S.Amdt. 2772

SA 2772. Mr. DURBIN (for Ms. Duckworth (for herself, Mr. Durbin, Mrs.
Ernst, and Mr. Grassley)) submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed to amendment SA 2282 proposed by Mr. Inhofe (for himself and
Mr. McCain) to the bill H.R. 5515, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal year 2019 for military activities of the Department of Defense,
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department
of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal
year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:

At the end of subtitle B of title II, add the following:

SEC. ___. STEM JOBS ACTION PLAN.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math in
addition to maintenance and manufacturing (collectively
referred to in this section as ``STEM'') make up a
significant portion of the workforce of the Department of
Defense.
(2) These jobs exist within the organic industrial base,
research, development, and engineering centers, life-cycle
management commands, and logistics centers of the Department.
(3) Vital to the continued support of the mission of all of
the military services, the Department needs to maintain its
STEM workforce.
(4) It is known that the demographics of personnel of the
Department indicate that many of the STEM personnel of the
Department will be eligible to retire in the next few years.
(5) Decisive action is needed to replace STEM personnel as
they retire to ensure that the military does not further
suffer a skill and knowledge gap and thus a serious readiness
gap.
(b) Assessments and Plan of Action.--The Secretary of
Defense, in conjunction with the Secretary of each military
department, shall --
(1) perform an assessment of the STEM workforce for
organizations within the Department of Defense, including the
numbers and types of positions and the expectations for
losses due to retirements and voluntary departures;
(2) identify the types and quantities of STEM jobs needed
to support future mission work;
(3) determine the shortfall between lost STEM personnel and
future requirements;
(4) analyze and explain the appropriateness and impact of
using reimbursable and working capital fund dollars for new
STEM hires;
(5) identify a plan of action to address the STEM jobs gap,
including hiring strategies and timelines for replacement of
STEM employees; and
(6) deliver to Congress, not later than December 31, 2019,
a report specifying such plan of action.
______