I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5009 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide additional entitlement 

to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance to certain veterans and members 

of the Armed Forces who require extra time to complete remedial and 

deficiency courses, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2019 

Mr. HORSFORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide additional 

entitlement to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance to certain veterans and members of the Armed Forces who 

require extra time to complete remedial and deficiency 

courses, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Education 

5 and Transfer Extension Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘VET Exten6 sion Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Individuals who are entitled to Post-9/11 

4 Educational Assistance who require remedial and de5 ficiency courses exhaust their entitlement before 

6 completing a program of education with such assist7 ance. 

8 (2) Members of the Armed Forces who are enti9 tled to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance and who do 

10 not have dependents while serving as members of the 

11 Armed Forces are not able to transfer their entitle12 ment to such assistance when they come to have de13 pendents. 

14 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL ENTITLEMENT TO POST-9/11 EDU15 CATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR CERTAIN VET16 ERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 

17 FORCES WHO REQUIRE EXTRA TIME TO COM18 PLETE REMEDIAL COURSES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 33 of 

20 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

21 end the following new section: 

22 ‘‘§ 3320A. Additional assistance 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The number of months of edu24 cational assistance under section 3313 of this title an eligi25 ble individual is entitled to under section 3312 of this title 

26 is hereby increased by the lesser of— 


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1 ‘‘(1) 15 months; or 

2 ‘‘(2) in the case of an eligible individual who at3 tempted or completed remedial and deficiency 

4 courses as described in subsection (b)(4), the full5 time equivalent number of months of educational as6 sistance used under this chapter to complete such 

7 remedial and deficiency courses. 

8 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—For purposes of this section, an 

9 eligible individual is an individual— 

10 ‘‘(1) who is or was entitled to educational as11 sistance under section 3311 of this title; 

12 ‘‘(2) has received educational assistance under 

13 this chapter at any time during the most recent six 

14 month period; 

15 ‘‘(3) who has used all of the educational assist16 ance to which the individual is entitled under this 

17 chapter; and 

18 ‘‘(4) who has attempted or completed remedial 

19 and deficiency courses in pursuit of completing a 

20 program of education at an institution of higher 

21 learning and in doing so requires more than the 

22 standard 120 semester (or 180 quarter) credit hours 

23 for completion of a program of education at an insti24 tution of higher learning. 

25 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) The term ‘institution of higher learning’ 

2 has the meaning given such term in section 3452 of 

3 this title. 

4 ‘‘(2) The term ‘remedial and deficiency course’ 

5 means a course offered by an institution of higher 

6 learning that is designed to overcome a deficiency.’’. 

7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

8 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

9 after the item relating to section 3320 the following new 

10 item: 

‘‘3320A. Additional assistance.’’. 

11 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3695 of 

12 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

13 end the following new subsection: 

14 ‘‘(d) In the case of an individual who receives addi15 tional educational assistance under section 3320A of this 

16 title, the number of months specified in subsection (a) 

17 shall instead be construed to specify the number of months 

18 that is equal to the sum of— 

19 ‘‘(1) such number of months, and 

20 ‘‘(2) the amount of the increase in number of 

21 months of educational assistance to which the indi22 vidual is entitled pursuant to section 3320A(a) of 

23 such title.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN TRANSFERRING ENTI2 TLEMENT TO POST-9/11 EDUCATIONAL AS3 SISTANCE. 

4 Section 3319 of title 38, United States Code, is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (e)— 

7 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

8 through (3) as subparagraphs (A) through (C), 

9 respectively, and indenting such subparagraphs 

10 appropriately; 

11 (B) in the matter before subparagraph 

12 (A), as redesignated by subparagraph (A), by 

13 striking ‘‘An’’ and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An’’; and 

15 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

16 paragraph (2): 

17 ‘‘(2) TIMING OF DESIGNATION.—In the case of 

18 an individual who elects to transfer entitlement 

19 under subsection (a) but who at the time of the elec20 tion does not have any eligible dependents, the indi21 vidual may carry out the designations required by 

22 paragraph (1) when the individual comes to have an 

23 eligible dependent to whom the individual would like 

24 to transfer entitlement under this section.’’; and 

25 (2) in subsection (f)— 

26 (A) by striking paragraph (1); 


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1 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and 

2 (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively; and 

3 (C) in paragraph (1)(A), as redesignated 

4 by subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, including 

5 by designating a new dependent or dependents 

6 to receive the unused entitlement’’ before the 

7 semicolon. 

Æ 


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