II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3083 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve veterinary care for retired 

military working dogs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 27, 2021 

Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve veterinary 

care for retired military working dogs, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Support Our Military 

5 Working Dogs Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROVISION OF VETERI2 NARY CARE FOR RETIRED MILITARY WORK3 ING DOGS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 994 of title 10, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘establish and maintain a 

8 system to’’; 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘for the veterinary care of’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘veterinary care for’’; and 

11 (C) by striking the second sentence; 

12 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘that the 

13 Secretary of the military department concerned de14 termines is suitable for adoption or is’’ before 

15 ‘‘adopted’’; and 

16 (3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘the system 

17 authorized by’’. 

18 (b) MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENTS WITH OTHER ENTI19 TIES.—Such section is further amended by adding at the 

20 end the following new subsection: 

21 ‘‘(d) ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATED FUNDS.— 

22 (1) The Secretary of Defense may accept donations of 

23 funds, gifts, and in-kind contributions for the purpose of 

24 providing long-term care for any military working dog 

25 adopted under section 2583 of this title. Any amount so 


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1 accepted shall be available without further appropriation 

2 and without fiscal year limitation. 

3 ‘‘(2) The Secretary of Defense may enter into a 

4 multi-year agreement with a veterans service organization 

5 or appropriate nonprofit entity under which— 

6 ‘‘(A) the organization or entity may solicit and 

7 accept donations of funds on behalf of the Depart8 ment of Defense pursuant to paragraph (1); and 

9 ‘‘(B) the organization or entity agrees to trans10 fer any funds accepted pursuant to such an agree11 ment to the Department of Defense. 

12 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘veterans service or13 ganization’ means an organization recognized by the Sec14 retary of Veterans Affairs for the representation of vet15 erans under section 5902 of title 38.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CHARGE FOR ADOPTION OF MILI17 TARY ANIMALS. 

18 Section 2583(d) of title 10, United States Code, is 

19 amended by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF RESEARCH UNDER JOINT TRAU2 MA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DIREC3 TORATE AND INCLUSION OF MILITARY 

4 WORKING DOGS AND VETERINARY CARE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of section 708 of 

6 the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

7 2017 (10 U.S.C. 1071 note) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘of members 

9 of the Armed Forces’’ and inserting ‘‘with respect to 

10 members of the Armed Forces and military working 

11 dogs’’; and 

12 (2) by striking paragraph (9) and inserting the 

13 following new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(9) To inform and advise the conduct of re15 search on the leading causes of morbidity and mor16 tality of members of the Armed Forces and military 

17 working dogs in combat.’’. 

18 (b) VETERINARIANS IN PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

19 PLAN.—Subsection (d)(1) of such section is amended— 

20 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as sub21 paragraph (G); and 

22 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol23 lowing new subparagraph: 

24 ‘‘(F) Veterinary care.’’. 

Æ 


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