Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, 2006 Conference Report--Continued

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, noting that tomorrow is Veterans Day, I rise to discuss an amendment which will make it clear that returning combat veterans of the National Guard and Reserve will receive the same consideration as other combat veterans when applying for a Federal job.

I am offering this bipartisan amendment along with Senators VITTER, CHAMBLISS, WYDEN, LANDRIEU, SCHUMER, CLINTON and DAYTON.

Since the time of the Civil War, veterans of the Armed Services have been given some degree of preference in the consideration process for employment with the Federal Government. This usually takes the form of an additional 5 points added to the score received by a veteran on the test they must take to qualify for the job. If the veteran is disabled, he or she receives an additional 5 points for a total of 10 added points. This program is known as ``Veterans Preference.''

The way the law reads now, veterans applying for a Federal job can receive preferential consideration if they served on active duty during a war in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized and have been separated from the Armed Forces under honorable conditions.

Unfortunately, the term ``separated'' is not defined in the Veterans Preference law and this lack of clarity has had the practical effect of causing some veterans, who saw combat as mobilized members of the Guard or Reserve, to be denied the veterans preference they had earned.

That is exactly what happened to an Army reservist from my own State of Illinois.

Earlier this year, I was contacted by a young woman serving in the Army Reserve as a military police officer. Her name is Kylene Conlon. Since 9/11, Kylene has been mobilized twice. The first time she spent nearly a year in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The second time she spent a full year in Iraq.

Upon her return she learned that the United States Marshals Service was hiring. When she requested an application, she was informed that the hiring program was open only to those eligible for Veterans Preference. She provided copies of her two different Department of Defense forms verifying her overseas service over two major mobilizations, yet she was told that that was not good enough for veterans preference. She was told that she had to have a discharge. But Kylene did not have a discharge certificate, which she would receive after ending military service because she had not quit the Army Reserve. She had come home from Iraq and gone back to attending weekend drills and annual training periods. She had two Department of Defense forms 214 which stated that her type of separation was a ``release from active duty.'' To be given a discharge certificate, Kylene would have to quit the Army Reserve.

She was stunned. She could not believe that the Federal Government would require her to quit the Army Reserve before being able to receive the veterans preference she had earned. So, she came to my office for help.

I sent a letter to the Marshals Service in the Department of Justice to ask why Kylene Conlon was being denied veterans preference.

They wrote back. Here is what their letter said:

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) administers the veterans preference program for the Federal Government in accordance with statute and regulation. Unfortunately, service as a member of the Army Reserve does not qualify for veterans preference. The OPM VetGuide states ``to receive preference, a veteran must have been separated from active duty in the Armed Forces with an honorable discharge.'' Ms. Conlon has not been discharged from the Army.

Every word of that letter was 100 percent true. OPM administers the program according to the law. OPM's guide requires a discharge. Reservists completing a mobilization and returning to part-time status don't receive discharges. Therefore, reservists were being deemed ineligible for Veterans Preference.

I knew right then that the law had to be changed.

My staff checked into this and found that it was that vague word ``separated'' in the current Veterans Preference law that was the problem. Somebody could read that word and assume it means only ``discharged'' and so they had.

That was not Congress's intent. Elsewhere in Federal law, rather than the term ``separated,'' one finds the phrase ``discharged or released.'' That's a better phrase. It covers both those who end full-time, active duty service completely with an honorable discharge as well as reservists who are released after a tour of active duty and go back to reserve duty. Troops leaving the military altogether are given a discharge. Reservists who are simply ending a period of active duty and reverting to their previous part-time reservist status are given a release from active duty.

The measure which I introduce today clarifies title 5 by replacing the vague term ``separated'' with the clearer and more precise phrase ``discharged or released.'' While this may seem a small change in wording, it will have an important effect. It will make it absolutely clear that a member of the National Guard or Reserve who serves honorably in a war, campaign or expedition for which a campaign medal has been authorized can receive full access to veterans preference in Federal hiring. We want these honorable veterans to receive this preference without any pressure or incentive whatsoever to terminate their valuable service in the reserve components of our Armed Forces.

This change in the law is merely a clarification to avoid future errors of interpretation as have occurred in the past. It will have no effect on previous grants of veterans preference and it will in no way limit or reduce future considerations for veterans preference eligibility.

The measure is endorsed by the Reserve Officers Association. I am very grateful to the managers of the Defense authorization bill for agreeing to accept this measure as an amendment. It is important and timely legislation as we approach Veterans Day and honor all those who serve our Nation in uniform.

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