“The NDAA is Congress’s commitment to our men and women in uniform, it lets them know that we’ve got their backs,” Stivers said. “That commitment needs to continue even after they have separated from the military, and I was pleased to work with my colleagues across the aisle to address a number of challenging issues that face our servicemembers.”
WASHINGTON – This week, the House passed H.R. 6395, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 with bipartisan support. Three key priorities of Representative Steve Stivers (R-OH) were included in the final legislation.
“The NDAA is Congress’s commitment to our men and women in uniform, it lets them know that we’ve got their backs,” Stivers said. “That commitment needs to continue even after they have separated from the military, and I was pleased to work with my colleagues across the aisle to address a number of challenging issues that face our servicemembers.”
Stivers offered an amendment with Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI) to address the maternal mortality crisis happening among our female servicemembers. Conditions of service (deployment, exposure, stress, etc.) take a physical toll, but there is evidence that it puts female servicemembers at greater risk for gynecological disorders, delivering infants with low birth weights, delivering preterm, and reduced fertility. This amendment prioritizes ongoing efforts from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to identify, characterize, and provide a deeper understanding of this problem.
Together with Representative Scott Peters (D-CA), Stivers introduced an amendment to support veterans experiencing homelessness. This bipartisan amendment seeks to tackle veteran homelessness by expanding the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program to ensure chronically homeless veterans discharged under conditions other-than-honorable (OTH), but not dishonorable, are eligible for HUD-VASH housing vouchers and supportive case management.
In collaboration with Representative Annie Kuster (D-NH), Stivers offered an amendment targeting the disproportional rate of female veteran unemployment. The coronavirus pandemic has uniquely affected the over two million female veterans in the U.S. In April 2020, the unemployment rate for women serving after September 11, 2001 reached 20 percent. This number is 4.5 percent higher than the 15.5 percent unemployment rate for non-veteran women.
This amendment would require the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to conduct a study on the unemployment rate of female veterans who served on active duty in the Armed Forces post-9/11 and report the results to Congress.
The NDAA for FY 2021 is expected to be considered in the Senate imminently.
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