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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 572 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 572

  To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide answers to 
 questions submitted for the record to the Secretary by members of the 
   Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
 Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives within 45 business 
                     days, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 28, 2023

   Mr. Tillis (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. 
 Rounds, Mr. Sullivan, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Cramer, and Mr. Tuberville) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide answers to 
 questions submitted for the record to the Secretary by members of the 
   Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
 Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives within 45 business 
                     days, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Ensuring Access to Department of 
Veterans Affairs Information Necessary for Oversight Act of 2023'' or 
the ``Ensuring Access to VA INFO Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. PERIOD FOR SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO RESPOND TO 
              QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL 
              COMMITTEES.

    (a) Requirement.--To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs shall provide an answer to a question submitted for 
the record to the Secretary by a member of the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs of the Senate or the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the 
House of Representatives on or before the date that is 45 business days 
after the date on which the Secretary receives the question.
    (b) Delayed Responses.--
            (1) Notice required.--If the Secretary anticipates being 
        unable to provide an answer to a question described in 
        subsection (a) that was submitted to the Secretary by a member 
        described in such subsection by the date specified in such 
        subsection, the Secretary shall, before such date, submit to 
        the member notice that the Secretary anticipates being unable 
        to provide the answer by such date.
            (2) Contents.--Notice submitted under paragraph (1) shall 
        include the following:
                    (A) A justification for the inability of the 
                Secretary to meet the deadline set forth in subsection 
                (a).
                    (B) An estimate of when an answer will be provided 
                by the Secretary to the question submitted.
                    (C) A description of the steps the Secretary needs 
                to take in order to provide the answer to the question 
                submitted.
    (c) Assistance From Other Agencies.--In any case in which the 
Secretary determines that the Secretary requires the assistance of the 
head of another Federal agency in order to provide an answer to a 
question described in subsection (a) by the date specified in such 
subsection and the Secretary requests such assistance from such head of 
another Federal agency, such head of another Federal agency shall 
provide the assistance requested in a timely manner.
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