Swalwell Amendment Ensures Military Bands Can Play

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15) today passed a bipartisan amendment to ensure military bands can once again accept assistance from community groups to perform at public events such as parades and ceremonies. The amendment was offered to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 and was co-led by Republican Rep. Patrick Meehan (PA-7).

"I refuse to stand by and let bureaucratic intransigence at the Department of Defense deafen our military bands," said Swalwell. "At no cost to taxpayers, military bands can bring patriotism and joy to events across the country. In clear language my amendment would require the DoD to at last accept donations from community groups for military band travel and performances so we can ensure the bands play on."

Last year, a similar amendment introduced by Swalwell fixed a bureaucratic problem where funds to the Department of Defense (DoD) to cover the cost of the military bands travel and performance were not being deposited to the right account. However, despite Swalwell's provision being signed into law, it was learned that the DoD will not accept any financial assistance from outside groups for military band travel in spite of the stated intent of the language in the NDAA, forcing the bands to cancel public performances across the country.

Swalwell was inspired to take action on this issue when a Marine Corps veteran in his congressional district brought to his attention that the Marine Band San Diego was prohibited from playing at the Scottish Games held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton over Labor Day 2013. The Caledonian Club would have fully funded the band's expenditures as it had in years past.