To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to prohibit the payment of back pay and allowances to certain members of the Armed Forces who are guilty of desertion and to use the amount of any such unpaid pay and allowances to provide additional compensation to other members of the Armed Forces who were killed or wounded during missions to search for the missing members.

Cost and committee reports

Official records Congress.gov attaches to H.R. 4437.

• Constitutional authority statementThe sponsor’s statement of where the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass this bill. Statement by Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, as printed in the Congressional Record (Vol. 163, No. 188, November 16, 2017, Page H9426):
  Article I, Section 8, clause 14 gives Congress the authority to ``make rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces''
  Source: Congress.gov, Congressional Record November 16, 2017 ↗

  Evidence

  Field in the Congress.gov record

  constitutionalAuthorityStatementText

  Statement length

  141 characters

  Congress.gov bill record

  H.R. 4437, 115th Congress

  Congress.gov API record

  https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/115/hr/4437

  Record last updated by Congress.gov

  June 6, 2025

  PORKER copy retrieved

  September 21, 2026

  Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file

  57cfa7e45a586efe2890d4d6e0239e9a211d92167dead30d34e1b21f382b5679

  PORKER shows the statement exactly as printed, with the page markup removed. It is the sponsor’s claim; it is not a legal finding.

Congress.gov’s record for this bill does not list a CBO cost estimate or a committee report (as of June 6, 2025). Not every bill gets one.

From the Congress.gov bill record for H.R. 4437, last updated June 6, 2025. PORKER’s copy was retrieved September 21, 2026 and is refreshed nightly. Open “Evidence” on any line for the record, field and file fingerprint.