S. 1120 — Unity through Service Act of 2025

This section establishes the Interagency Council on Service to advise the President on promoting, strengthening, and expanding opportunities for military service, national service, and public service and to review, assess, and coordinate executive branch recruitment strategies. The Council comprises representatives from 16 specified federal entities—including the Departments of Defense, Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security; the Attorney General; the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget, National Intelligence, Office of Personnel Management, Peace Corps, and Selective Service System; and the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service (i.e., AmeriCorps)—plus others designated by the President; it is chaired annually by a Senate-confirmed member and meets quarterly or more frequently as directed. The Council must (1) assist the President in establishing service promotion strategies, goals, and priorities; (2) recommend common recruitment strategies to increase participation in military, national, and public service; (3) coordinate best practices and develop interagency recruitment initiatives among relevant federal officials; (4) lead joint federal awareness, recruitment, retention, and marketing efforts; (5) assess service impacts on national needs and participants; (6) consult non-federal entities such as state, local, Tribal, and educational organizations and the private sector; (7) submit to the President and Congress a quadrennial Service Strategy—covering federal programs, online content, trends, recruitment strategies, and joint messaging—within two years of enactment and every four years thereafter; (8) identify notable state, local, Tribal, and nongovernmental service initiatives; and (9) perform other functions as directed by the President.

This section authorizes the Secretary of Defense, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Director of the Peace Corps to conduct a joint market research, studies, recruiting, and advertising program to complement existing programs of the military departments (i.e., Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard), national service programs (e.g., AmeriCorps), and the Peace Corps. It clarifies that 10 U.S.C. §503, which requires military recruiting campaigns and restricts disclosure of prospective recruits' personally identifiable information (PII) and high school directory information, does not prohibit information sharing or joint marketing efforts among these entities to carry out the program.

This section amends employment assistance requirements under 10 U.S.C. 1143(c) to require the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to coordinate with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The section further amends the Transition Assistance Program (TAP)—which provides counseling, job search assistance, and related services to separating servicemembers and their spouses under 10 U.S.C. 1144—by (1) directing the Department of Labor to provide information on public service opportunities, training on public service job recruiting, and advantages of federal government careers; and (2) requiring TAP curriculum on employment skills to include national and community service, taught in conjunction with the CNCS chief executive officer. The section also requires the CNCS chief executive officer to inform completers of national service programs (i.e., AmeriCorps) about qualifying military and public service opportunities.

This section directs the Chair of the Interagency Council on Service, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), and the Director of the Peace Corps, to submit a joint report to nine specified congressional committees on cross-service marketing, research, promotion, and recommendations for increasing joint advertising and recruitment initiatives for the Armed Forces, CNCS programs (e.g., AmeriCorps), and the Peace Corps—not later than four years after enactment and quadrennially thereafter. The report must include (1) the number of Peace Corps volunteers and CNCS national service participants who previously served in the Armed Forces and vice versa; (2) an assessment of existing joint recruitment and advertising initiatives by the Department of Defense, Peace Corps, or CNCS; (3) an assessment of the feasibility and cost of expanding such initiatives; (4) ways to improve recruitment across these agencies; and (5) a description of information and data used for related initiatives or campaigns. The specified officials must undertake necessary recruiting studies using existing appropriated funds (not under this Act).

This section directs the Chair of the Interagency Council on Service to conduct a study on (1) the effectiveness of past advertising campaigns for military service, national service, and public service and (2) the role of vaccine requirements on the retention and recruitment of individuals for such service, and to submit a report on the findings and lessons learned to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Homeland Security not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

This section defines seven terms for purposes of the Act: (1) Interagency Council on Service, meaning the council established by section 2(a); (2) military department, meaning each of the military departments listed in section 102 of title 5, United States Code; (3) military service, meaning active service (10 U.S.C. 101(d)(3)) or active status (10 U.S.C. 101(d)(4)) in one of the armed forces (10 U.S.C. 101(a)(4)); (4) national service, meaning participation other than military or public service in specified community programs (e.g., Peace Corps, YouthBuild) funded by higher education institutions or governments; (5) public service, meaning civilian employment in the federal government or a state, tribal, or local government; (6) service, meaning a personal commitment of time, energy, and talent to missions benefiting the nation, communities, or social welfare; and (7) State service commission, meaning a state commission on national and community service under the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12638).

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to Congress, not later than 30 months after enactment of this Act, a report on the effectiveness of the Act and the amendments made by the Act.