Trone Votes for National Defense Authorization Act, Supports Provisions to Expand Benefits for Federal Workforce
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov
Trone Votes for National Defense Authorization Act, Supports Provisions to Expand Benefits for Federal Workforce
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Congressman David Trone (MD-06) voted in favor of H.R. 6395, the bipartisan William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The bill includes major wins for federal workers and military veterans and their families. The bill also prioritizes promoting diversity and inclusion within the military. The bill must next pass the Senate and be signed by the President to become law.
“This bill positions the United States to continue our leadership position on the world stage while supporting the patriotic servicemembers and federal civilian employees who keep our country safe,” said Congressman Trone, member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The President should put aside his personal political interests and sign this bipartisan bill into law. The American people deserve it.”
More detail on the legislation is included below:
Supporting Federal Workforce, Families, and Veterans
- Including the Elijah Cummings Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination Act
- Strengthens equal employment opportunity protections for federal employees and strengthens prohibitions against discrimination and retaliation against whistleblowers.
- Expanding Paid Family Leave
- Ensures that federal employees are able to access paid family leave benefits.
- Expanding Child Care
- Ensures that servicemembers and civilian employees can access child care services while on the job.
- Additional Leave for Federal Employees
- Allows most federal employees to roll over 25% additional annual leave into 2021.
- Protecting Civilian Employees
- Restricts Secretary of Defense’s ability to reduce the civilian workforce.
Helping Servicemembers and Families
- Military Pay Raise
- Increases pay for servicemembers by 3.0%.
- Hazard Pay
- Increases hazard pay for servicemembers from $250 to $275 per month.
- Investing in Mental Health
- Makes suicide prevention pilot program permanent for servicemembers.
- Preventing Domestic Abuse
- Creates a task force to study domestic violence within the military.
- Reporting Sexual Harassment
- Allows victims of sexual harassment to report outside the chain of command.
Promoting Diversity and Inclusion
- Confederacy Symbols, Displays, Monuments, and Paraphernalia
- Creates an independent commission to recommend the modification or striking of names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia depicting the Confederacy.
- Creating Senior Diversity Positions
- Creates a Chief Diversity Officer position within the Department of Defense and Senior Advisor for Diversity and Inclusions positions for each military branch.
- Creating Diversity and Inclusion Reports
- Requires the Secretary of Defense to include expanding diversity as part of the National Defense Strategy.
- Creating a Mentoring and Career Counseling Program
- Creates a mentoring and career counseling program to increase diversity in officers serving in each military branch.
Confronting the Climate Crisis
- Mandates an update to the U.S. Department of Defense Climate Change Roadmap.
- Requires military branches to expand usage of hybrid and EV vehicles.
- Requires the Department of Defense to submit a report on the agency’s greenhouse gas emissions from the last 10 years within 180 days.
- Invests in research and development of water harvesting technologies to aid communities facing drought due to climate change.
For a conference report on the bill, click here.
Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees, where he is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.
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