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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 amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to expand the ability of the State Department to recall and reappoint Foreign Service career members who have retired or been separated from service. The bill establishes a five-year window following retirement or separation during which former career members may be recalled and reappointed without regard to normal procedures. Members approved for reappointment must be brought back into service within 180 days and incorporated into the Foreign Service's assignment cycle with full standing. The bill requires the Secretary of State to report to Congress within 60 days of enactment and annually thereafter on the number of career members recalled and reappointed, along with their grades at the time of separation and their positions upon reappointment. The changes apply to both Foreign Service officers who have retired and those who have been separated from service.
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)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI] (D-HI)
Actions (2)
- May 21, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. · senate
- May 21, 2026 Introduced in Senate
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 21, 2026
Mr. Van Hollen (for himself and Mr. Schatz) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
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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