for Correction of 
     Military/Naval Records related to mental health conditions, 
     sexual assault, or sexual harassment. Such review shall 
     include identifying statistics on the number of upgrades and 
     discharge reliefs requested and granted and the average 
     timeframe for review of such requests.
       (c) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date on which 
     the Comptroller General completes the review required by 
     subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall submit to 
     Congress a report on the results of the review.
       (d) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``active 
     military, naval, or air service'', ``discharge or release'', 
     and ``veteran'' have the meaning given such terms in section 
     101 of title 38, United States Code.
                                 ______