Legislative Update

The FY21 NDAA continues to improve the quality of life for our service men and women in uniform — including the authorization for a 3.0 percent pay increase — makes key investments to military infrastructure and provides crucial support to training and sustainment activities that enhance military operations. It also created some new National Guard benefits and makes more Guardsmen and their families eligible for some existing veterans’ programs.

One of the new benefits is 12 weeks of

fully paid maternity leave for drill-status

women in the Guard and Reserve. They will also receive retirement points. It essentially mirrors the program women on active duty have had after pregnancy and childbirth since 2016.

Also included in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act is six-months

of transitional medical coverage for Guardsmen and their families after

Title 32 coronavirus response missions. Guardsmen have long received transitional coverage after overseas assignments to cover any lingering medical issues but never after a domestic mission.

NGAUS pushed hard for both benefits.

The Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits

Improvements Act of 2020, which was signed by the president, expands some existing benefits to more Guardsmen and their families. NGAUS was also a force behind this legislation, assisting the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees with its formulation.

It credits for the first-time service under Title 32 (federally funded but under state control) toward Department of Veterans Affairs home

loans. The threshold for the program is 90 cumulative days on Title 32 with at least one period of 30 consecutive days. Previously Guardsmen qualified for nomoney-down, VA-guaranteed mortgage only if they had mobilized under Title 10 for 90 consecutive days or had six years of total service.

Another provision expands eligibility for the Fry Scholarship for the children and spouses of troops who died on or after Sept. 11, 2001, as a result of their military service. The language removes the requirement that the death occurred while on federal active duty. This means deaths that occur on weekend drills and other training apply. So, too, do those that result from a service-connected disability.

The new law also provides a presumption of service-connection for military members who contract the coronavirus within 14 days of the completion of duty in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It also expands counseling for military

sexual trauma at VA facilities to former

Guardsmen and Reservists, who previously only received such counseling if they were current members of the Guard or Reserve. The same provision also allows the VA to treat physical health conditions arising from MST, not just mental health conditions.

Additional language extends federal

employment protections and reemployment rights to Guardsmen who serve at least 14 days of state active duty or who are mobilized to respond to a

national emergency or natural disaster. Previously, there were no federal job protections for state active duty. H

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN visited Texas National Guard members who were in Washington, D.C. conducting security, communication, and logistical missions in support the 59th Presidential Inauguration. CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL MCCALL (center) visits with members of the Texas National Guard while they were in Washington, D.C. providing security for the Presidential Inauguration. In the photo a Soldier is seen handing Congressman McCall a 36th Infantry Division “T-Patch” for his support.