WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, held a hearing to mark-up the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, during which Senator Tillis announced bipartisan consensus on a number of priorities, including another pay raise for servicemembers, additional accountability measures to improve military housing conditions, and impact aid to local educational agencies with military dependent children.

Watch the video HERE.

Transcript of Senator Tillis’ Opening Statement:

Before we begin the mark-up process, I want to speak directly to servicemembers and their families: you have experienced unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic – delayed PCS moves; spouses’ loss of income; limited access to routine medical care; problems finding childcare, and many others. Even under “normal” conditions, you all make sacrifices every day in service to the Nation. During this pandemic, however, your sacrifices have been much greater. I greatly admire your strength and resilience as we all adjust to a new normal under COVID-19, and I thank you for your continued service to the Nation. 

The Subcommittee meets today to mark up an original bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. Again this year, we will hold this Subcommittee markup in open session. I’m confident that we can publicly conduct our business without disclosing classified information or adversely impacting the process. In this regard, I ask that any Senator wishing to offer an amendment or raise an issue of a classified nature defer that for the full Committee’s consideration. Although this Subcommittee meeting is in open session, the entire contents of the Markup Book are subject to amendment throughout its consideration by the Armed Services Committee and are therefore embargoed until passage by the full Committee and reported to the Senate.  

As we meet, we are abiding by guidance from the Office of the Attending Physician, Sergeant at Arms, and Rules Committee. That means we are each six feet from one another. You also have cleaning supplies by your seats. And if maintaining six feet of separation ever comes into question, I encourage each of you to wear your mask.

I want to thank Ranking Member Gillibrand for her hard work on this subcommittee. We’ve worked together in a bipartisan manner to draft this year’s Personnel mark, and I appreciate her dedication to our servicemembers and their families.  

We have before us today a legislative package that contains 75 legislative provisions, 22 items of special interest, and 6 budget items. Since the details of the legislative package were provided to the staffs of committee members, I will limit my comments to some of the highlights. 

Key aspects of the Subcommittee markup are:

• Authorizes military end strength levels largely consistent with the President’s budget request.
• Increases special/incentive pays for health professions officers to address competitiveness of pay.
• Improves access to potential recruits in high schools and universities.
• Provides temporary retirement eligibility relief to reserve personnel due to COVID-19.
• Authorizes $50 million in supplemental impact aid to local educational agencies with military dependent children and $20 million in impact aid for schools with military dependent children with severe disabilities.
• Requires the DOD Inspector General to conduct an audit of the medical conditions of servicemembers and their families who have resided in unsafe or unhealthy privatized military housing.
• Requires the Secretary of Defense to implement the pilot program, authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 that establishes civilian and military partnerships to enhance the medical surge capability of the National Disaster Medical System.
• Establishes maximum student-to-teacher ratios for DODEA schools through the 2023-2024 school year.
• Authorizes $4.0M to assist with development of interstate compacts on licensed occupations for military spouses, through the cooperative agreement with the Council of State Governments.
• Standardizes and improves the Exceptional Family Member Program.
• Provides victims of offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice the right to notice of a post-trial motion, filing, or hearing in certain circumstances.
• Authorizes military Courts of Criminal Appeals to consider sufficiency of the evidence only when raised as an appellate issue by the accused.

These are only a few highlights of the legislative package we present for mark-up.  

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