NEW: Senate Homeland Security Committee Advances Bipartisan Bill Led by Shaheen and Crapo to Bring Missing Service Members Home

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, and Mike Crapo (R-ID) announced today that their bipartisan bill to strengthen efforts to bring home missing service members cleared the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee with broad bipartisan support. The Senators’ Bring Our Heroes Home Act would eliminate obstacles preventing families from accessing records needed to learn more about the fates of service members and civilian personnel who went missing. 

“Service members who went missing abroad made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. Their families deserve the closure of bringing their loved ones home for good,” said Shaheen. “I’m pleased that the Bring Our Heroes Home Act is moving forward with broad bipartisan support, and I look forward to our commonsense bill becoming law.” 

“This commonsense legislation tells every family and survivor that their loved ones are not forgotten,” said Crapo. “We owe it to our nation’s heroes and their families to cut the bureaucratic red tape and continue the effort to identify and recover those who have not yet made it home.” 

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, more than 81,000 Americans—including more than 300 Granite Staters—remain unaccounted for from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars and other conflicts. The Senators’ Bring Our Heroes Home Act would establish an independent government office, the Missing Armed Forces and Civilian Personnel Records Review Board in the executive branch, to identify missing personnel records, facilitate the transmission and disclosure of these records and review any decisions by federal agencies to postpone declassification. The bipartisan legislation would also require all government agencies to transmit any missing service member and civilian records to NARA unless there are grounds such as national security to postpone the disclosure of sensitive records.  

Throughout her time in Congress, Shaheen has worked diligently on behalf of Granite State families to return the remains of their loved ones lost in war. In 2016, Shaheen successfully added an amendment to North Korea Sanctions legislation, which was signed into law, to protect efforts to recover the remains of American service members in North Korea. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 government funding legislation that was signed into law, Shaheen supported efforts to increase funding of an additional $30 million for the Defense Personnel Accounting Agency (DPAA), which is the agency responsible for identifying remains of POWs and MIAs from conflicts around the world.  

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