Senate’s Annual Defense Bill Includes Senator Hassan’s Bipartisan Legislation to Support Gold Star Families

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate’s proposed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes two bipartisan bills which U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) helped introduce to expand access to job training services for Gold Star and surviving spouses and help guarantee readmittance to higher education for National Guard and Reserve students.

“We can never fully repay our debt to those who gave their lives in the service of our country, but we can work to ensure that their loved ones do not walk alone,” Senator Hassan said. “Gold Star families deserve nothing less than our full support, and one way we can do this is by providing job training for surviving spouses. I am also glad that the Senate’s package includes legislation I pushed for to help make it easier for National Guard and Reserve members to complete their higher educations. This year’s annual defense bill will support and honor those who help keep America safe, secure, and free, and I will continue to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to get it passed into law.”

This year, the NDAA put forward by the Senate includes the following Hassan-led bipartisan bills:

1. The bipartisan Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act, which Senator Hassan introduced with Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO). The legislation – which has been endorsed by American Legion, Military Officers Association of America, National Partnership for Women and Families, and Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors (TAPS) – would increase access to job counseling services through the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program to spouses of members of the Armed Forces who died while serving in the military or of a service-connected disability. The program provides every state with funding to hire specialists who provide individualized career counseling services to eligible veterans, and this bill would expand the program so that surviving spouses can also use these services.  

1. The bipartisan SERVE Act, introduced by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and Senator Hassan, would ensure that students who serve in the National Guard and Reserve are guaranteed readmission to their schools following a mobilization. Under current law, the readmission requirements for service members only guarantee readmittance to an educational institution if the student is deployed for more than 30 days. The SERVE Act would remove the “more than 30 days” stipulation and guarantee a student will be readmitted promptly at the same academic status.

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