Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB5321 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 5321
5	5	To amend the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for
6	6	Fiscal Year 2019 to improve the John S. McCain strategic defense
7	7	fellows program.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	SEPTEMBER1, 2023
10	10	Mr. B
11	11	ACONintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
12	12	on Armed Services
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the John S. McCain National Defense Authoriza-
15	15	tion Act for Fiscal Year 2019 to improve the John
16	16	S. McCain strategic defense fellows program.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategic Defense Fel-4
21	21	lows Act of 2023’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE JOHN S. MCCAIN STRA-6
23	23	TEGIC DEFENSE FELLOWS PROGRAM. 7
24	24	(a) S
25	25	ELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS.—Subsection 8
26	26	(d)(2) of section 932 of the John S. McCain National De-9
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29	29	•HR 5321 IH
30	30	fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 1
31	31	115–232; 10 U.S.C. 1580 note prec.) is amended to read 2
32	32	as follows: 3
33	33	‘‘(2) G
34	34	EOGRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION .—Out 4
35	35	of the total number of individuals selected to partici-5
36	36	pate in the fellows program in any year, no more 6
37	37	than 20 percent may be from any of the following 7
38	38	geographic regions: 8
39	39	‘‘(A) The Northeast United States. 9
40	40	‘‘(B) The Southeast United States. 10
41	41	‘‘(C) The Midwest United States. 11
42	42	‘‘(D) The Southwest United States. 12
43	43	‘‘(E) The Western United States. 13
44	44	‘‘(F) Alaska, Hawaii, United States terri-14
45	45	tories, and areas outside the United States.’’. 15
46	46	(b) A
47	47	PPOINTMENT, PLACEMENT, ANDCONVER-16
48	48	SION.—Such section is further amended— 17
49	49	(1) in subsection (d)(3)— 18
50	50	(A) by striking ‘‘assigned’’ and inserting 19
51	51	‘‘appointed’’; and 20
52	52	(B) by striking ‘‘assignment’’ and inserting 21
53	53	‘‘appointment’’; and 22
54	54	(2) by amending subsections (e) and (f) to read 23
55	55	as follows: 24
56	56	‘‘(e) A
57	57	PPOINTMENT.— 25
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61	61	‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An individual who partici-1
62	62	pates in the fellows program shall be appointed into 2
63	63	an excepted service position in the Department. 3
64	64	‘‘(2) P
65	65	OSITION REQUIREMENTS .—Each year, 4
66	66	the head of each Department of Defense Component 5
67	67	shall submit to the Secretary of Defense placement 6
68	68	opportunities for participants in the fellows pro-7
69	69	gram. Such placement opportunities shall provide for 8
70	70	leadership development and potential commencement 9
71	71	of a career track toward a position of senior leader-10
72	72	ship in the Department. The Secretary of Defense, 11
73	73	in coordination with the heads of Department of De-12
74	74	fense Components, shall establish qualification re-13
75	75	quirements for the appointment of participants 14
76	76	under paragraph (1) and subsection (f)(2). 15
77	77	‘‘(3) A
78	78	PPOINTMENT TO POSITIONS .—Each year, 16
79	79	the Secretary of Defense shall appoint participants 17
80	80	in the fellows program to positions in the Depart-18
81	81	ment of Defense Components. In making such ap-19
82	82	pointments, the Secretary shall seek to best match 20
83	83	the qualifications and skills of the participants with 21
84	84	the requirements for positions available for appoint-22
85	85	ment. 23
86	86	‘‘(4) T
87	87	ERM.—The term of each appointment 24
88	88	under the fellows program shall be one year with the 25
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91	91	•HR 5321 IH
92	92	option to extend the appointment up to one addi-1
93	93	tional year. 2
94	94	‘‘(5) G
95	95	RADE.—An individual appointed to a po-3
96	96	sition under the fellows program shall be appointed 4
97	97	at a level between GS–10 and GS–12 of the General 5
98	98	Schedule based on the directly-related qualifications, 6
99	99	skills, and professional experience of the individual. 7
100	100	‘‘(6) E
101	101	DUCATION LOAN REPAYMENT .—To the 8
102	102	extent that funds are provided in advance in appro-9
103	103	priations Acts, the Secretary of Defense may repay 10
104	104	a loan of a participant in the fellows program if the 11
105	105	loan is described by subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) 12
106	106	of section 16301(a)(1) of title 10, United States 13
107	107	Code. Any repayment of a loan under this paragraph 14
108	108	may require a minimum service agreement, as deter-15
109	109	mined by the Secretary. 16
110	110	‘‘(7) D
111	111	EPARTMENT OF DEFENSE COMPONENT 17
112	112	DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘Depart-18
113	113	ment of Defense Component’ means a Department 19
114	114	of Defense Component, as set forth in section 111 20
115	115	of title 10, United States Code. 21
116	116	‘‘(f) C
117	117	AREERDEVELOPMENT.— 22
118	118	‘‘(1) I
119	119	N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 23
120	120	shall ensure that participants in the fellows pro-24
121	121	gram— 25
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124	124	•HR 5321 IH
125	125	‘‘(A) receive career development opportuni-1
126	126	ties and support appropriate for the commence-2
127	127	ment of a career track within the Department 3
128	128	leading toward a future position of senior lead-4
129	129	ership within the Department, including ongo-5
130	130	ing mentorship support through appropriate 6
131	131	personnel from entities within the Department; 7
132	132	and 8
133	133	‘‘(B) are provided appropriate employment 9
134	134	opportunities for competitive and excepted serv-10
135	135	ice positions in the Department upon successful 11
136	136	completion of the fellows program. 12
137	137	‘‘(2) N
138	138	ONCOMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT OR CON -13
139	139	VERSION.—Upon a participant’s successful comple-14
140	140	tion of the fellows program, the Secretary may, with-15
141	141	out regard to the provisions of subchapter I of chap-16
142	142	ter 33 of title 5, United States Code, noncompeti-17
143	143	tively appoint or convert the participant into a va-18
144	144	cant competitive or excepted service position in the 19
145	145	Department, if the Secretary determines that such 20
146	146	appointment or conversion will contribute to the de-21
147	147	velopment of highly qualified future senior leaders 22
148	148	for the Department. The Secretary may appoint or 23
149	149	convert the participant into a position up to the GS– 24
150	150	13 level of the General Schedule or an equivalent po-25
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153	153	•HR 5321 IH
154	154	sition for which the participant is qualified without 1
155	155	regard to any minimum time in grade requirements. 2
156	156	‘‘(3) A
157	157	PPOINTMENT OF FORMER PARTICI -3
158	158	PANTS.—The Secretary may utilize the authority in 4
159	159	paragraph (2) for a participant— 5
160	160	‘‘(A) up to 2 years after the date of the 6
161	161	participant’s successful completion of the fel-7
162	162	lows program; or 8
163	163	‘‘(B) in the case of a participant who en-9
164	164	tered the fellows program before the date of the 10
165	165	enactment of this subparagraph, up to 5 years 11
166	166	after the date of the participant’s successful 12
167	167	completion of the fellows program. 13
168	168	‘‘(4) P
169	169	UBLICATION OF SELECTION .—The Sec-14
170	170	retary shall publish, on an Internet website of the 15
171	171	Department available to the public, the names of the 16
172	172	individuals selected to participate in the fellows pro-17
173	173	gram.’’. 18
174	174	Æ
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