← Back to Bills
H.R. 8705House117th Congress (2021-2023)In Committee

Veteran Recruitment Act

Sponsored by Yvette HerrellRep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM)
Introduced August 12, 2022

AI-Generated Summary

Updated February 8, 2026 at 5:18 PM UTC

The Veteran Recruitment Act seeks to boost the hiring of U.S. military veterans into federal civil‑service jobs, focusing on the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for Global Media and other agencies. It requires agencies to develop and implement plans that give veterans priority, remove hiring barriers, and improve access for disabled veterans. The bill also changes how veteran preference waivers are handled and strengthens coordination between the Defense Department and other agencies. It mainly affects veterans seeking federal employment and the federal hiring officials who implement these policies.

Key Provisions

  • The Secretary of State must submit a detailed recruitment plan within 90 days and fully implement it within a year, including priority hiring, rank equivalency for mid‑level Foreign Service positions, removal of barriers, training adjustments, and expanded outreach such as video‑based oral assessments and new fellowships for veterans.
  • The CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media must submit a similar plan within 90 days to prioritize veterans for leadership, management, policy and broadcasting roles, evaluate barriers, ensure access for disabled veterans, and reallocate resources as needed.
  • The Secretary of Defense must review existing separation memoranda of understanding with federal agencies and modify or create new MOUs within 90 days to enhance veteran recruitment by those agencies.
  • The Director of the Office of Personnel Management may not grant any veteran‑preference waivers until new guidance is issued, and must issue updated waiver‑guidance within 30 days of the Act’s enactment.

Legislative Activity

Stay on top of the latest movement without scrolling through every action

1 earlier action
HouseIntro Referral Latest Action

Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Foreign Affairs Committee

August 12, 2022

View full timeline
HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

August 12, 2022

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Foreign Affairs Committee

August 12, 2022

Bill Text

Latest available legislative text

Reading Mode
Latest
Raw Text PDF XML
Introduced in HouseIssued August 12, 2022

I

117th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 8705

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

August 12, 2022

Ms. Herrell (for herself, Mr. McKinley, and Mrs. Flores) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To strengthen United States leadership through the recruitment and hiring of veterans of the United States Armed Forces to civil service positions, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Veteran Recruitment Act.

2.

Enhancement of Department of State recruitment and hiring of veterans

(a)

Report

Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall, after consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs, submit a report to the President providing a detailed and comprehensive plan for prioritizing the recruitment and hiring of veterans into covered positions. Such plan shall, subject to presidential modification and to be fully implemented not later than one year after the date the plan is submitted to the President, accomplish the following:

(1)

Ensure that veterans receive priority recruitment and retention for covered positions, including through implementation of military rank equivalency for at least mid-level ranks within the Foreign Service.

(2)

Identify and eliminate explicit and implicit barriers in the Department’s recruitment and hiring practices that, intentionally or otherwise, prevent veterans from the obtaining covered positions, including barriers in existing digital and non-digital recruitment materials.

(3)

Identify and adjust Foreign Service training and management standards to align with those of other Federal defense, intelligence, and security agencies, including implementation of rigorous and selective training courses for newly hired recruits.

(4)

Identify and initiate specific steps that the Department will take to ensure that physically disabled veterans have equal access to covered positions.

(b)

Hiring

Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall initiate and complete the following steps to prioritize the hiring of veterans to covered positions:

(1)

Expand nationwide access to the Foreign Service oral assessment job interview, including through proctored video-conferencing from military facilities.

(2)

Direct the Director General of the Foreign Service to expand outreach and recruitment jurisdiction and efforts to United States Armed Forces bases and other facilities in the vicinities of their respective colleges and universities of residence, including through the use of Diplomats in Residence.

(3)

Direct the Department of State’s Under Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries to coordinate with relevant Department of Defense leadership and personnel to develop outreach and recruitment programs, which would be tailored to duty stations, that would communicate with active-duty United States Armed Forces personnel who are in the process of honorably separating from military service about covered positions.

(4)

Expand eligibility of the existing Veterans Innovation Partnership Fellowship in order to boost access of veterans to such Fellowship, including by, at a minimum, eliminating the master’s degree threshold requirement for access to the fellowship.

(5)

Establish at least one new academic fellowship for veterans, to be modeled on the Department of State’s Rangel and Pickering Fellowships, not later than October 1, 2022.

3.

Enhancement of U.S. Agency for Global Media’s recruitment and hiring of veterans

Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media shall, after consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs, submit a report to the President providing a detailed and comprehensive plan for prioritizing the Agency’s recruitment and hiring efforts of veterans into positions at the Agency, including leadership, management, policy, and broadcasting positions. Such plan shall, subject to presidential modification and to be fully implemented not later than one year after the date the plan is submitted to the President, accomplish the following:

(1)

Ensure that veterans receive priority recruitment for Agency positions, including leadership, management, policy, and broadcasting positions.

(2)

Evaluate explicit and implicit barriers in Agency recruitment and hiring practices that, intentionally or otherwise, prevent veterans from obtaining positions with in the Agency, including barriers in existing digital and non-digital recruitment materials.

(3)

Identify specific steps that the Agency will take to ensure that physically disable veterans have equal access to Agency positions.

(4)

Recommend redeployment or realignment of discretionary Agency monetary and personal resources to support all of the above efforts.

4.

Department of Defense establishment and implementation of separation memoranda of understanding with Federal agencies

Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall—

(1)

in any circumstance where the Department of Defense has an memorandum of understanding to assist active-duty United States Armed Forces personnel who are in the process of honorably separating from military service (in this section defined as a separation MOU) with a Federal agency, reassess and, where necessary, recommend modifications to the separation MOU to enhance recruitment efforts of such personnel by that agency; and

(2)

in any circumstance where the Department does not have an existing separation MOU with a Federal agency, at a minimum initiate a separation MOU to enhance recruitment efforts of such personnel by that agency.

5.

Office of Personnel Management elimination of veterans preference waivers

(a)

In general

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and until the date guidance is issued under subsection (b), the Director of the Office of Personnel Management may not grant any veteran preference waiver under section 3312 of title 5, United States Code.

(b)

Guidance

Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue new guidance providing updated criteria for the Office’s granting of Federal agency, board, or commission veteran preference waiver requests.

6.

Definitions

In this Act—

(1)

the term civil service has the meaning given that term in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code;

(2)

the term covered positions means civil service positions within the Department of State, including Foreign Service positions and leadership, management, and policy positions; and

(3)

the term veteran has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.