II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2014 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand and enhance educational 

assistance for survivors and dependents of veterans. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2005 

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand and enhance educational assistance for survivors and dependents of veterans. 

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

3 SECTION 1. EXPANSION AND ENHANCEMENT OF EDU4 CATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR SURVIVORS AND 

5 DEPENDENTS OF VETERANS. 

6 (a) TERMINATION OF DURATIONAL LIMITATION ON

7 USE OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE.— 

8 (1) TERMINATION OF LIMITATION AND RE9 STATEMENT OF CONTINUING REQUIREMENTS.—Sub-
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1 section (a) of section 3511 of title 38, United States 

2 Code, is amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

4 chapter or chapter 36 of this title, any payment of edu5 cational assistance described in paragraph (2) shall not 

6 be charged against the entitlement of any individual under 

7 this chapter. 

8 ‘‘(2) The payment of educational assistance referred 

9 to in paragraph (1) is the payment of such assistance to 

10 an individual for pursuit of a course or courses under this 

11 chapter if the Secretary finds that the individual— 

12 ‘‘(A) had to discontinue such course pursuit as 

13 a result of being ordered to serve on active duty 

14 under section 688, 12301(a), 12301(d), 12301(g), 

15 12302, or 12304 of title 10; and 

16 ‘‘(B) failed to receive credit or training time to17 ward completion of the individual’s approved edu18 cational, professional, or vocational objective as a re19 sult of having to discontinue, as described in sub20 paragraph (A), the course pursuit.’’. 

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(A) The 

22 heading of section 3511 of such title is amended to 

23 read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘§ 3511. Treatment of certain interruptions in pursuit 

2 of programs of education’’. 

3 (B) Section 3532(g) of such title is amended— 

4 (i) by striking paragraph (2); and 

5 (ii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

6 paragraph (2). 

7 (C) Section 3541 of such title is amended to 

8 read as follows: 

9 ‘‘§ 3541. Special restorative training 

10 ‘‘(a) The Secretary may, at the request of an eligible 

11 person— 

12 ‘‘(1) determine whether such person is in need 

13 of special restorative training; and 

14 ‘‘(2) if such need is found to exist, prescribe a 

15 course which is suitable to accomplish the purposes 

16 of this chapter. 

17 ‘‘(b) A course of special restorative training under 

18 subsection (a) may, at the discretion of the Secretary, con19 tain elements that would contribute toward an ultimate 

20 objective of a program of education.’’. 

21 (D) Section 3695(a)(4) of such title is amended 

22 by striking ‘‘35,’’. 

23 (b) EXTENSION OF DELIMITING AGE OF ELIGIBILITY

24 FOR DEPENDENTS.—Section 3512(a) of title 38, United 

25 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘twenty-sixth birth-
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1 day’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘thirtieth birth2 day’’. 

3 (c) AMOUNT OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3532 of title 38, 

5 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘§ 3532. Amount of educational assistance 

7 ‘‘(a) The aggregate amount of educational assistance 

8 to which an eligible person is entitled under this chapter 

9 is $80,000, as increased from time to time under section 

10 3564 of this title. 

11 ‘‘(b) Within the aggregate amount provided for in 

12 subsection (a), educational assistance under this chapter 

13 may be paid for any purpose, and in any amount, as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(1) A program of education consisting of insti16 tutional courses. 

17 ‘‘(2) A full-time program of education that con18 sists of institutional courses and alternate phases of 

19 training in a business or industrial establishment 

20 with the training in the business or industrial estab21 lishment being strictly supplemental to the institu22 tional portion. 

23 ‘‘(3) A farm cooperative program consisting of 

24 institutional agricultural courses prescheduled to fall 

25 within forty-four weeks of any period of twelve con-
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1 secutive months that is pursued by an eligible person 

2 who is concurrently engaged in agricultural employ3 ment which is relevant to such institutional agricul4 tural courses as determined under standards pre5 scribed by the Secretary. 

6 ‘‘(4) A course or courses or other program of 

7 special educational assistance as provided in section 

8 3491(a) of this title. 

9 ‘‘(5) A program of apprenticeship or other on10 job training pursued in a State as provided in sec11 tion 3687(a) of this title. 

12 ‘‘(6) In the case of an eligible spouse or sur13 viving spouse, a program of education exclusively by 

14 correspondence as provided in section 3686 of this 

15 title. 

16 ‘‘(7) A special training allowance for special re17 storative training as provided in section 3542 of this 

18 title. 

