S.Amdt. 637

SA 637. Mr. HELLER (for himself and Mr. Tester) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 2810, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 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 appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. ___. TRANSPORTATION ON MILITARY AIRCRAFT ON A SPACE-
AVAILABLE BASIS FOR DISABLED VETERANS WITH A
SERVICE-CONNECTED, PERMANENT DISABILITY RATED
AS TOTAL.

(a) Availability of Transportation.--Section 2641b of title
10, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
``(f) Special Priority for Certain Disabled Veterans.--(1)
The Secretary of Defense shall provide transportation on
scheduled and unscheduled military flights within the
continental United States and on scheduled overseas flights
operated by the Air Mobility Command on a space-available
basis for any veteran with a service-connected, permanent
disability rated as total.
``(2) Notwithstanding subsection (d)(1), in establishing
space-available transportation priorities under the travel
program, the Secretary shall provide transportation under
paragraph (1) on the same basis as such transportation is
provided to members of the armed forces entitled to retired
or retainer pay.
``(3) The requirement to provide transportation on
Department of Defense aircraft on a space-available basis on
the priority basis described in paragraph (2) to veterans
covered by this subsection applies whether or not the travel
program is established under this section.
``(4) In this subsection, the terms `veteran' and `service-
connected' have the meanings given those terms in section 101
of title 38.''.
(b) Effective Date.--Subsection (f) of section 2641b of
title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(2)
of this section, shall take effect at the end of the 90-day
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.
______