Military Personnel

For more than 23 years, I have dedicated my career to protecting the morale and welfare of our troops and it has been my life's honor to care for our men and women in uniform as a physician in the U.S. Army Reserve. On December 11, 2014, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry appointed me to serve as chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee.  

The Military Personnel Subcommittee is responsible for military personnel policy, reserve component integration and employment issues, military health care, military education, and POW/MIA issues. My role as Chairman of the Subcommittee will allow me to continue serving our service members and their families, just in another capacity. This webpage is meant to keep you updated on the critical issues facing our men and women in uniform. Please check back often for updates.

If you live outside of my Congressional district but would like to share your thoughts with me about military personnel policy, send an email to this address: ChairmanHeck.MILPERS@mail.house.gov

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PHOTO -- Heck meets with students from the US Army War College

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Joe Heck Statement on the Release of FY17 NDAA

WASHINGTON - Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, today released the following statements on the release of the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). 

On a pay raise for troops:

"If we are going to recruit and retain the best and the brightest for our all-volunteer force, we must have a compensation package that is competitive with the private sector. That includes a pay increase commensurate with what private sector workers will receive. Military families are already under the increased strain of being asked to do more with less, having not received the full increase the past three years. Our troops, by law, are entitled to a 2.1% pay increase this year and this bill takes the proper step in ensuring they receive it." Read more here.

 

VIDEO -- Rep. Joe Heck Begins Consideration of Military Personnel Provisions in NDAA 

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Heck Applauds Subcommittee Passage of Military Personnel Portion of Defense Authorization​

Touts pay raise, commisary improvements, UCMJ reforms, and military family provisions.

WASHINGTON - Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, today applauded subcommittee passage of the Military Personnel portion of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. The Military Personnel portion of the bill, or "mark," was approved on an unanimous bipartisan vote. Read more here.

 

VIDEO -- Rep. Joe Heck Opens Military Personnel Subcommittee NDAA Mark Up

 

PHOTO -- Rep. Joe Heck presented with the Colonel Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award by the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) 

 

IN THE NEWS -- Lawmaker: Congress Must Fight for Higher Troop Pay Raise

A 1.6-percent pay raise for military members proposed as part of the president's fiscal 2017 budget is "ridiculous," says one lawmaker who oversees the House subcommittee responsible for personnel issues, including pay.

"I think it's ridiculous that we're not giving the full pay raise as calculated by law to our men and women in uniform, especially during a time that the Department of Defense is, in my opinion, nickel and diming troops in every area," said Rep. Joe Heck, a Republican from Nevada.

By law troops are to receive a pay raise within 0.5 percent of the Employment Cost Index, which tracks civilian labor costs. The index for 2017 is projected to be 2.1 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Although the proposed 1.6 percent falls within the required window, Heck said he plans to seek a larger raise. Read more here.

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Rep. Heck Responds to President's Budget Request

WASHINGTON - Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03) today released the following statement on the President's budget request.

"Just about the only thing left out of this budget wish list is the full pay raise our troops deserve," Rep. Heck said. "While I know we will spend the coming days and weeks reviewing the many details and policies this budget contains, my most immediate priority is to sound the alarm to my colleagues in the House that we need to do everything we can to ensure our men and women in uniform get a full pay raise. Our troops and their families are making great sacrifices for our country and we should not be nickel and diming them on pay and benefits.”

By law troops are to receive a pay raise within 0.5 percent of the Employment Cost Index, which tracks civilian labor costs. The index for 2017 is projected to be 2.1 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Read more here.

 

IN THE NEWS -- Lawmaker: Improving commissaries, not slashing budget, is goal

The chairman of the House panel that oversees the commissary benefit said his message to the military community is that his panel’s goal is to improve the commissary system, not slash the benefit.

“The goal is to modernize commissary services that will preserve an important and expected benefit for customers,” said Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., chairman of the military personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, in an interview Tuesday. Among the panel’s responsibilities is the oversight of commissaries and other resale activities.

“[The Defense Department] is looking to squeeze the budget wherever they can. That’s not our approach,” said Heck, a physician who is a brigadier general in the Army Reserve. “We’re looking to make the system better through modernization and long-term sustainability.” Read more here.

 

VIDEO -- Rep. Heck: Support our troops and their families; pass the NDAA

 

IN THE NEWS -- Military Savings Plan Aims to Get Troops Thinking About Their Finances

The fiscal 2016 defense spending bill, approved by Congress last week and now awaiting action by the president, includes a provision to help men and women like Robinson in the future.

The bill creates a 401(k)-type retirement program called a Thrift Savings Plan that allows service members to contribute money, with the government matching up to 5 percent over 26 years. Unlike the current Thrift Savings Plan, this one offers government matching contributions.

Proponents say the new system is aimed at the 83 percent of troops who don’t make it to retirement. The goal is to help attract and retain “the best and the brightest” to an all-volunteer force, says U.S. Rep. Joseph Heck, a Nevada Republican and chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee.

