[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S2632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 482. Mrs. FEINSTEIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by her to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2024 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 F of title V, add the following:

     SEC. 565. SUPPORT FOR MILITARY FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENTS IN 
                   THE EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY MEMBER PROGRAM.

       (a) Guarantee of Medical, Education, and Organization 
     Support.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary of a military department 
     shall ensure, upon issuing relocation orders to an eligible 
     member, that--
       (A) the member will not be required to relocate again--
       (i) during the 6 months after the issuance of such orders, 
     if the member is assigned to a duty station within the 
     contiguous United States; or
       (ii) during the 8 months after the issuance of such orders, 
     if the member is assigned to a duty station outside of the 
     contiguous United States;
       (B) initial care appointments for the qualifying dependent 
     of the member--
       (i) will be scheduled not later than 60 days after the 
     issuance of such orders; and
       (ii) will occur not later than 30 days after the dependent 
     arrives at the new duty station of the member; and
       (C) the commander of the member at the new duty station of 
     provides feedback to the member with respect to continuity of 
     care for the dependent.
       (2) Facilitation of relocations.--The Secretary of each 
     military department shall ensure the establishment of 
     systematic and transparent methods to connect commands and 
     eligible members to facilitate outgoing preparations relating 
     to the relocations of such members and onboarding processes 
     for such members at new duty stations, with particular 
     emphasis on coordination between commanders at the previous 
     duty station and at the new duty station.
       (b) Guardianship Grants.--The Secretary of Defense may 
     provide to an eligible member a grant of $5,000 for each 
     qualifying dependent of the member who is under the age of 18 
     to be used for legal expenses related to handling 
     guardianship of the dependent when the dependent achieves the 
     age of 18.
       (c) Housing Grants.--The Secretary of each military 
     department may provide to an eligible member, after each 
     permanent change of station of the member, a reimbursable, 
     specially adapted housing grant of $8,000 if--
       (1) the qualifying dependent of the member has a permanent 
     and total disability; and
       (2) the Secretary determines that the disability reasonably 
     requires adaptations to the residence of the member and the 
     dependent at the new duty station.
       (d) Specially Adapted Vehicle Grant.--The Secretary of each 
     military department may provide to an eligible member one 
     grant of $3,000 for the purpose of adapting a passenger 
     vehicle of the member to accommodate the mobility needs of 
     the qualifying dependent of the member.
       (e) Implementation.--The Secretary of Defense and the 
     Secretaries of the military departments shall prescribe 
     regulations and issue guidelines to ensure the effective 
     implementation of this section.
       (f) Annual Reports.--Not later than one year after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
     Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional 
     defense committees a report describing--
       (1) the extent of compliance with the provisions of this 
     section;
       (2) the effectiveness of support provided under this 
     section; and
       (3) any challenges encountered in carrying out this section 
     and recommendations for improvement.
       (g) Funding.--The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that 
     appropriate funding is provided to carry out this section.
       (h) Effective Date; Applicability.--This section shall take 
     on December 1, 2025, and apply to all relocations of eligible 
     members occurring on or after that date.
       (i) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Eligible member.--The term ``eligible member'' means a 
     member of the Armed Forces with a qualifying dependent.
       (2) Qualifying dependent.--The term ``qualifying 
     dependent'' means a dependent of a member of the Armed Forces 
     who is in the Exceptional Family Member Program.
                                 ______