II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 774 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a pilot program 

to hire transitioning servicemembers to be Border Patrol agents. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 9, 2023 

Mr. TESTER (for himself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish 

a pilot program to hire transitioning servicemembers to 

be Border Patrol agents. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Border Pa5 trol Training Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BORDER PATROL SKILLBRIDGE PILOT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

9 Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Secretary of 

10 Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S774.IS S774

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•S 774 IS

1 lish an interdepartmental pilot program through which the 

2 Department of Homeland Security shall use the Depart3 ment of Defense SkillBridge Program to train and hire 

4 transitioning servicemembers as Border Patrol agents for 

5 U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

6 (b) EMPLOYMENT SKILLS TRAINING.—In carrying 

7 out the pilot program established pursuant to subsection 

8 (a), the Secretary of Homeland Security, in collaboration 

9 with the Secretary of Defense, shall use the authorities 

10 available under section 1143 of title 10, United States 

11 Code, to train and facilitate the transition of members of 

12 the armed forces to service as Border Patrol agents. 

13 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORTS. 

14 Not later than 1 year after the pilot program is estab15 lished pursuant to section 2(a), and annually thereafter 

16 until the date referred to in section 4, the Secretary of 

17 Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of 

18 Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall sub19 mit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

20 Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on 

21 Armed Services of the Senate, the Committee on Veterans’ 

22 Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Secu23 rity of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

24 Armed Services of the House of Representatives, and the 


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1 Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep2 resentatives that includes for the reporting period— 

3 (1) the number of participants in the pilot pro4 gram; 

5 (2) the number of eligible participants who ap6 plied to be part of the pilot program; and 

7 (3) the number of pilot program participants 

8 who are— 

9 (A) members the Armed Forces; 

10 (B) reserve members of the Armed Forces; 

11 (C) commissioned officers or non-commis12 sioned officers; 

13 (D) enlisted members of the Armed 

14 Forces; 

15 (E) veterans; 

16 (F) spouses of such members of the Armed 

17 Forces or veterans; and 

18 (G) dependents of such members of the 

19 Armed Forces or veterans. 

20 SEC. 4. SUNSET DATE. 

21 The pilot program established pursuant to section 2 

22 shall be terminated on the date that is 5 years after the 

23 date on which such program is established. 

Æ 


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