89–006 

116TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 116–158 

PROVIDING BENEFITS INFORMATION IN SPANISH AND 

TAGALOG FOR VETERANS AND FAMILIES ACT 

JULY 18, 2019.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 

the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. TAKANO, from the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 2943] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 2943) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make 

all fact sheets of the Department of Veterans Affairs in English 

and Spanish, having considered the same, report favorably thereon 

with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do 

pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

Purpose and Summary ............................................................................................ 2 

Background and Need for Legislation .................................................................... 2 

Hearings ................................................................................................................... 3 

Subcommittee Consideration .................................................................................. 4 

Committee Consideration ........................................................................................ 4 

Committee Votes ...................................................................................................... 5 

Committee Oversight Findings ............................................................................... 5 

Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives .................................... 5 

New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditures ............. 5 

Earmarks and Tax and Tariff Benefits .................................................................. 6 

Committee Cost Estimate ....................................................................................... 6 

Congressional Budget Office Estimate ................................................................... 6 

Federal Mandates Statement ................................................................................. 7 

Advisory Committee Statement .............................................................................. 7 

Constitutional Authority Statement ...................................................................... 7 

Applicability to Legislative Branch ........................................................................ 7 

Statement on Duplication of Federal Programs .................................................... 7 

Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation ...................................................... 8 

Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill as Reported ......................................

2 

The amendments are as follows: 

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following: 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Providing Benefits Information in Spanish and Tagalog for Veterans and Families Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FACT SHEETS. 

(a) LANGUAGES.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall make versions of all fact 

sheets of the Department of Veterans Affairs in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. 

(b) WEBSITE.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish and maintain a 

publicly available website of the Department of Veterans Affairs that contains links 

to all fact sheets of the Veterans Benefits Administration, Veterans Health Administration, and of the National Cemetery Administration. The website shall be accessible by a clearly labelled hyperlink on the homepage of the Department. 

(c) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit a report to Congress regarding fact 

sheets described in subsection (a) and details of the Language Access Plan of the 

Department of Veteran Affairs. The report shall include the following: 

(1) What the Secretary determines constitutes a fact sheet of the Department 

for purposes of this Act. 

(2) How such fact sheets are utilized and distributed other than on and 

through the website of the Department. 

(3) How such Language Access Plan is communicated to veterans, family 

members of veterans, and caregivers. 

(4) The roles and responsibilities of patient advocates in the coordination of 

care for veterans with limited English proficiency, family members of such veterans, and caregivers. 

(5) Other demographic information that the Secretary determines appropriate 

regarding veterans with limited English proficiency. 

Amend the title so as to read: 

A bill to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make all fact 

sheets of the Department of Veterans Affairs in English, Spanish, 

and Tagalog. 

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

H.R. 2943, was introduced by Representative Gilbert Cisneros on 

May 23, 2019. H.R. 2943 as amended, directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make all fact sheets of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs in English, Spanish and Tagalog. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Veterans deserve the highest level of customer service from the 

Department of Veterans Affairs when attempting to access the benefits they have earned. VA has facilities in Puerto Rico and the 

Philippines where English is not the predominant language. A language barrier should not stand in the way of veterans’ access to 

benefits, and the burden should not be placed on veterans or their 

spouses, dependents, and caregivers to request and then wait for 

a translator to be provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Unless understandable information is readily available for these 

veterans, they and their spouses, dependents, and caregivers will 

lose out on GI bill benefits, VA home loans, healthcare programs, 

and their survivors will not be able to receive their burial benefits 

if they do not understand English. 

With the changing demographics of the U.S. population overall 

trending towards a more racially and ethnic diverse majority, the 

veteran population is diversifying at a similar rate. The Pew Research Center reports that the share of veterans who are Hispanic 

is expected to nearly double from 7 to 13 percent between 2016 and 

3 

1 ‘‘SAN JUAN VAMC FACES SIGNIFICANT READINESS CHALLENGES IN PROVIDING 

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND DISASTER ASSISTANCE,’’ Staff Report, U.S. House of 

Representatives Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, June 6, 2019. 

2045. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Filipino Americans 

make up the third largest Asian American subgroup, with an estimated 4 million living in the U.S. 

A recent example of how VA is not using its current authority 

to provide easily understandable communications for veterans 

whose first language is not English, came to the attention of the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs when staff visited Puerto Rico on 

July 6, 2019 to study and observe disaster preparedness. What 

they found was disappointing; many veteran facing fact sheets 

were not available in Spanish, the predominant language there. 

The following are excerpts are from the report filed for the Committee record: 

‘‘In separate meetings with veterans service organizations 

(VSOs), Committee staff heard harrowing stories about the 

lack of support veterans had received from the San Juan 

VAMC in the wake of Hurricane Maria. HVAC staff also 

discovered a lack of emergency response plans, little to no 

outreach to ‘‘high-risk’’ veterans who could be stranded during the next natural disaster, an absence of senior leadership familiarity with the readiness of the emergency 

medical cache, nonexistent marketing materials in Spanish 

provided by VA Headquarters, a Spanish suicide prevention hotline that is not consistently staffed, and an under 

staffed facility due to issues with recruitment and 

retention . . . 

