1. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (H.R.748/S.3548)
Establishes a new Ready Reserve Corps within the U.S. Public Health Ready Reserve Corps to aid in our response to the coronavirus and future public health emergencies.
2. Health Care Workforce Protection Act (H.R.6139)
Provides medical malpractice liability protection for volunteer health care workers supporting COVID-19 response efforts, so that doctors can confidently volunteer their skills and help alleviate the public health workforce shortage during this crisis.
3. Promoting STEM in JROTC Act (H.R.3173)
Expands STEM and Civic Education in high schools across America through the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Program.
4. $1 billion increase to AmeriCorps included in the American Rescue Plan Act (H.R.1319)
Appropriates $1 billion for AmeriCorps, enabling it to increase its cost of living stipends for young Americans serving in diverse communities, as well as expand its COVID relief efforts including outreach to hungry families and support for struggling public schools.
5. Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Expansion Act
Tasks the Secretary of Defense with expanding the number of JROTC units and developing a plan that would ensure greater access in rural, low-income, and historically underserved communities. This act follows a recommendation from the National Commission on Military, National Service, and Public Service as JROTC provides invaluable leadership training and civic education to tens of thousands of young Americans across the nation.
6. Expansion of Eligibility to Serve as Instructors in the JROTC
This provision was included in the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act and addresses the JROTC instructor shortage by expanding eligibility from only military retirees to include servicemembers that have served at least eight years and received an honorable discharge.
7. Expansion of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps
This provision was included in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act and requires the Department of Defense to establish and support no less than 3,400 and no more than 4,000 Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps units, which is an expansion from the existing 3,275 units.
8. Troops-to-Teachers Program: Expansion; Extension
This provision was included in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act and expands the Troops-to-Teachers program by allowing veterans to become instructors and administrators for the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and extending the program from 2025 to 2027. Between Fiscal Years 2014 and 2020, the Government Accountability Office reports that the program registered approximately 50,000 participants.
9. Report on National Service Information Sharing for Recruitment
This provision was included in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act and directs the Secretary of Defense to work with AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, the Selective Service System, and the Office of Personnel Management to provide a report which would include strategies to share applicant information with other federal agencies when an applicant either chooses not to join or is ineligible to participate and to explore mutually beneficial ways to promote each agency’s service opportunities.
10. Enforcement of Program Requirements for the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps
This provision was included in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act and allows the Secretary of Defense to place a unit of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps that fails to comply with program requirements on probation to mitigate program deficiencies, or to protect the safety of program participants. It also directs the Secretary to submit to Congress a report that includes justification for reinstating any unit suspended or placed on probation.
11. Extension of Troops-to-Teachers program to the Jobs Corps
This provision was included in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act and allows for participants in the Troops-to-Teachers program to seek positions in the Jobs Corps, a program administered by the Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to over 60,000 young men and women annually.
12. Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Administrator and Instructor Compensation
This provision was included in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act and allows the Secretary of any military department to authorize an expansion of the individuals qualified to serve as administrators and instructors in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps but prohibits any reduction in pay of current instructors as a result of the implementation of this provision.
13. Stop Funding JROTC at CCP-Owned Schools Act (H.R.1225)
Bars the Department of Defense from maintaining JROTC units at educational institutions that are owned, operated, or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese military, or a Chinese military company.
14. Service Academies: Number of Nominations by Members of Congress and Appointments by the Secretaries of the Military Departments
This provision was included in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act and increases the number of nominations Members of Congress can make for service academies from 10 to 15 people, and increases the number of appointments Secretaries of the military departments can make from 150 to 250 people.