II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5074 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide to Congress quarterly 

briefings on budgetary shortfalls of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

and to prohibit the provision of bonuses to Department of Veterans 

Affairs employees in Senior Executive Service positions in fiscal years 

with budgetary shortfalls, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024 

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself, Mr. WICKER, Mr. DAINES, Mr. TUBERVILLE, 

Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. ERNST, Mr. RICKETTS, Mr. BUDD, Mr. BRAUN, 

Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. GRASSLEY, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. TILLIS, 

and Mrs. FISCHER) 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 to 

Congress quarterly briefings on budgetary shortfalls of 

the Department of Veterans Affairs and to prohibit the 

provision of bonuses to Department of Veterans Affairs 

employees in Senior Executive Service positions in fiscal 

years with budgetary shortfalls, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Regular 

3 Order for Veterans Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘PRO Veterans 

4 Act of 2024’’. 

5 SEC. 2. MATTERS ADDRESSING DEPARTMENT OF VET6 ERANS AFFAIRS BUDGETARY SHORTFALLS. 

7 (a) QUARTERLY BRIEFINGS.— 

8 (1) QUARTERLY BRIEFINGS REQUIRED.—Dur9 ing the first quarter beginning after the date of the 

10 enactment of this Act and in each quarter thereafter 

11 until the date that is three years after the date of 

12 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 

13 Affairs shall provide to the appropriate committees 

14 of Congress a quarterly briefing, in person, on the 

15 budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs and 

16 any shortfall the Department may be experiencing. 

17 (2) PLANS.—In any case in which the Secretary 

18 informs Congress during a briefing under paragraph 

19 (1) that the Department is experiencing a shortfall, 

20 the Secretary shall, during such briefing, present the 

21 plans of the Secretary to address or mitigate the 

22 shortfall. 

23 (b) PROHIBITION ON PROVISION OF BONUSES TO

24 CERTAIN DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOY25 EES IN SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE POSITIONS IN CALVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Sep 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5074.IS S5074

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1 ENDAR YEARS WITH CERTAIN BUDGETARY SHORT2 FALLS.— 

3 (1) PROHIBITION.— 

4 (A) DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF5 FAIRS.—Subject to paragraph (2), during a pe6 riod described in subparagraph (C), the Sec7 retary may not provide any bonus or cash 

8 award to any employee or officer of the Depart9 ment who works in the central office of the De10 partment in a Senior Executive Service posi11 tion, or a position in another comparable sys12 tem for senior-level Government employees, if 

13 the Secretary submits to the Committee on Ap14 propriations of the Senate or the Committee on 

15 Appropriations of the House of Representatives 

16 a request for an appropriation for the Depart17 ment for that fiscal year and the request is not 

18 submitted in the course of a proceeding relating 

19 to— 

20 (i) the preparation, submittal, or pres21 entation of the budget of the President 

22 submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of 

23 title 31, United States Code, for the appli24 cable fiscal year; or 


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1 (ii) a midsession review by either of 

2 such committees. 

3 (B) OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDG4 ET.—Subject to paragraph (2), during a period 

5 described in subparagraph (C), the Director of 

6 the Office of Management and Budget may not 

7 provide any bonus or cash award to any em8 ployee or officer of the Office of Management 

9 and Budget who serves in a Senior Executive 

10 Service position, or a position in another com11 parable system for senior-level Government em12 ployees, if the Secretary submits to the Com13 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate or the 

14 Committee on Appropriations of the House of 

15 Representatives a request for an appropriation 

16 for the Department for that fiscal year and the 

17 request is not submitted in the course of a pro18 ceeding relating to— 

19 (i) the preparation, submittal, or pres20 entation of the budget of the President 

21 submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of 

22 title 31, United States Code, for the appli23 cable fiscal year; or 

24 (ii) a midsession review by either of 

25 such committees. 


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1 (C) PERIOD.—A period described in this 

2 subparagraph is any period— 

3 (i) beginning on the date on which the 

4 Secretary submits a request described in 

5 subparagraph (A); and 

6 (ii) ending on the last day of the fiscal 

7 year during which the Secretary submits 

8 such request. 

9 (2) SUNSET.—The prohibitions in paragraph 

10 (1) shall terminate on the date that is three years 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

12 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON14 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con15 gress’’ means— 

16 (A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

17 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

18 Senate; and 

19 (B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

20 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

21 House of Representatives. 

22 (2) SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE POSITION.— 

23 The term ‘‘Senior Executive Service position’’ has 

24 the meaning given such term in section 3132(a) of 

25 title 5, United States Code. 


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1 (3) SHORTFALL.—The term ‘‘shortfall’’, with 

2 respect to a fiscal year, means that the amount of 

3 appropriations required by the Department of Vet4 erans Affairs for such fiscal year to meet all of the 

5 statutory obligations of the Department during that 

6 fiscal year exceeds the amount of appropriations re7 quested for the Department for that fiscal in the 

8 budget of the President submitted pursuant to sec9 tion 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, for 

10 that fiscal year. 

11 SEC. 3. REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 

12 POSITIONS CREATED SINCE OCTOBER 1, 2022. 

13 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

15 of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a report on 

16 positions of employment created within the Department 

17 of Veterans Affairs during the period beginning on Octo18 ber 1, 2022, and ending on the date of the enactment of 

19 this Act. 

20 (b) CONTENTS.—The report submitted pursuant to 

21 subsection (a) shall include the following: 

22 (1) A description for each position of employ23 ment described in subsection (a). 

24 (2) For each position described pursuant to 

25 paragraph (1), the following: 


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1 (A) The job description. 

2 (B) The compensation. 

3 (C) Bonuses provided. 

4 (D) Remote work status. 

Æ 


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