EANGUS Legislative Goals For 2021 117th Congress, 1st Session

The National Guard is regularly used for operational missions making them more than just a strategic asset. Congress should adequately man, train, and equip the National Guard as a vital partner of the total force. EANGUS is ready to assist Congress in achieving these goals.

End Strength

    • Authorize and appropriate Guard and Reserve force end strength and full-time support to strategic and operational requirements.

Equipment

    • Adequately fund National Guard Reserve Equipment Accounts (NGREA) to ensure that the Reserve Component can maintain strategic and operational roles.

Health Care (Title 10 USC Chap 55)

    • Simplify TRICARE for retirement eligible National Guard and Reserve service members:Eliminate TRICARE Retired Reserve
    • Provide TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) for early retirement age (50 to 60) servicemembers at the same subsidized premium rate as other Retired Reserve members waiting for receipt of retirement pay at age 60.
    • Provide TRICARE for early retirement age (50 to 60) servicemembers concurrently with receipt of their retirement pay as other age 60 Retired Reserve members.
    • Expand TRICARE Prime enrollment to National Guard and Reserve members at no cost, regardless of duty status, because medical readiness is a requirement for service — not a benefit.
    • Expand TRS for USPHS Ready Reserve regardless of duty status by replacing the term “Selected Reserve” with “Uniformed Services”. (10 USC 1076d(a))
    • Fund TRS for federal employees who are Ready Reservists earlier than fiscal year 2030 (10 USC 1076d).
    • Authorize Individual Ready Reservists the option to enroll in TRS as an opportunity to maintain medical readiness for recall/activation. (10 USC 1076d).
    • Provide an option for RC servicemembers and families to retain private health coverage under active duty orders in lieu of switching to TRICARE (i.e. with a DoD allowance for full premium costs of the private policy).
    • Authorize National Guard members separating from full-time duty (32 USC 502(f)) Transitional Assistance Management Program coverage (10 USC 1145).
    • Ensure the merger of TRICARE Dental Plans (TDP) into Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) includes a provision for activated members as a life event or reenrollment. (10 USC 1076a)
    • Ensure the merger of TDP into FEDVIP includes continued subsidized premiums currently available to TDP beneficiaries (10 USC 1076a)

Joint Matters

    • Expand the definition of Joint Matters (10 USC 668) to include a major disaster or emergency (10 USC 12304a, 32 USC 502(f)) involving integrated forces.

Military Lending Act

    • Expand Military Lending Act protections to include all members of the uniformed services of 101(a)(5) (Title 10 USC Sec 987(i)(1)) and National Guard and Reserve on active status of section 101(d)(4). (Title 10, Sec 987(i)(1)(B)).

Pay

    • Provide parity for the Reserve Component to align with the Active Component in special pay and incentive pay regardless of Reserve Component duty status. (37 USC, Subchapter I)
    • Ensure authorization and appropriation pay and benefits parity with the Coast Guard Reserve and DoD Reserve Components. (Title 10, 14, and 37).
    • Eliminate Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH II) for Reserve Component/Transient (RC/T) and provide full BAH for any active duty service performed by the Reserve Component. (37 USC 403(g)(5))

Public Health Service

    • Consider an expanded role for the USPHS Ready Reserve to augment DoD as the Defense Health Agency and services restructure their military force which has included end strength reductions. (42 USC 204)

Retirement

    • Expand the National Guard and Reserve early retirement age service eligibility from January 8, 2008 retroactive to September 11, 2001. (10 USC 12731)
    • Eliminate annual limits on inactive duty training creditable for retirement. (10 U.S.C. various provisions)
    • Ensure any plan to consolidate duty status authorities supports operational readiness and provides for full, fair and transparent accounting of Guard-Reserve call-ups that qualify for early reserve retirement age.
    • Change the Blended Retirement System defined benefit calculation so that any qualifying inactive duty performed for ‘points only’ shall be calculated with a 2.5% multiplier. (10 USC 12739)
    • Change the Coast Guard and Public Health Service retirement account to an accrual account in the same manner as how DoD retirement pay is managed. (10 USC 1463(a), 1465, 1466)
    • In the calculation of a disability retirement a reservist’s disability occurring on active duty should be calculated based on the total years of active duty and qualifying reserve service (“good years”) not the active service alone. (10 U.S.C. Chapter 61)

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) Protections (Title 50, Sec. 3901 to 4043)

    • Amend to include protections on leases and contracts impacting activated business owners.
    • Broaden the types of insurance (including equipment, professional, dental and disability) that the service member is entitled to reinstate after returning from activation.
    • Legislate a statement that does not impose a statute of limitations on SCRA cases to counter the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling that imposed a four-year threshold using (28 U.S.C. § 1658(a)).

Tax Initiatives

    • Provide employer tax credits to help offset employer costs associated with the absence of Guard or Reserve members completing military duty and to reinforce employer support. (Title 26)
    • Raise the cap on annual Thrift Savings Plan contributions to allow members of the Guard and Reserve to max out both their private employer and military retirement plans. (26 USC §62(a)(2)(E))
    • Permit National Guard and Reserve members with Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) to roll over unclaimed amounts into a subsequent qualifying year when medical expenses aren’t incurred while on active duty orders covered by TRICARE. (Title 26 §125, 132, 223, and other provisions)
    • Allow full tax-deductibility of non-reimbursable expenses, i.e. travel and hotel, related to military training and weekend drill. (Title 26)

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) (Title 38 USC Sec. 4301 to 4335)

    • Amend USERRA to bar binding arbitration agreements on USERRA issues.
    • Override agreements to submit future disputes to binding arbitration.