At the time of the visit, veterans had not received any information— written or verbal—to be better prepared for a 

future disaster after Hurricane Maria. Medical Center staff 

reported that Spanish language materials are rarely 

mailed or emailed, especially materials produced by VA 

headquarters. Veterans reported they had not been contacted by VA for their safety plan or asked where they plan 

to shelter, who will know their whereabouts, or asked to 

provide other key data for making contact with them following a storm. The facility created its own Spanish language Suicide Hotline but when HVAC staff called the 

number at different times during the day, staff were not 

consistently able to speak with a responder. These inconsistent results raise concerns about how well the number is 

staffed and monitored by the facility. San Juan has only 

two Suicide Prevention Coordinators despite statistics 

showing that suicides increase after natural disasters.’’ 1

HEARINGS

On June 20, 2019, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs conducted 

a legislative hearing on various bills introduced during the 116th 

Congress, including H.R. 2943. 

The following witnesses testified: The Honorable Phil Roe, U.S. 

House of Representatives, the First Congressional District of Tennessee, The Honorable Luis Correa, U.S. House of Representatives, 

the 46th Congressional District of California; The Honorable GilVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089006 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR158.XXX HR158
4 

bert R. Cisneros, U.S. House of Representatives, the 39th Congressional District of California, The Honorable Gus Bilirakis, U.S. 

House of Representatives, the 12th Congressional District of Florida; Mr. Adrian Atizado, Deputy National Legislative Director, Disabled American Veterans; Mr. Travis Horr, Director, Government 

Affairs, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; Dr. Igor Grant, 

Director, Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, University of 

California, San Diego; Mr. Carlos Fuentes, Director, National Legislative Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars; Mr. Derek Fronabarger, 

Director, Government Affairs, Wounded Warrior Project; Larry 

Mole, Pharm.D., Chief Consultant, Population Health. Veteran 

Health Administration; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Statements for the record were submitted by: Ms. Thelma RoachSerry, BSN, RN, NE–BC, President, Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs (NOVA); Mr. Eric Goepel, Founder & CEO, Veterans 

Cannabis Coalition (VCC); Mr. Morgan D. Brown, National Legislative Director, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA); Mr. J. David 

Cox, Sr., National President, American Federation of Government 

Employees (AFGE); Mr. Randy Erwin, National President, National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE); Mr. William Attig, 

Executive Director, Union Veterans Council, AFL–CIO; Mr. Brett 

W. Copeland, Executive Director, Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute; Mr. David J. Holway, National Association of Government 

Employees (NAGE); Mr. Justin Strekal, Political Director, National 

Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws—(NORML). 

SUBCOMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

There was no Subcommittee consideration of H.R. 2943. 

COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

On June 11, 2019, the Full Committee met in an open markup 

session, a quorum being present, and ordered H.R. 2943 as amended, reported favorably to the House of Representatives by voice 

vote. 

During Full Committee consideration on June 11, 2019, an 

Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 2943 offered by 

Representative Cisneros of California was adopted by voice vote. 

The ANS adds Tagalog to the requirement in the original bill that 

all Department of Veterans Affairs fact sheets be available in 

English and Spanish. The reason for this amendment is that Tagalog is the official language of U.S. veterans and their families in 

the Republic of the Philippines, where there is a large U.S. military 

presence and where the Department of Veterans Affairs maintains 

a VA Health Clinic and a Regional Office to process the claims of 

veterans living there. 

Ranking Member of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, David 

P. Roe of Tennessee, offered an amendment to the amendment in 

the nature of a substitute. Dr. Roe’s amendment requires that the 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs establish and maintain a single location on its publicly available website of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs that contains links to all fact sheets of the Veterans Benefits Administration, Veterans Health Administration and the National Cemetery Administration. The website is to be accessible by 

a clearly labelled hyperlink to the homepage of the Department. In 

addition, the amendment requires that the Secretary of Veterans 

5 

Affairs submit to Congress a report no later than 180 days after 

enactment regarding the fact sheets described above, and the details of the VA Language Access Plan. This report will include how 

the Secretary determines what constitutes a VA fact sheet; how 

such fact sheets are utilized and distributed other than on and 

through the website of the Department; how the Language Access 

Plan is communicated to veterans, family members and caregivers; 

the roles and responsibilities of patient advocates in the coordination of care for veterans with limited English proficiency, family 

members of such veterans, and caregivers; and other demographic 

information that the Secretary determines appropriate regarding 

veterans with limited English proficiency. The amendment to the 

amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Representative 

Roe of Tennessee passed by voice vote. 

