Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33) Introduces Legislation to Increase Military Leadership Diversity to Address Future Threats

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Coming on the heels of last month's vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021, Congressman Veasey (TX-33) introduced the Diversity in Leadership Act—legislation establish a grant program in the Department of Defense to increase the number of women, LGBT individuals, and underrepresented minorities in military and civilian leadership positions of the Department of Defense.

The grant program will support best practices such as online interactive workshops for targeted populations, interagency mentoring programs, undergraduate and graduate internship programs, K-12 student outreach to develop a pipeline for top military talent and other initiatives as the DoD deems fit to meet its goals.

"Our country is becoming more diverse every year, and we must ensure that our nation's military mirror the racial and ethnic diversity of the American people," said Congressman Marc Veasey. "As a former member of HASC, I know firsthand how imperative legislation like this will be because it will make much needed investments to programs that will help the overall diversity of civilian, and military leadership in our country and ensure we are prepared for future threats."

Today's legislation builds on Congressman Veasey's work on behalf of active service members and veterans. Congressman Veasey served on the House Armed Service Committee from the 114th – 115th Congress, and previously introduced two critical pieces of legislation to increase diversity among our nation's military leadership and to expand support services access for returning service members and their families during the 114th Congress. Congressman Veasey also holds Veteran Town Halls and recognizing their service on and off the battlefield through the 33rd Congressional District Congressional Veterans Commendation (CVC) program.