II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3288 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to reinstate entitlement to Post9/11 Educational Assistance for victims of sexual assault or domestic 

violence, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 9, 2023 

Mr. KING (for himself and Mr. CRAMER) 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 reinstate entitlement to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance for victims 

of sexual assault or domestic violence, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Depart5 ment of Veterans Affairs Dependent Education Benefits 

6 Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REINSTATEMENT OF ENTITLEMENT TO POST-9/11 

2 EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF 

3 SEXUAL ASSAULT OR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 38, United 

5 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3319, 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 3319A. Victims of sexual assault and domestic vio8 lence; authority to retain transferred 

9 education benefits 

10 ‘‘(a) REINSTATEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL ASSIST11 ANCE.—The Secretary concerned may, subject to regula12 tions prescribed by the Secretary of Defense and the Sec13 retary of Homeland Security in coordination with the Sec14 retary of Veterans Affairs, reinstate terminated edu15 cational assistance payments that were transferred to a 

16 spouse or a dependent child under section 3319 of this 

17 title if the Secretary concerned determines that the proxi18 mate cause for the termination of payment is— 

19 ‘‘(1) the administrative separation or conviction 

20 by a court martial, or by civilian, Tribal, or State 

21 court, of a covered individual for a dependent-abuse 

22 offense; and 

23 ‘‘(2) the administrative separation or conviction 

24 resulted in a discharge characterization of the cov25 ered individual that does not meet the requirements 

26 of section 3311(c) of this title. 


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1 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—(1) A spouse or dependent child 

2 described in subsection (a) seeking reinstatement of termi3 nated educational assistance payments for a termination 

4 described in such subsection shall apply for such reinstate5 ment not later than 3 years after the discharge of the cov6 ered individual. 

7 ‘‘(2) An application under paragraph (1) shall include 

8 sufficient information to substantiate that a spouse or de9 pendent child was the victim of dependent-abuse that re10 sulted in a discharge characterization that does not meet 

11 the requirements of section 3311(c) of this title. 

12 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION.—Reinstated payments shall not ex13 ceed any unused portion of the educational benefits that 

14 were transferred to a spouse or dependent child pursuant 

15 to section 3319 of this title that remain unobligated at 

16 the time of discharge of the covered member. 

17 ‘‘(d) DETERMINATION BY THE SECRETARY CON18 CERNED.—The Secretary concerned may determine that 

19 the proximate cause of termination of education benefits 

20 is dependent-abuse, as specified in regulations prescribed 

21 in subsection (e), only if— 

22 ‘‘(1) the record for the administrative separa23 tion establishes, by a preponderance of evidence pre24 sented, that the covered individual perpetrated a de25 pendent-abuse offense; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) the covered individual is convicted of a de2 pendent-abuse offense. 

3 ‘‘(e) REVIEW OF DETERMINATIONS.—(1) The Sec4 retary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security 

5 shall, in coordination with the Secretary of Veterans Af6 fairs, establish procedures by which a spouse or dependent 

7 child whose application for reinstatement of terminated 

8 educational assistance under subsection (b) is denied by 

9 the Secretary concerned may request the applicable Sec10 retary review the application and denial. 

11 ‘‘(2) Pursuant to a review by the Secretary of De12 fense or the Secretary of Homeland Security under para13 graph (1) of an application and denial, the Secretary of 

14 Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security, as the 

15 case may be, may overturn the denial if the Secretary de16 termines such denial was made in error. 

17 ‘‘(3) The Secretary receiving a request for a review 

18 of an application and denial pursuant to the procedures 

19 required by paragraph (1) shall review the application and 

20 denial and respond to the request not later than 30 days 

21 after receiving the request. 

22 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

23 Homeland Security shall, in coordination with the Sec24 retary of Veterans Affairs, develop and make available to 

25 the public guidance on how a spouse or dependent child 


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1 may request a review pursuant to the procedures estab2 lished under paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—(1) The Secretary of Defense 

4 and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination 

5 with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall prescribe reg6 ulations to carry out this section. 

7 ‘‘(2) Regulations under paragraph (1) shall include 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘(A) The procedure for application of reinstatement 

10 of education benefits. 

11 ‘‘(B) The criminal offenses, or categories of offenses, 

12 under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (chapter 47 

13 of title 10), Federal criminal law, the criminal laws of the 

14 States and other jurisdictions of the United States, and 

15 the laws of other nations that are to be considered depend16 ent-abuse offenses for the purposes of this section. 

17 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered individual’ means a 

19 member of the Armed Forces described in section 

20 3311(b) of this title. 

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘dependent-abuse offense’ means 

22 conduct by a covered individual while a member of 

23 the Armed Forces on active duty for a period of 

24 more than 30 days that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) involves abuse of the spouse or a de2 pendent child of the member; and 

3 ‘‘(B) is a criminal offense specified in reg4 ulations prescribed under subsection (e). 

5 ‘‘(3) The term ‘dependent child’ has the mean6 ing given such term in section 1408(h) of title 10. 

7 ‘‘(4) The term ‘spouse’ means a person who 

8 was the beneficiary of transferred educational assist9 ance payments at the time of discharge of a covered 

10 individual, who— 

11 ‘‘(A) was married to the covered individual; 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(B) divorced such individual prior to dis14 charge for, as determined by the Secretary con15 cerned, reasons relating to a dependent abuse16 offense that resulted in a discharge character17 ization that does not meet the requirements of 

18 section 3311(c) of this title.’’. 

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

20 at the beginning of chapter 33 of such title is amended 

21 by inserting after the item relating to section 3319 the 

22 following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 3319A. Victims of sexual assault and domestic violence; authority to retain transferred education benefits .’’. 

Æ 


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