This bill would add a new Chapter 14 to the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to create a Diplomatic Reserve Corps (DRC) inside the Department of State. The DRC would be a separate personnel system (not part of the Foreign Service) made up of four elements: the Senior Diplomatic Reserve, the Senior Diplomatic Retiree Reserve, the Diplomatic Reserve, and the Diplomatic Retiree Reserve. The Secretary of State (under the direction of the President) would run the Corps and may use the Director General of the Foreign Service to help manage it.
The bill sets a planned size for the Corps (250 in FY2026, 500 in FY2027, 750 in FY2028, and 1,000 thereafter) and describes who can join, appointment rules, salary classes, and pay rates. It requires training and sets annual training and service minimums for members (including scheduled training days and limits on required active service). The bill creates a Diplomatic Reserve Schedule for pay, authorizes performance pay and some special differentials, and makes members eligible for certain health and death-benefit programs. Participating members would, with some exceptions, be covered by the Foreign Service Pension System. The bill also sets rules for calling members to active service (for national emergencies, to augment diplomatic efforts, or for preplanned missions), limits on how many may be on active service at once, and reporting or notification requirements to Congress in some cases.
The bill establishes a dedicated Diplomatic Reserve Corps Account at the Treasury to hold appropriations and other deposits for salaries, training, operations, and related costs. It requires readiness exercises, medical and dental readiness checks, continuous screening of members, personnel records, selection boards for promotion and awards, and rules for retirement, termination, suspension, and reductions in force. It also extends certain employment and legal protections to DRC members by amending definitions in laws that cover servicemembers and their civil-relief and reemployment rights.
No publicly available information on overall costs or specific appropriation amounts is included in the bill text. The bill does create a Diplomatic Reserve Corps Account and specifies the account may be used for salaries, training and orientation, human resources management, operations, and related Corps costs. The text does not provide dollar totals or specific appropriations.
The bill's stated purpose (in its text) is to "assist the Secretary of State, the Department of State, and the Foreign Service" by maintaining a reserve of trained personnel available for active service when needed. That description is the primary rationale presented in the bill text for creating the Corps.
No publicly available information on opponents' views or specific objections is included in the bill text or metadata provided.