Veterans Border Patrol Training Act

119 S625 IS: Veterans Border Patrol Training Act U.S. Senate 2025-02-18 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. II 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 625 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 18, 2025 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself and Mr. Lankford ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs A BILL To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a pilot program to hire transitioning servicemembers to be Border Patrol agents. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Veterans Border Patrol Training Act . 2. Border Patrol Skillbridge Pilot Program (a) Establishment Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall establish an interdepartmental pilot program through which the Department of Homeland Security shall use the Department of Defense SkillBridge Program to train and hire transitioning servicemembers as Border Patrol agents for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (b) Employment skills training In carrying out the pilot program established pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary of Homeland Security, in collaboration with the Secretary of Defense, shall use the authorities available under section 1143 of title 10, United States Code, to train and facilitate the transition of members of the Armed Forces to service as Border Patrol agents. 3. Annual reports Not later than 1 year after the pilot program is established pursuant to section 2(a), and annually thereafter until the date referred to in section 4, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall submit a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate , the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate , the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate , the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives , the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives , and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives that includes for the reporting period— (1) the number of participants in the pilot program; (2) the number of eligible participants who applied to be part of the pilot program; and (3) the number of pilot program participants who are— (A) members the Armed Forces; (B) reserve members of the Armed Forces; (C) commissioned officers or non-commissioned officers; (D) enlisted members of the Armed Forces; (E) veterans; (F) spouses of such members of the Armed Forces or veterans; and (G) dependents of such members of the Armed Forces or veterans. 4. Sunset date The pilot program established pursuant to section 2 shall be terminated on the date that is 5 years after the date on which such program is established.