I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5553 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to take certain steps to improve the 

Transition Assistance Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 18, 2018 

Mr. BACON (for himself and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to take certain steps 

to improve the Transition Assistance Program, 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 ‘‘Loya-Sears Warrior 

5 Transition Assistance Reform Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Congress affirms the importance of TAP in 

9 preparing members of the Armed Forces of the 


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1 United States to rejoin civil society as productive 

2 citizens following their service. 

3 (2) Despite considerable effort and investment 

4 in military transition assistance programs over many 

5 years, strong evidence exists that many veterans re6 main unprepared for transition and encounter sig7 nificant challenges in living healthy and productive 

8 lives. 

9 (3) Congress observes with concern the unac10 ceptably high rates of suicide, unemployment, and 

11 homelessness that persist among America’s veteran 

12 population. 

13 (4) While difficult to precisely establish the 

14 causal basis of this crisis, Congress is concerned 

15 that management controls should be improved to en16 sure the Department of Defense complies with cur17 rent statutes regarding TAP attendance and partici18 pation, effective allocation of transition assistance 

19 resources, and effective measurement of TAP out20 comes with timely feedback to the Department of 

21 Defense and its interagency partners in the Depart22 ments of Veterans Affairs and Labor. 

23 SEC. 3. REQUIRED ACTIONS. 

24 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact25 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall provide 


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1 an action plan to the congressional defense committees to 

2 accomplish the following with regards to all members of 

3 the regular and reserve components of the Armed Forces: 

4 (1) Mandate initiation of TAP one year before 

5 separation from the Armed Forces. 

6 (2) Standardize TAP curriculum across all mili7 tary departments. 

8 (3) Ensure unit and installation compliance 

9 with applicable statutes governing TAP program 

10 management and individual attendance. 

11 (4) Implementation, in consultation with the 

12 Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Labor, of stand13 ardized performance metrics to measure TAP par14 ticipation and outcome-based objective benchmarks 

15 in order to— 

16 (A) provide feedback to stakeholders of 

17 each of the Departments of Defense, Veterans 

18 Affairs, and Labor; 

19 (B) improve program curriculum; 

20 (C) share best practices; and 

21 (D) facilitate effective oversight of TAP. 

22 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

23 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

25 of Defense, in consultation with the Secretaries of VetVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 Apr 21, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5553.IH H5553

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1 erans Affairs and Labor, shall provide a report to the con2 gressional defense committees containing recommenda3 tions to improve the efficacy of TAP. 

4 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report under this section shall 

5 include recommendations regarding the following: 

6 (1) Methods to improve and expand the dura7 tion and practical utility of the TAP curriculum in 

8 order to effectively prepare members of the Armed 

9 Forces to rejoin the civilian labor force. 

10 (2) Ways to more effectively utilize national and 

11 local veterans service organizations to support vet12 erans throughout transition. 

13 (3) Proposed changes to law or policy to im14 prove the ability of TAP to prepare members of the 

15 Armed Forces to rejoin civil society in productive 

16 manners. 

17 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

18 In this Act: 

19 (1) The term ‘‘TAP’’ means the Transition As20 sistance Program under sections 1142 and 1144 of 

21 title 10, United States Code. 

22 (2) The terms ‘‘military departments’’ and 

23 ‘‘congressional defense committees’’ have the meanVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 Apr 21, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5553.IH H5553

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1 ing given those terms in section 101 of title 10, 

2 United States Code. 

Æ 


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