“This goes a long way to meeting recruitment and retention goals of the force,” says Heck, who also is a brigadier general in the Army Reserve and a physician.

“After 15 years of war, we have folks who would like to stay 20 years, but they have been deployed so many times that we broke them,” he says. “We just broke them, and even if they wanted to stay, they can’t, and under the current system, we tell them, ‘Yeah, thanks for coming and leaving with nothing.’” Read more here.

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Heck Receives The Military Coalition's Award of Merit for Efforts as MILPERS Chairman

WASHINGTON - Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03) today received The Military Coalition's Award of Merit, the group's highest honor, for his efforts on behalf of service members, their families, veterans and survivors in his capacity as Military Personnel Subcommittee chairman. Read more here. 

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Rep. Joe Heck Statement on Being Named to FY2016 NDAA Conference Committee

WASHINGTON -- Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03), chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, today released the following statement on being named as a conferee to the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (FY16 NDAA) House-Senate conference committee.

"I look forward to serving on the NDAA conference committee and ensuring that critical House-passed personnel provisions are included in the final conference report. During the process my objective was to work in a bipartisan way to include important policies like protecting service members who report sexual assault, establishing a unified medical command to help ensure better healthcare, and improving the current military pay and retirement system to recruit and retain the very best talent available. The strong support for those provisions at the full committee level and on the House floor make me confident we can get them included in the final bill." Read more here. 

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Heck Backs Passage of Defense Authorization

Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03) today backed House passage of H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016. Chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, Rep. Heck applauded the personnel-related provisions in the bill including preventing retaliation against members of the Armed Forces who report sexual assault, the establishment of a unified medical command, and improving the current military pay and retirement system so we can recruit and retain the very best talent available.

"This bill is a critically important part of Congress providing for the common defense and I was proud to support its passage on the floor," Rep Heck said. "The provisions in this bill, especially the personnel provisions, are the result of an open, bipartisan subcommittee and full comittee process. They ensure our war fighters, retirees, and their families receive the care and support they need, deserve, and have earned. It was disappointing, therefore, that despite the long history of broad bipartisan cooperation on drafting and supporting the NDAA, that this year House Democratic Leadership encouraged their members to join together in opposition to the bill to protest policies outside the scope of the NDAA. I applaud the 41 members of the Democrat Caucus that did not fall for this political ploy and who voted in support of this vital legislation." Read more here.

 

VIDEO -- Heck Urges Colleagues to Support the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)  

 

 

 

VIDEO -- Heck Delivers Opening Statement at MILPERS Subcommittee Mark

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Heck Statement on Release of MILPERS Subcommittee Mark

Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03), Chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel (MILPERS) Subcommittee, released the following statement in conjunction with the release of the Subcommittee's portion of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016.

"Our nation's military is only as strong as the men and women who serve. My objective as Chairman in developing this mark was to ensure we provide for those who currently wear the uniform and to make improvements to our pay and benefit structure that will allow us to recruit and retain the very best talent available. I thank Ranking Member Davis for all of her input in drafting this mark and look forward to working with her to secure its passage." 

 

PRESS RELEASE -- Heck Military Dependent Student Identifier Amendment Added to Student Success Act

The amendment, which Rep. Heck drafted based on a recommendation included in the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission (MCRMC) report, will allow schools and school districts to better track the academic performance of military dependent students, similar to the ways they track English Language Learners or low-income students.
 
According to recent studies, while military dependent students face significant challenges there is no national public data available to allow educators to provide appropriate resources to meet those challenges. Identifying military dependent children students as such will help improve their educational experience and increase their opportunities for success. Read more.

 

VIDEO -- Heck Questions Members of Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission

 

VIDEO -- Heck Holds First Hearing as MILPERS Chairman

PRESS STATEMENT -- Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission Report

My commitment, to both our men and women in uniform and the members of the Commission, as the Chairman of the Military Personnel Subcommittee is to give this report a fair, thorough, and transparent examination before the Subcommittee. And I look forward to reviewing the full report and hearing from the Commissioners and other key stakeholders in the weeks ahead.

My goal is to ensure we have a pay and benefits structure that keeps the faith with those who served and are serving and allows us to recruit and retain the best all volunteer military force in the world into the future. Read More

 

IN THE NEWS -- Doctor lawmaker ready to triage compensation reforms via Stars and Stripes

As an Army Reserve physician triaging the care of arriving wounded at the combat support hospital on Al Asad Airbase, Iraq, for half of 2008, Joe Heck said he saw “exactly how well joint operations can work.”

Now a third-term Republican congressman from Nevada, Heck vows to take the same “practical, non-parochial” approach in tackling two far different yet still critical priorities for the military while serving as the new chairman of the House armed services’ personnel subcommittee. Read More

 

PRESS RELEASE --  Heck Named Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee Chair

We face difficult challenges in the year ahead on military personnel issues, but I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to ensure we continue to provide for our men and women in uniform and their families. Read More