COMMITTEE VOTES

Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives requires the Committee to list the recorded votes on the motion to report the legislation and amendments thereto. There were 

no recorded votes taken on amendments or in connection with ordering H.R. 2943 as amended reported to the House. A motion by 

Ranking Member David P. Roe of Tennessee to report H.R. 2943 

as amended favorably to the House of Representatives was agreed 

to by voice vote. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS

In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause (2)(b)(1) 

of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee’s oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the 

descriptive portions of this report. 

STATEMENT OF GENERAL PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

In accordance with clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, the Committee establishes the following 

performance goals and objectives for this legislation as amended: to 

remove barriers to accessing benefits for veterans, spouses, dependents and caregivers whose first language is not English by requiring that the Department of Veterans Affairs provide all fact sheets 

of the Department in English and Spanish and Tagalong and provide a report to Congress regarding details of the fact sheets and 

the Language Access Plan of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT AUTHORITY, AND TAX

EXPENDITURES

In compliance with clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, the Committee adopts as its own the estimate of new budget authority, entitlement authority, or tax expenditures or revenues contained in the cost estimate prepared by 

the Director of the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 

402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

6 

EARMARKS AND TAX AND TARIFF BENEFITS

H.R. 2943 as amended does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in 

clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMMITTEE COST ESTIMATE

The Committee adopts as its own the cost estimate on H.R. 2943 

as amended prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 

Office pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 

1974. 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

Pursuant to clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the following is the cost estimate for H.R. 2943 

as amended provided by the Director of the Congressional Budget 

Office pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 

1974: 

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, July 17, 2019. 

Hon. MARK TAKANO, 

Chairman, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 

House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2943, the Providing Benefits Information in Spanish and Tagalog for Veterans and Families 

Act. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Logan Smith. 

Sincerely, 

PHILLIP L. SWAGEL, Director. 

Enclosure. 


Insert graphic folio 11 here HR158.001
7 

H.R. 2943 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs 

(VA) to provide on its website all departmental fact sheets in 

English, Spanish, and Tagalog. The bill also would require VA to 

report to the Congress on how veterans obtain the department’s 

fact sheets other than on its websites and on VA’s efforts to communicate with veterans whose proficiency in English is limited. 

Many of the VA’s fact sheets are already available in Spanish, 

and several are available in Tagalog. VA provides most of the information from its fact sheets in Spanish and Tagalog to veterans at 

VA’s regional offices in Puerto Rico and the Philippines, respectively. In addition, the department currently provides its various 

fact sheets on several webpages. Because the department has satisfied most of the requirements of the bill, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2943 would cost less than $500,000 over the 2019– 

2024 period; any spending would be subject to availability of appropriated funds. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Logan Smith. The estimate was reviewed by Leo Lex, Deputy Assistant Director for 

Budget Analysis. 

FEDERAL MANDATES STATEMENT

The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of Federal mandates regarding H.R. 2943 as amended prepared by the Director of 

the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT

No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act would be created by H.R. 2943 as 

amended. 

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to Article I, section 8 of the United States Constitution, 

H.R. 2943 as amended is authorized by Congress’ power to ‘‘provide 

for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.’’ 

APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

The Committee finds that H.R. 2943 as amended does not relate 

to the terms and conditions of employment or access to public services or accommodations within the legislative branch. 

STATEMENT ON DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the Committee finds that no provision of H.R. 

2943 as amended establishes or reauthorizes a program of the Federal Government known to be duplicative of another Federal program, a program that was included in any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of 

Public Law 111–139, or a program related to a program identified 

in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. 

8 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATION

Sec.1—Short title 

Section 1 would establish the ‘‘Providing Benefits Information in 

Spanish and Tagalog for Veterans and Families Act’’. 

Section 2—Fact sheets 

Section 2 requires that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs make 

versions of all fact sheets of the Department of Veterans Affairs in 

English, Spanish, and Tagalog. 

Section 2(b) requires that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs establish and maintain a publicly available website of the Department of Veterans Affairs with links to all fact sheets of the Veterans Benefits Administration, Veterans Health Administration, 

and of the National Cemetery Administration. The website shall be 

accessible by a clearly labelled hyperlink on the homepage of the 

Department. 

Section 2(c) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

of the Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit a report 

to Congress regarding the fact sheets described in subsection (a) 

and details of the Language Access Plan of the Department. The 

report shall include the following: 

(1) What the Secretary determines constitutes a fact sheet of 

the Department for purposes of this Act. 

(2) How such fact sheets are utilized and distributed other 

than on and through the website of the Department 

(3) How such Language Access Plan is communicated to veterans, family members of veterans, and caregivers. 

(4) The roles and responsibilities of patient advocates in the 

coordination of care for veterans with limited English proficiency, family members of such veterans, and caregivers. 

(5) Other demographic information that the Secretary determines appropriate regarding veterans with limited English 

proficiency. 

Æ