I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2072 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the accountability of 

the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2013 

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

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

accountability of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to 

the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

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 ‘‘Demanding Account5 ability for Veterans Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY OF SECRETARY OF VETERANS AF2 FAIRS TO INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DE3 PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 7 of title 38, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new section: 

7 ‘‘§ 712. Accountability of Secretary to Inspector Gen8 eral. 

9 ‘‘(a) LIST OF MANAGERS.—(1) If the Inspector Gen10 eral of the Department of Veterans Affairs determines 

11 that the Secretary has not appropriately responded with 

12 significant progress to a covered report by the date speci13 fied in the action plan of the Secretary developed in re14 sponse to such covered report— 

15 ‘‘(A) the Inspector General shall notify the 

16 Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

17 House of Representatives and the Secretary of such 

18 failure to appropriately respond; and 

19 ‘‘(B) not later than 15 days after such notifica20 tion, the Secretary shall submit to the Inspector 

21 General a list of the names of each responsible man22 ager and the matter in the action plan for which the 

23 manager is responsible. 

24 ‘‘(2) The Inspector General may not make public the 

25 names of responsible managers submitted under para26 graph (1)(B). 


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1 ‘‘(b) PERFORMANCE OF RESPONSIBLE MANAGERS.— 

2 (1) The Secretary shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) promptly notify each responsible manager 

4 of a covered issue by not later than seven days after 

5 the date on which the Secretary submits to the In6 spector General the name of the manager under sub7 section (a)(2); 

8 ‘‘(B) direct such manager to resolve such issue; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(C) provide such manager with appropriate 

11 counseling and a mitigation plan with respect to re12 solving such issue. 

13 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that any performance 

14 review of a responsible manager includes an evaluation of 

15 whether the manager took appropriate actions during the 

16 period covered by the review to respond to the covered 

17 issue for which a request was made under subsection (a). 

18 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may not pay to a responsible 

19 manager any bonus or award, including a performance 

20 award under section 5384 of title 5, United States Code, 

21 if the covered issue for which a request was made under 

22 subsection (a) is unresolved. 

23 ‘‘(c) ROLE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.—Any authority 

24 of the Inspector General provided under this section is in 

25 addition to any responsibility or authority provided to the 


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1 Inspector General in the Inspector General Act of 1978 

2 (5 U.S.C. App). 

3 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered issue’ means, with re5 spect to a responsible manager, an issue described in 

6 a covered report for which the manager is or was re7 sponsible. 

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘covered report’ means a report 

9 by the Inspector General of the Department of Vet10 erans Affairs that recommends actions to the Sec11 retary of Veterans Affairs (or other official or em12 ployee of the Department) to address an issue in the 

13 Department with respect to public health or safety. 

14 ‘‘(3) The term ‘responsible manager’ means an 

15 individual who— 

16 ‘‘(A) is an employee of the Department; 

17 ‘‘(B) is or was responsible for an issue in18 cluded in a covered report; and 

19 ‘‘(C) in being so responsible, is or was em20 ployed in a management position, regardless of 

21 whether the employee is in the competitive civil 

22 service, Senior Executive Service, or other type 

23 of civil service.’’. 

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

25 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 


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1 after the item relating to section 711 the following new 

2 item: 

‘‘712. Accountability of Secretary to Inspector General.’’. 

Æ 


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