The Reserve Organization of America testifies before Congress as expert witnesses in support of specific national defense issues and as a part of the annual budget authorization and appropriations processes. ROA prepares testimony, answers questions, and provides information for the record.

119th Congress Testimony

• June 11, 2025 - ROA Matthew Schwartzman testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on pending legislation.
• June 11, 2025 - ROA Jake Fales and Hannah Miller testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on pending legislation.
• May 19, 2025 - ROA testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on pending legislation.
• Feb. 25, 2025 - ROA testimony before the U.S. House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs on policy priorities for the first session for the 119th Congress.

Archive: 118th Congress Testimony

• June 12, 2024 - ROA testimony before the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on pending legislation.
• May 6, 2024 - ROA testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense in association with the reserve chiefs April 30 hearing on the FY 2025 defense budget.
• March 29, 2024 - ROA testimony before the U.S. House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs on policy priorities for 2024.

• March 20, 2024 - ROA testimony before the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on pending legislation.

“ROA’s DRIVE plan, if adopted by Congress, would drive forward much needed reforms by increasing access to component-focused counseling and resources while simultaneously providing reserve affiliated participants with additional flexibilities in navigating their respective TAP track.”

- Matthew Schwartzman

• March 14, 2024 - ROA testimony for U.S. Senate Committee on Finance on the president's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025 for the Department of Health and Human Services.
  

• June 14, 2023 - ROA testimony before the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on pending legislation.
  

“ROA is a strong supporter of H.R.3943. ROA supports the legislation as currently written, but also would support a few minor amendments to ensure its enforceability.”

- Matthew Schwartzman

March 9, 2023 - ROA testimony  before the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on examining the future of workforce protections for service members.

“You get what you inspect; you get what you measure. And so, without proper inspection of DOL VETS’ capability to effectively execute the various provisions of USERRA law, we will not get a proper measure of USERRA.”

- Air Force Col. (Ret.) Gilbert Patton

February 24, 2023 - ROA official statement on public policy priorities for first session of 118th Congress.

Following months of internal deliberations and collaboration with strategic mission partners, including the Reserve Forces Policy Board and Air Force Reserve Council, ROA finalized its official statement on public policy priorities for the first session of the 118th Congress.

This comprehensive 38-page document contains more than 40 asks of Congress and important data in support of ROA's advocacy lines of effort.

"At its core, this portfolio seeks to break down the walls created by institutional biases to optimize the contributions to national security and readiness from our citizen warriors of all domains, their families, and employers."

- Army Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Jeffrey E. Phillips