Legislative Accomplishments
2022 Major Legislative Accomplishments
Active/Reserve Component (RC) Force and Retirement Issues
Health Care Issues
Military Family/Survivor Issues
Veterans Issues
Active/Reserve Component (RC) Force and Retirement Issues
- Secured 4.6 percent pay raise for both military service members and the Department of Defense (DoD) civilian workforce.
- Extension of recruiting and retention bonuses, increased by as much as between $15,000 and $25,000.
- Secured cost of living adjustments of 8.7 percent to military retiree and Veteran disability income.
- Authorization of the secretary of defense to prescribe temporary adjustments to BAH for military housing areas in which average housing costs exceed current BAH rates by more than 20 percent.
- Continuation of BAH with dependents rate for up to one year if a service member’s sole dependent passes away.
- Requirement to the backdate the effective date of Army and Air National Guard officers whose promotion is delayed more than 100 days, due to no fault of their own.
- Requirement of DoD to contract an independent report on how to improve processing of Federal Recognition until the delay is less than 90 days.
- Require DoD to study the feasibility of providing zero cost TRICARE Reserve Select and TRICARE dental to Selected Reserve members and their dependents.
- Increased funding to the Defense Commissary Agency funding by an additional $210 million dollars, to offset price inflation.
- Updated warrant officer selection and promotion authorities, adding provisions for merit based promotions, and voluntary opt-out of a first promotion look at various grade levels.
Health Care Issues
- Inclusion of a five-year halt to medical billet cuts (an extension of the three-year halt proposed in the House version), with the addition of a one-year suspension of military treatment facility restructuring.
- Expanded eligibility, to members of the National Guard, for transitional health care benefits, following required training or other duty to respond to a national emergency.
- Achieved a streamlined TRICARE Prime referral process during PCS moves that will allow families to get referrals for specialty care at the new duty station before leaving the current location preventing delays in transitioning medical care.
- Addressed problems with TRICARE Dental Program (TDP) provider network via a new program construct designed to protect the quality of the benefit by increasing competition among carriers and introducing beneficiary choice of plans while retaining out-of-pocket cost protections for junior enlisted families.
- Blocked additional TRICARE fee increases (beyond those already scheduled) in FY23.
Military Family/Survivor Issues
- Increased the Basic Needs Allowance (BNA) threshold from 130% to 150% of the federal poverty guideline based on household size, to mitigate food insecurity, and authorizes the secretary of defense to increase the threshold up to 200% when deemed appropriate.
- Authorization of an open season – through January 1, 2024 – for eligible military retirees to opt in or out of the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP).
- Authorization of an open season for the Survivor Benefit Plan
- Achieved access to dependent electronic medical records for remarried surviving spouses.
Veterans Issues
- Passage of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, expanding VA health care and benefits to more than 3.5 million Veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. Eligibility includes adding 23 presumptive conditions for veterans from Vietnam to present.
- Passage of Public Law 117-333, the Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022, providing permanent authority for certain flexibilities assisting veterans with their educational assistance benefits during emergencies (as declared by the President), extending certain program adjustments implemented during COVID-19 to other emergencies that may impact veterans’ educational assistance benefits. Also provides for additional automobile allowance to eligible veterans – if 25 years from their first grant (shortens to 10, over time). Redefines medical services, including vehicle modifications such as van lifts, under VA’s Automobile Adaptive Equipment program.