On Wednesday evening, retired Army National Guard sergeant major and now Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., spoke passionately on the House floor in favor of his bill, H.R. 3670, which would close the USERRA loophole at TSA, and bring the agency into compliance with every other public and private employer that employs America's citizen-soldiers. His bill quickly passed, which now means that moving its companion bill, S. 1990, through the Senate floor is the final step. S. 1990 was introduced by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.
"VFW became aware of a little-known loophole last September that allowed TSA to be exempt from USERRA," said VFW legislative associate Daniel Elkins, who helped to introduce and muster support for the bill.
After considerable research, the VFW approached Walz to introduce a bill to close the loophole, and after months of work pushing others to support it, “we can all stand proud knowing that we're now just one step away in the Senate from accomplishing our goal,” said Elkins, who currently serves in the Army National Guard. "I encourage all VFW members and advocates to urge their senators to support S. 1990. We are within an arm's reach of changing the face of TSA for the better, to ensure all service members receive fair treatment in the workplace."
To contact your senators to support S. 1990, click here.
Your VFW will keep you posted on the progress on our efforts to closer TSA's USERRA loophole. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.
Below is Walz's floor speech on H.R. 3670, broadcast on C-SPAN:
These people don't need protecting, they are the problem.They need mpre money for next yrs party.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious there are many people that cannot comprehend the meaning of this bill. Now it's up to the Senate to concur, and the president to sign. To all those that think this is just a joke or another political ploy for votes - May they witness a TSA error.
ReplyDeleteI think they missed the party because they were out of the country getting shot at.
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