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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Loya-Sears Warrior 
Transition Assistance Reform Act of 2018’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Congress affirms the importance of TAP in 
preparing members of the Armed Forces of the 
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United States to rejoin civil society as productive 
citizens following their service. 
(2) Despite considerable effort and investment 
in military transition assistance programs over many 
years, strong evidence exists that many veterans re-
main unprepared for transition and encounter sig-
nificant challenges in living healthy and productive 
lives. 
(3) Congress observes with concern the unac-
ceptably high rates of suicide, unemployment, and 
homelessness that persist among America’s veteran 
population. 
(4) While difficult to precisely establish the 
causal basis of this crisis, Congress is concerned 
that management controls should be improved to en-
sure the Department of Defense complies with cur-
rent statutes regarding TAP attendance and partici-
pation, effective allocation of transition assistance 
resources, and effective measurement of TAP out-
comes with timely feedback to the Department of 
Defense and its interagency partners in the Depart-
ments of Veterans Affairs and Labor. 
SEC. 3. REQUIRED ACTIONS. 
Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall provide 
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an action plan to the congressional defense committees to 
accomplish the following with regards to all members of 
the regular and reserve components of the Armed Forces: 
(1) Mandate initiation of TAP one year before 
separation from the Armed Forces. 
(2) Standardize TAP curriculum across all mili-
tary departments. 
(3) Ensure unit and installation compliance 
with applicable statutes governing TAP program 
management and individual attendance. 
(4) Implementation, in consultation with the 
Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Labor, of stand-
ardized performance metrics to measure TAP par-
ticipation and outcome-based objective benchmarks 
in order to— 
(A) provide feedback to stakeholders of 
each of the Departments of Defense, Veterans 
Affairs, and Labor; 
(B) improve program curriculum; 
(C) share best practices; and 
(D) facilitate effective oversight of TAP. 
SEC. 4. REPORT. 
(a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of Defense, in consultation with the Secretaries of Vet-
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erans Affairs and Labor, shall provide a report to the con-
gressional defense committees containing recommenda-
tions to improve the efficacy of TAP. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The report under this section shall 
include recommendations regarding the following: 
(1) Methods to improve and expand the dura-
tion and practical utility of the TAP curriculum in 
order to effectively prepare members of the Armed 
Forces to rejoin the civilian labor force. 
(2) Ways to more effectively utilize national and 
local veterans service organizations to support vet-
erans throughout transition. 
(3) Proposed changes to law or policy to im-
prove the ability of TAP to prepare members of the 
Armed Forces to rejoin civil society in productive 
manners. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘TAP’’ means the Transition As-
sistance Program under sections 1142 and 1144 of 
title 10, United States Code. 
(2) The terms ‘‘military departments’’ and 
‘‘congressional defense committees’’ have the mean-
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ing given those terms in section 101 of title 10, 
United States Code. 
Æ 
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