Bill Details
S.649 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2026-03-18 - Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Introduced Date
2025-02-20
Policy Area
Armed Forces and National Security
Committees
View committees (1)
Sponsors
Cosponsors
5
0
0
AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would make Post-9/11 education benefits available to more members of the National Guard. It would count certain kinds of full-time National Guard service toward these benefits, so more Guard members could qualify for help paying for college, training, or other approved education programs. The bill also says the change would apply to some past service, not just future service.
- It expands the definition of covered service to include National Guard members who perform full-time duty under state or federal orders, including active duty under certain sections of federal law.
- The new rules would start one year after the bill becomes law.
- The change would apply to qualifying service performed on or after September 11, 2001, so some service members could receive benefits for earlier duty.
- The bill also keeps the normal deadline rules for using education benefits, treating this change as if it had been part of the law since the Post-9/11 GI Bill was first created.
Official Summaries
Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2025
This bill expands eligibility for Post-9/11 educational assistance for members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces and members of the National Guard. Specifically, the bill expands the types of activities that count towards Post-9/11 GI Bill eligibility to include active duty, inactive-duty training, annual training duty, and full-time National Guard duty or active duty. (Generally, under current law, only federal active duty counts towards educational assistance eligibility.)
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 649 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 649
To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand eligibility for Post-
9/11 Educational Assistance to members of the National Guard who
perform certain full-time duty, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 20, 2025
Mr. Moran (for himself and Mr. Blumenthal) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand eligibility for Post-
9/11 Educational Assistance to members of the National Guard who
perform certain full-time duty, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act
of 2025''.
SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR POST-9/11 EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE
TO MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD WHO PERFORM CERTAIN
FULL-TIME DUTY.
(a) In General.--Section 3301(1) of title 38, United States Code,
is amended--
(1) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as follows:
``(B) In the case of members of the reserve
components of the Armed Forces--
``(i) service on active duty (as defined in
section 101(d) of title 10), inactive-duty
training (as defined in section 101(d) of title
10), or annual training duty; or
``(ii) service on active duty under a call
or order to active duty under section 688,
12301(a), 12301(d), 12301(g), 12301(h), 12302,
12304, 12304a, or 12304b of title 10 or section
3713 of title 14, but not including inactive
duty training (as defined in section 101(d) of
title 10) or annual training duty.''; and
(2) in subparagraph (C)--
(A) in clause (i), by striking ``; or'' and
inserting a semicolon; and
(B) by striking clause (ii) and inserting the
following new clauses:
``(ii) in the National Guard when
performing full-time National Guard duty (as
defined in section 101 of title 32); or
``(iii) in the National Guard when
performing active duty (as defined in section
101 of title 32).''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
take effect on the date that is one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(c) Retroactive Applicability.--The amendments made by subsection
(a) shall apply with respect to service performed on or after September
11, 2001.
(d) Application of Time Limitation for Use of Entitlement.--Section
3321(a) of title 38, United States Code, shall apply to entitlement to
educational assistance acquired as a result of the amendments made by
subsection (a) as if such amendments had been enacted immediately after
the enactment of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of
2008 (Public Law 110-252).
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