19 ‘‘(c) If a program of education is pursued by an eligi20 ble person at an institution located in the Republic of the 

21 Philippines, any educational assistance for such person 

22 under this chapter shall be paid at the rate of $0.50 for 

23 each dollar. 

24 ‘‘(d)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the amount of edu25 cational assistance payable under this chapter for a licens-
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1 ing or certification test described in section 3501(a)(5) of 

2 this title is the lesser of $2,000 or the fee charged for 

3 the test. 

4 ‘‘(2) In no event shall payment of educational assist5 ance under this subsection for such a test exceed the 

6 amount of the individual’s available entitlement under this 

7 chapter.’’. 

8 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(A) Section 

9 3533 of such title is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘§ 3533. Tutorial assistance 

11 ‘‘An eligible person shall, without any charge to any 

12 entitlement of such person to educational assistance under 

13 section 3532(a) of this title be entitled to the benefits pro14 vided an eligible veteran under section 3492 of this title.’’. 

15 (B) Section 3534 of such title is repealed. 

16 (C) Section 3542 of such title is amended— 

17 (i) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘com18 puted at the basic rate’’ and all that follows 

19 through the end of the subsection and inserting 

20 a period; and 

21 (ii) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘an edu22 cational assistance allowance’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘educational assistance’’. 

24 (D) Section 3543(c) of such title is amended— 
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1 (i) in paragraph (1), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 

2 the end; 

3 (ii) by striking paragraph (2); and 

4 (iii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

5 paragraph (2). 

6 (E) Section 3564 of such title is amended by 

7 striking ‘‘rates payable under sections 3532, 

8 3534(b), and 3542(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘aggregate 

9 amount of educational assistance payable under sec10 tion 3532’’. 

11 (F) Paragraph (1) of section 3565(b) of such 

12 title is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(1) educational assistance payable under sec14 tion 3532 of this title, including the special training 

15 allowance referred to in subsection (b)(7) of such 

16 section, shall be paid at the rate of $0.50 for each 

17 dollar; and’’. 

18 (G) Section 3687 of such title is amended— 

19 (i) in subsection (a)— 

20 (I) in the matter preceding paragraph 

21 (1), by striking ‘‘or an eligible person (as 

22 defined in section 3501(a) of this title)’’; 

23 and 
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1 (II) in the flush matter following 

2 paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘chapters 34 

3 and 35’’ and inserting ‘‘chapter 34’’; 

4 (ii) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘chapters 

5 34 and 35’’ and inserting ‘‘chapter 34’’; and 

6 (iii) in subsection (e), by striking para7 graph (3) and inserting the following new para8 graph (3): 

9 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘individual’ means 

10 an eligible veteran who is entitled to monthly educational 

11 assistance allowances payable under section 3015(e) of 

12 this title.’’. 

13 (d) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) Sec14 tion 3524 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 

15 striking ‘‘allowance’’ each place it appears. 

16 (2)(A) Section 3531 of such title is amended— 

17 (i) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘an edu18 cational assistance allowance’’ and inserting ‘‘edu19 cational assistance’’; and 

20 (ii) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘allowance’’. 

21 (B) The heading of such section is amended by strik22 ing ‘‘allowance’’. 

23 (3) Section 3537(a) of such title is amended by strik24 ing ‘‘additional’’. 
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1 (e) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of sections 

2 at the beginning of chapter 35 of title 38, United States 

3 Code, is amended— 

4 (1) by striking the item relating to section 3511 

5 and inserting the following new item: 

‘‘3511. Treatment of certain interruptions in pursuit of programs of education.’’; 

6 (2) by striking the items relating to section 

7 3531, 3532, and 3533 and inserting the following 

8 new items: 

‘‘3531. Educational assistance. 

‘‘3532. Amount of educational assistance. 

‘‘3533. Tutorial assistance.’’; 

9 (3) by striking the item relating to section 

10 3534; and 

11 (4) by striking the item relating to section 3541 

12 and inserting the following new item: 

‘‘3541. Special restorative training.’’. 

13 (f) EFFECTIVE DATES.—(1) The amendments made 

14 by this section shall take effect on the date of the enact15 ment of this Act. 

16 (2) Notwithstanding the effective date under para17 graph (1) of the amendment to section 3564 of title 38, 

18 United States Code, made by subsection (c)(2)(E), the 

19 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall make the first increase 

20 in the aggregate amount of educational assistance under 
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1 section 3532 of such title as required by such section 3564 

2 (as so amended) for fiscal year 2006. 

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