Guard and Reserve Gi Bill Parity Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of the bipartisan amendment that I have put forward, along with my colleagues Deborah Ross, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, and Jamaal Bowman.

As my colleagues from both sides of the aisle have made clear, our Nation owes a tremendous debt to our veterans.

I am pleased that this week, the House will take up a bill to help improve access to services and benefits that our men and women in uniform have earned.

H.R. 1836--the National Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2021--would allow Members of the National Guard and Reserves to count time spend in training towards their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

I am so proud of the men and women in Wisconsin's National Guard who have mobilized throughout our nation's history in support of overseas combat operations in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, during both world wars, the Spanish-American War, and the Civil War and are now engaged in their longest ever domestic mobilization, to combat COVID-19.

They are a key part of our communities and to efforts to protect and defend our nation.

Our amendment to this bill simply attempts to help ensure that the VA take every opportunity to ensure that new veterans who are leaving or about to transition from active duty are aware of the VA benefits they may be eligible for, including critical health care services.

Unfortunately, too many vets leave the military without knowing what they are eligible for at the VA or do not have the documentation they need to prove their eligibility. As a result, they can find themselves missing out on critical benefits and services they need or trying to navigate bureaucratic red tape, without success, to try and find the right answers. These men and women answered the call to serve their country and it is our responsibility to honor the debt our Nation owes them for their service.

We can do better. And that must start with providing as much information as early as possible to those who could be eligible for VA benefits or services.

Our amendment requires the VA to inform new veterans of the medical care and services for which they are eligible, including community care; mental healthcare, care relating to military sexual trauma; and any other information the Secretary deems appropriate.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying bill.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 1836, the Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act, which will expand eligibility for post-9/11 G.I. Bill educational benefits to members of the National Guard and the Reserves.

Current law defines the term ``active duty'' as those individuals who are on full-time duty in the active military service of the United States, including full-time training duty, annual training duty, and attendance, while in the active military service, at a school designated as a service school by law or by the Secretary of the military department concerned.

H.R. 1836, will expand eligibility criteria to include those training in full-time National Guard duty, which includes the National Guard, the Army National Guard, and the Air National Guard, as well as those same members when performing active duty.

Under current rules, service members need three years on active-duty to be eligible for full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, which include 36 months of in-state college tuition, a monthly living stipend and other payouts.

Reaching that amount of time mobilized to active-duty is difficult for guardsmen and reservists, and outdated and confusing eligibility requirements means the difference of tens of thousands of dollars for college for those individuals.

For example, the deployment of thousands of Guard troops to Capitol Hill following the January 6 attack counted towards GI Bill eligibility, because the mission was being paid for with federal funds.

However, troops mobilized for crowd control during racial equality protests in Washington, D.C., last summer were not able to count that time, because those missions weren't funded by federal dollars.

Some other riot response missions across the nation were funded by federal funds, and did count towards the education benefits.

Similarly, tens of thousands of Guard and Reserve troops have been mobilized for pandemic response missions over the last two years, but their eligibility varies depending on the specific orders and units involved.

For years, members of the National Guard and Reserve Components have been disadvantaged and overlooked in the accumulation of their education benefits while performing the same or similar service as their Active-Duty counterparts.

Time and time again, through natural disasters, global pandemics, and threats to our democracy, our National Guard and Reserve members have answered the call to serve.

But despite taking on the same risks and doing the same jobs as their active-duty counterparts, these service members don't have access to the same benefits.

This has become much clearer and more severe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members of the National Guard and Reserve Component have risked their lives on the front lines of this pandemic, administering aid and protecting the Capitol on training status.

Our brave men and women continue to selflessly answer our nation's call and are long overdue the benefits befitting their service.

The Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2021 will ensure the men and women of the National Guard are entitled to GI Bill education benefits when activated for service either for training or for operational needs of our country, just like their Active- Duty counterparts.

I want to thank all of our armed serviceman and women for their selfless dedication to our protection every day.

In my home state of Texas, the National Guard has been deployed time and time again to assist citizens and save lives during numerous natural disasters, including the Winter Freeze of last February and the tragic Hurricane Harvey.

The Texas National Guard is host to nearly 21,000 troops, including its army and air components.

