On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the vice-chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, brought out the “Intelligence Community Workforce Agility Protection Act.”
Rubio offered some of the rationales behind his proposal.
“Currently, active duty members of the military can deduct certain moving expenses from their federal taxes, but that benefit does not extend to intelligence community professionals. The Intelligence Community Workforce Agility Protection Act would expand the treatment of moving expenses to employees and new appointees in the intelligence community who must relocate pursuant to a change in assignment,” Rubio’s office noted.
“We ask a lot from the men and women who serve our nation, especially those in the intelligence community,” Rubio said. “Extending this benefit to those who sacrifice so much in defense of our nation is common sense.”
The bill has the support of more than a dozen senators including U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who leads the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“Like the men and women of our armed forces, our intelligence community professionals go to extraordinary lengths to serve and protect their country,” Warner said. “They often uproot their lives to go serve where they are needed – no matter where that may be. This commonsense legislation will ensure that these brave Americans are not forced to pay out of pocket for the costs of their relocations.”
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. House.
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.
