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Foreign Service Workforce Retention Act
To amend the Foreign Service Act of 1980 relating to the recall and reappointment of career members.
Summary
This bill would amend the Foreign Service Act to expand the ability of retired and separated career Foreign Service officers to be recalled and reappointed to the department, extending this window to five years after retirement or separation. Members seeking reappointment would need to be processed and approved within 180 days and would receive full standing in the assignment application cycle. The bill also requires the Secretary of State to report annually to Congress on the number of officers recalled and reappointed, along with their grades before and after recall.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
2 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Johnny Olszewski’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- CHESAPEAKE REALTY PARTNERS $13,200
- VENABLE LLP $10,400
- HIMMELRICH ASSOCIATES, INC. $9,900
- MILEONE $9,900
- TRADEPOINT ATLANTIC $9,300
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Johnny Olszewski → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- May 21, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. · house
- May 21, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 21, 2026
Mr. Olszewski (for himself and Mr. Bera) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Foreign Service Act of 1980 relating to the recall and reappointment of career members.
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 “Foreign Service Workforce Retention Act”.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOREIGN SERVICE ACT OF 1980.
Section 308 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3948) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) in the first sentence—
(i) by inserting “or separated” after “any retired”; and
(ii) by inserting “or separation” after “of retirement”; and
(B) in the second sentence—
(i) by inserting “or separated” after “A retired”;
(ii) by inserting “or separated” after “a retired”; and
(iii) by inserting “or separation” after “of retirement”;
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) by striking “Former career members” and inserting the following:
“(1) Former career members”;
(B) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by inserting “, for a period of five years after the date of retirement or separation,” after “without regard to section 306”; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
“(2) A member seeking reappointment in the Service under paragraph (1) shall be reappointed not later than 180 days after the date of the approval of such request for reappointment to the Department and shall be incorporated into the next onward assignment application cycle of the Service with full standing.”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(c) Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report detailing—
“(1) the number of career members of the Service who were recalled and reappointed under this section during the preceding fiscal year;
“(2) the grade of each such member at the time of their retirement or separation; and
“(3) the grade and position of each such member at the time of their recall or reappointment.”. <all>
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