I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2654 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide servicemembers 

increased protection during a funding gap. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2011 

Mr. ELLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide 

servicemembers increased protection during a funding gap. 

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 ‘‘Don’t Default on Mili5 tary Families Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF SERVICEMEMBERS DURING FUND7 ING GAP. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Servicemembers 

9 Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 511 et seq.) is amended 

10 by adding at the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 110. PROTECTION OF SERVICEMEMBERS DURING 

2 FUNDING GAP. 

3 ‘‘(a) APPLICATION.—Notwithstanding any other sec4 tion of this Act, the provisions of this section shall apply 

5 to a servicemember during a funding gap affecting the 

6 Armed Forces. 

7 ‘‘(b) EVICTIONS AND DISTRESS.—During a funding 

8 gap, section 301(a)(1)(A)(ii) shall not apply to a service9 member. 

10 ‘‘(c) PROTECTION UNDER INSTALLMENT CONTRACTS

11 FOR PURCHASE OR LEASE.—During a funding gap, sec12 tion 302(a)(2) shall not apply to a servicemember. 

13 ‘‘(d) MORTGAGES AND TRUST DEEDS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—During a funding gap, sec15 tion 303(a)(1) shall apply to a servicemember by 

16 substituting ‘before a funding gap that is the cause 

17 of an action described in subsection (b) or a sale, 

18 foreclosure, or seizure described in subsection (c)’ 

19 for ‘before the period of the servicemember’s mili20 tary service’. 

21 ‘‘(2) CREDIT RATING.—During a funding gap, 

22 the failure or delay of a servicemember to make a 

23 payment related to an obligation or liability con24 sisting of a mortgage, trust deed, or other security 

25 in the nature of a mortgage, shall not itself (without 

26 regard to other considerations) provide the basis for 


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1 an adverse report relating to the creditworthiness of 

2 the servicemember by or to a person engaged in the 

3 practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit 

4 information if such servicemember notifies in good 

5 faith the creditor related to such obligation or liabil6 ity that the funding gap is the cause of the failed 

7 or delayed payment. 

8 ‘‘(e) FUNDING GAP DEFINED.—In this Act, the term 

9 ‘funding gap’ means— 

10 ‘‘(1) any period of time after the beginning of 

11 a fiscal year for which interim or full-year appro12 priations for the personnel accounts of the Armed 

13 Forces for that fiscal year have not been enacted; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(2) any period of time in which the debt of the 

16 United States Government, as defined in section 

17 3101 of title 31, United States Code, reaches the 

18 statutory limit and the Secretary of Defense deter19 mines that sufficient amounts are not available in 

20 the personnel accounts of the Armed Forces to con21 tinue to provide pay and allowances (without inter22 ruption) to members of the Armed Forces.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 

3 the item relating to section 109 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 110. Protection of servicemembers during funding gap.’’. 

Æ 


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