S.Amdt. 5938

SA 5938. Mr. PORTMAN (for himself and Mr. Brown) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 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 D of title VI, add the following:

SEC. 632. PAYMENT OF EXPENSES AND CLAIMS RELATING TO THE RETURN OF PERSONAL EFFECTS OF A DECEASED MEMBER OF THE ARMED FORCES.

Section 1482(a) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(11)(A) Delivery of personal effects of a decedent to the next of kin or other appropriate person.

“(B) If the Secretary concerned enters into an agreement with an entity to carry out subparagraph (A), the Secretary concerned shall pursue a claim against such entity that arises from the failure of such entity to substantially perform such subparagraph.

“(C) If an entity described in subparagraph (B) fails to substantially perform subparagraph (A) by damaging, losing, or destroying the personal effects of a decedent, the Secretary concerned shall reimburse the person designated under subsection (c) the greater of $1,000 or the fair market value of such damage, loss, or destruction. The Secretary concerned may request, from the person designated under subsection (c), proof of fair market value and ownership of the personal effects.”.