I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5552

To amend title 38, United States Code, to enhance outreach programs carried

out by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide for more fully

informing surviving spouses and dependents of benefits available to them

under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and to

improve local assistance levels by providing dedicated staff to assist

surviving spouses and dependents in obtaining benefits under those laws.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 25, 2000

Mr. DOYLE (for himself, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. MURTHA, Mr.

BALDACCI, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. LARSON, Mr. KANJORSKI,

Mr. MASCARA, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FORBES,

Mr. COYNE, Mr. KLINK, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. BARCIA, Ms. BROWN of

Florida, and Ms. DEGETTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to enhance outreach

programs carried out by the Department of Veterans

Affairs to provide for more fully informing surviving

spouses and dependents of benefits available to them

under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans

Affairs, and to improve local assistance levels by providing dedicated staff to assist surviving spouses and

dependents in obtaining benefits under those laws.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Surviving Spouses and

3 Dependents Outreach Enhancement and Veterans Case4 work Improvement Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

6 Congress makes the following findings:

7 (1) There are over 600,000 surviving spouses

8 and dependents receiving dependency and indemnity

9 compensation (DIC) or death pensions from the De10 partment of Veterans Affairs.

11 (2) The Department of Veterans Affairs does

12 not target this population for specific outreach ef13 forts, nor does it provide program outreach coordi14 nators designated at each regional office of the De15 partment to assist this population and other sur16 vivors who may be eligible for benefits from the De17 partment.

18 (3) Approximately 1,000 veterans die daily,

19 many survived by widows and dependents who may

20 not be fully informed as to their eligibility for bene21 fits under laws administered by the Secretary of

22 Veterans Affairs.

23 (4) There is no formal program for coordination

24 of benefits for surviving spouses and dependents at

25 any level within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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1 (5) Due to insufficient outreach efforts, infor2 mational updates targeted specifically to surviving

3 spouses and dependents are not provided. Outreach

4 efforts to provide information concerning changes in

5 service-connection for disabilities presumed associ6 ated with exposure to herbicides and ionizing radi7 ation and former prisoners of war have been insuffi8 cient to adequately inform survivors of benefits to

9 which they may now be entitled.

10 SEC. 3. NATIONAL GOAL TO FULLY INFORM AND ASSIST

11 SURVIVING SPOUSES AND DEPENDENTS RE12 GARDING ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS AND

13 HEALTH CARE SERVICES.

14 (a) NATIONAL GOAL.—Congress hereby declares it to

15 be a national goal to fully inform surviving spouses and

16 dependents regarding their eligibility for benefits and

17 health care services under laws administered by the Sec18 retary of Veterans Affairs.

19 (b) COOPERATIVE EFFORTS ENCOURAGED.—Con20 gress hereby encourages all elements within the Depart21 ment of Veterans Affairs, private and public sector entities

22 (including veterans service organizations), and veterans

23 widows and surviving spouses organizations to work coop24 eratively to fully inform the surviving spouses and depend25 ents of veterans regarding their eligibility for benefits and
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1 health care services under laws administered by the Sec2 retary of Veterans Affairs.

3 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR OUTREACH EFFORTS AND

4 DEDICATED STAFF AT EACH REGIONAL OF5 FICE.

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress and the Department of

7 Veterans Affairs have historically targeted certain specific

8 populations for outreach efforts concerning benefits under

9 laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

10 Groups currently targeted for such outreach efforts and

11 for which program outreach coordinators have been des12 ignated at each regional office of the Department of Vet13 erans Affairs are the following:

14 (1) Former prisoners of war.

15 (2) Women veterans.

16 (3) Minority veterans.

17 (4) Active duty personnel.

18 (5) Homeless veterans.

19 (6) Elderly veterans.

20 (7) Recently separated veterans.

21 (b) ELIGIBLE DEPENDENT DEFINED.—Paragraph

22 (2) of section 7721(b) of title 38, United States Code, is

23 amended to read as follows:

24 ‘‘(2) the term ‘eligible dependent’ means a

25 spouse, surviving spouse (whether or not remarried),
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1 child (regardless of age or marital status), or parent

2 of a person who served in the active military, naval,

3 or air service.’’.

