{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/hyde-smith-hassan-welcome-enactment-their-bill-benefit-guard-reserve-students", "HYDE-SMITH, HASSAN WELCOME ENACTMENT OF THEIR BILL TO BENEFIT GUARD, RESERVE STUDENTS", "2024-12-26", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "FY2025 Defense Policy Bill Includes Bipartisan \u2018SERVE Act\u2019 to Guarantee College Readmission for Guard, Reservists\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) today welcomed the enactment of major defense policy legislation that includes their bipartisan bill to ensure that students who serve in the National Guard and Reserve will be guaranteed readmission to their schools following a mobilization.\n\nThe bipartisan Servicemember Enrollment and Readmission for Valuable Education (SERVE) Act (S.2076) was included in the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act (HR.5009), which was signed into law on Monday. The SERVE Act amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that students called to serve in domestic, short-term National Guard and Reserve mobilizations can return to their studies.\n\n\u201cMany Guard and Reserve mobilizations last fewer than 30 days, putting numerous students who have volunteered to serve our nation at risk of having their educational pursuits derailed,\u201d Senator Hyde-Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m pleased the FY2025 NDAA includes an overdue fix to this problem.\u201d\n\n\u201cStudents in the Reserves and the National Guard sacrifice to serve their communities and our country, and they shouldn\u2019t have to jeopardize their spot in school because they were called to duty,\u201d said Senator Hassan. \u201cI am pleased that the latest national defense bill provides a measure that will ensure that student National Guard and Reserve members who are mobilized for short missions will have the security of knowing that their spot in school will be waiting for them.\u201d\n\nThe SERVE Act removes a \u201cmore than 30 days\u201d stipulation in current law that only requires readmission for student servicemembers who are mobilized for more than 30 days. Under existing law, National Guard and Reserve members mobilized for fewer than 30 days are not universally entitled to be promptly readmitted.\n\nHyde-Smith introduced the SERVE Act with Hassan in June 2023. U.S. Representatives Mike Ezell (R-Miss.) and Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) were the lead sponsors of a House companion bill.\n\nThe overall FY2025 NDAA establishes policies and sets funding guidelines for the FY2025 Defense Appropriations Bill that will actually allocate funds for Department of Defense activities. The overall bill also authorizes a 14.5 percent pay increase for junior enlisted troops, a 4.5 percent across-the-board pay raise for all other service members, and broadens access to child care for service members.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/hyde-smith-hassan-welcome-enactment-their-bill-benefit-guard-reserve-students"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.148234751075506, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}