Bills
| 3.23.22

Allowing Members of the National Guard and Reserves to be Honored as Veterans (H.R. 1384)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 1384?

(Updated July 19, 2017)

This bill would allow those who have served in the National Guard or in the Reserve branches of the military for at least 20 years and were never called to active duty to be officially honored as veterans.

It would not entitle these members of the National Guard or Reserves to any additional federal benefits that they weren’t already eligible to receive, but it would afford states additional flexibility in providing their benefits to those veterans.

Argument in favor

Allowing those who have served in the National Guard or Reserves for over 20 years without being called to active duty to be recognized officially as veterans appropriately honors their service without causing any additional spending.

Argument opposed

Allowing these servicemembers to be recognized as veterans will eventually cause them to lobby for benefits that veterans from the regular military are entitled to. There’s other ways to honor their service than officially letting them be called veterans.

Impact

People who have served in the National Guard or Reserves, states, and the federal government.

Cost of H.R. 1384

The CBO estimates that this bill would have no budgetary impact.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) also introduced this legislation during the 113th Congress, saying at the time:

“These men and women took an oath to defend our nation at any cost and have dedicated their lives in service to our country. Many stood at the ready for decades in defense of our nation and the time is now to give them the honor and recognition they have earned and deserve.”

Currently this bill has 132 cosponsors in the House, including 72 Democrats and 60 Republicans. The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved this legislation by voice vote.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Flickr user Oregon National Guard)