4 (c) IMPROVED OUTREACH PROGRAM.—(1) Sub5 chapter II of chapter 77 of title 38, United States Code,

6 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

7 ‘‘§ 7727. Outreach for eligible dependents

8 ‘‘(a) In carrying out this subchapter, the Secretary

9 shall ensure that the needs of eligible dependents are fully

10 addressed.

11 ‘‘(b)(1) In order to carry out subsection (a), the Sec12 retary shall assign such employees of the Veterans Bene13 fits Administration as the Secretary considers appropriate

14 to conduct outreach programs and provide outreach serv15 ices for eligible dependents. In areas where the number

16 of eligible dependents warrant doing so, the Secretary

17 shall assign at least one employee in the Veterans Benefits

18 Administration regional office to serve as a full-time coor19 dinator of outreach programs and services for eligible de20 pendents in that region.

21 ‘‘(2) Responsibilities of employees assigned to out22 reach functions under paragraph (1) shall include pro23 viding eligible dependents with information about benefits

24 under laws administered by the Secretary and with assist25 ance in claims preparation and inquiry resolution.
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1 ‘‘(c) Whenever an eligible dependent first applies for

2 any benefit under laws administered by the Secretary, the

3 Secretary shall provide to the dependent information con4 cerning eligibility for benefits and health care services

5 under programs administered by the Secretary. For pur6 poses of this paragraph, a request for burial or related

7 benefits, including an application for life insurance pro8 ceeds, shall be treated by the Secretary as an initial appli9 cation for benefits.

10 ‘‘(d)(1) Information provided an eligible dependent

11 under this section shall include information on how to

12 apply for benefits for which the dependent may be eligible,

13 including information about assistance available under

14 subsection (b) and section 7722(d) of this title.

15 ‘‘(2) In the case of eligible dependents who are mem16 bers of distinct beneficiary populations (such as survivors

17 of veterans), the Secretary shall ensure that information

18 provided under this section includes specific information

19 about benefits relating to that population.

20 ‘‘(e) For any area in which there is a significant pop21 ulation of eligible dependents whose primary language is

22 a language other than English, the Secretary shall make

23 information provided under this subsection available to

24 those dependents in the dominant language in that area

25 (in addition to English).
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1 ‘‘(f) Outreach services and assistance shall be pro2 vided for eligible dependents through the same means that

3 are used for other specially targeted groups.

4 ‘‘(g) The Secretary shall ensure that the availability

5 of outreach services and assistance for eligible dependents

6 under this subchapter is made known through a variety

7 of means, including the Internet, correspondence of the

8 Department, announcements in veterans publications, di9 rect correspondence to congressional offices, military bases

10 public affairs offices, military retiree affairs offices, and

11 United States embassies.

12 ‘‘(h) The Secretary shall support the Department’s

13 periodic evaluation under section 527 of this title con14 cerning the Department’s efforts to address the needs of

15 eligible dependents.

16 ‘‘(i) The Secretary shall submit to Congress an an17 nual report on the programs of the Department address18 ing the information and assistance needs of eligible de19 pendents. The Secretary shall include in each such report

20 the following:

21 ‘‘(1) Information about expenditures, costs, and

22 workload under the program of the Department di23 rected towards the information and assistance needs

24 of eligible dependents.
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1 ‘‘(2) Information about outreach efforts di2 rected toward eligible dependents.

3 ‘‘(3) Information about emerging needs within

4 the program that relate to other provisions of law,

5 including section 7725 of this title with respect to

6 language needs of eligible dependents.

7 ‘‘(4) Information as to the timeline for imple8 mentation of improvements to meet existing and

9 emerging needs of eligible dependents in addition to

10 those specified in this section.’’.

11 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such

12 chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating

13 to section 7726 the following new item:

‘‘7727. Outreach for eligible dependents.’’.

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