NewsBytes December 3, 2021
In this issue:
Government Shutdown Looming
Senate Consideration of NDAA
IG Report on DoD Screening for Suicide
Government Shutdown Looming
As NewsBytes goes to press, the Senate and House are still working to approve a stopgap funding measure, known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) to prevent the U.S. government from partially shutting down. The House started work on a CR to keep the government open until Feb. 18, 2022. While passage in the House looks certain, it is unclear if the Senate will pass it before midnight Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, to avoid a government shutdown.
Earlier, Congress passed a CR (H.R.5305) at the start of the new fiscal year (Oct. 1). This CR kept the government open at current spending levels until Dec. 3, 2021. This was supposed to give Congress time to approve appropriations (spending) bills and to be signed into law by the president. Unfortunately, Congress has made little if any progress on passing spending bills for FY2022.
In the event of a government shutdown, active-duty military personnel will be paid because they are considered “essential workers.” Retirees will continue to be paid because funding for their benefits are not required to be appropriated by Congress (mandatory funding). TRICARE benefits also will continue if there is a shutdown. Those receiving veterans’ benefits will continue to get benefits because the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has two-year funding (an FRA supported initiative) and already has funding for FY2022.
Senate Consideration of NDAA
Negotiations in the Senate on passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA H.R.4350) have come to an impasse after behind-the-scenes negotiations failed to reach an agreement on what amendments should be considered on the Senate floor. Several of these Senate floor amendments are supported by the FRA and include:
• Sen. Jon Tester’s (Mont.) amendment with the provisions of the “Major Richard Star Act” (S.344) that would expand concurrent receipt to include Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) beneficiaries who are medically retired with less than 20 years of service;
• Sen. Rob Portman’s (Ohio) amendment with provisions of the “Military Retiree Survivor Comfort Act” (S.1669) that would authorize the retention of the full final month’s retired pay by the surviving spouse for the month in which the member was alive for at least 24 hours;
• Sen. Lankford’s (Okla.) amendment that would repeal the 180-day delay for retirees applying for Defense Department civilian positions GS-13 and below;
• Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s (Conn.) amendment that would require a joint report from the DoD and the VA to designate the next national cemetery that affords full military honors as Arlington National Cemetery reaches capacity and directs DoD to not change ANC eligibility until after the report is submitted; and
• Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s (Conn.) amendment that would prohibit forced arbitration provisions in financial contracts for service members and re-employment disputes for reserve component members.
Members are strongly urged to use the FRA Action Center to ask their Senators to support these important amendments.
The House recently passed its version of the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Once the Senate passes its version of the NDAA, a conference committee will be appointed to resolve the differences between the two bills. That final bill will be submitted to the House and Senate for a vote. If approved by both chambers the bill will go to the president to be signed into law or be vetoed.
IG Report on DoD Screening for Suicide
A recently released Inspector General (IG) report indicates that the Department of Defense (DoD) screened only about one-third — 34 percent in 2020 and 30 percent in 2019 — of troops transitioning to civilian life, who face an overall risk of suicide three times higher than active-duty service members. DoD was supposed to screen 100 percent beginning in 2018. The lack of transition screenings for those at higher risk of taking their lives may have impaired DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ability to predict health care needs and provide benefits at discharge, and may have jeopardized the safety of veterans, according to the IG report. Veteran suicide rates have been rising for two decades, and since 2005 have climbed faster than non-veteran suicide rates in the U.S., according to the Rand Corp.
Many more veterans and active-duty troops have committed suicide over the past 20 years (30,177) than were killed in Post-9/11 wars (7,057), according to research by Brown University’s Costs of War Project.
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