[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 189 (Wednesday, October 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7428-S7429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 3932. Ms. HASSAN (for herself, Ms. Ernst, and Mr. Coons) submitted 
an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 3867 submitted by

[[Page S7429]]

Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 4350, to 
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 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 end of subtitle G of title V, add the following:

     SEC. 596. MODIFICATIONS TO MILITARY SERVICE UNIFORM 
                   REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES.

       (a) Establishment of Consistent Criteria.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, acting 
     through the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and 
     Readiness and in coordination with the Secretaries concerned 
     with respect to the Armed Forces under their jurisdiction, 
     shall establish consistent criteria for determining which 
     uniform or clothing items across the services are considered 
     uniquely military for purposes of calculating the standard 
     cash clothing replacement allowances, in part to reduce 
     differences in out-of-pocket costs incurred by enlisted 
     members of the Armed Forces across the military services and 
     by gender within a military service.
       (2) Review.--The Under Secretary shall review the criteria 
     established under paragraph (1) every 5 years thereafter and 
     recommend adjustments to enlisted clothing allowances if they 
     are insufficient to pay for uniquely military items.
       (b) Additional Reviews.--The Secretary of Defense, acting 
     through the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and 
     Readiness and in coordination with the Secretaries of the 
     military departments, shall--
       (1) periodically review all uniform clothing plans of the 
     military services to identify data and requirements needed to 
     facilitate cost discussions and to recommend adjustments as 
     appropriate;
       (2) periodically review items in the military services' 
     calculations of the enlisted standard cash clothing 
     replacement allowances, at a minimum, every 5 years and 
     develop a standard by which to identify significant cost 
     differences that warrant being addressed;
       (3) periodically review all plans of the military services 
     for changing uniform items to determine if the planned 
     changes will result in significant out of pocket cost 
     differences among the services or among genders; and
       (4) periodically review initial officer clothing 
     allowances, at a minimum, every 10 years and identify 
     requirements needed to facilitate cost discussions and 
     adjustment recommendations as appropriate.
       (c) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
     the cost of like items between genders should be the same for 
     members of the Armed Forces.
       (d) Report.--Not later than December 31, 2022, the 
     Department of Defense, in coordination with the Secretaries 
     of the military departments, shall submit to the Committees 
     on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of 
     Representatives a report on the estimated production and 
     average retail costs of military clothing items for members 
     of each Armed Force, including both officer and enlisted 
     uniforms, and a comparison of costs for both male and female 
     military clothing items for members of each of the respective 
     services.
                                 ______