The National Guard is a diverse force that includes all ethnicities:

White: 69 percent;

Black: 15 percent;

Hispanic: 10 percent;

Asian: 3 percent;

Male: 83.1 percent;

Female: 16.9 percent

This bill, in which we further the benefits and recognition that our servicemen and women deserve, also reminds us that we have an overriding duty to protect the health and dignity of those serving today.

For this reason, I would like to discuss the crisis that our National Guardsmen and Guardswomen have been thrust into at the Texas Governor's direction on our Southern Border.

In March 2021, the Texas Governor launched the ill-fated and ineffective Operation Lone Star which he claimed was necessary to stem a so-called invasion of migrants at Texas' southern border.

As of November 2021, more than 10,000 Texas National Guardsmen have been deployed to the southern border in pursuit of this folly.

According to published media accounts, National Guard members who have been activated for Operation Lone Star are experiencing habitual pay delays and poor working conditions during the border mission, including being exposed to COVID-19, and many are missing the equipment necessary for safety and mission success.

In addition, the National Guard has faced austere conditions and limited resources, leading to unsanitary conditions such as the lack of portable restrooms.

Rather than addressing these conditions, just last week the Texas Governor filed a frivolous lawsuit in federal court challenging the authority of President Biden, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to require that members of the National Guard be vaccinated against COVID-19.

There is no merit to this nuisance law suit as demonstrated by the summary rejection of similar arguments raised by neighboring Oklahoma Governor Stitt.

The Texas Governor's failure to comply with the policies intended to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among the Armed Forces will mean that there will be less military personnel available national disasters that have struck Texas in recent years, such as the winter freeze of last year.

This will also mean that there are fewer personnel to respond to any attacks on the homeland.

Encouraged by the Texas Governor's obstinacy, about 40 percent of the members of the Texas Army National Guard are refusing to get vaccinated, which puts at risk their colleagues and the persons they are sworn to defend and protect.

National Guardsmen and Guardswomen deployed in this disastrous mission at the Texas Governor's insistence face the deadly spread of COVID-19, unsanitary conditions, lack of pay, and a lack of a certain future.

These uniformed men and women deserve better, and some of them, seeing no alternative to their present reality, have decided to end it all.

Five National guard soldiers have shot and killed themselves in the past three months, and one more survived a suicide attempt.

One of these men, private first class Joshua R. Cortez, was preparing to accept a ``lifetime job'' with one of the nation's biggest health insurance companies in late October last year, but the Texas National Guard had other ideas.

Operation Lone Star required involuntary activations to meet the Texas Governor's troop quotas, and Cortez was one of the soldiers tapped to go on state active duty orders--with no idea how long the mission would last.

In November, the 21-year-old mechanic requested a hardship release from the mission: ``I've been waiting for this job and I'm on my way to getting hired . . . I missed my first opportunity in September when I had to go on the flood mission in Louisiana. . . . I can not miss this opportunity because it is my last opportunity for this lifetime job.''

Cortez's company commander recommended approval. But his battalion commander and brigade commander disapproved.

Within 36 hours of his request being denied, Cortez drove to a parking lot in northwest San Antonio and shot himself in the head.

Three other soldiers tied to Operation Lone Star have died by suicide, including:

Sgt. Jose L. De Hoyos was found dead in Laredo, Texas, on Oct. 26. He was a member of the 949th Brigade Support Battalion's headquarters company.

1st Sgt. John ``Kenny'' Crutcher died Nov. 12, as time ran out on his temporary hardship waiver. He was the top NCO for B Company, 3rd Battalion, 144th Infantry.

1st Lt. Charles Williams, a platoon leader in Crutcher's company, died at home overnight Dec. 17 while on pass.

The string of suicides raises urgent questions about the mission's conditions and purpose, as well as the way it's organized and manned through indefinite involuntary call-ups.

This is an excellent and common-sense bill that will enhance the benefits of our servicemen and women.

We must also act to ensure that our servicemen and women are protected from COVID-19, both for their own safety and the safety of our nation.

When called to action, the National Guard performs the name duties as our active duty forces, oftentimes in extraordinarily difficult situations.

Although we cannot bring back the lives lost due to the Texas Governor's misguided actions, we can remember the names of those we have lost and work to ensure that we treat all members of our military equally and with dignity and respect.

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