II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 863 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to repeal time limitations on the 

eligibility for use of educational assistance under All-Volunteer Force 

Educational Assistance Program, to improve veterans education outreach, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2013 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. BEGICH) 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 repeal time limitations on the eligibility for use of educational assistance 

under All-Volunteer Force Educational Assistance Program, to improve veterans education outreach, 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 ‘‘Veterans Back to 

5 School Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF TIME LIMITATIONS ON USE OF EDU2 CATIONAL ASSISTANCE UNDER ALL-VOLUN3 TEER FORCE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE 

4 PROGRAM. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3031 of title 38, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(i)(1) Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (g) 

9 and any other provision of law, the period during which 

10 a covered individual entitled to educational assistance 

11 under this chapter may use such covered individual’s enti12 tlement shall not end until the date that is 10 years after 

13 the date on which such covered individual begins using 

14 such benefit. 

15 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, a covered indi16 vidual is any individual— 

17 ‘‘(A) whose basic pay was reduced under para18 graph (1) of section 3011(b) of this title; or 

19 ‘‘(B) with respect to whom an amount was col20 lected under paragraph (2) of such section.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3020(f) of 

22 such title is amended by adding at the end the following 

23 new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(4) Subsection (i) of section 3031 of this title shall 

25 not apply for purposes of this subsection.’’. 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (i) of section 

2 3031 of such title, as added by subsection (a), and para3 graph (4) of section 3020(f) of such title, as added by 

4 subsection (b), shall apply as if such subsection and such 

5 paragraph had been enacted immediately after the enact6 ment of the Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 1984 

7 (Public Law 98–525; 98 Stat. 2553). 

8 SEC. 3. VETERANS EDUCATION OUTREACH PROGRAM. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 36 of title 38, 

10 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end of 

11 subchapter II the following new section: 

12 ‘‘§ 3697B. Veterans education outreach program 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 

14 funding for offices of veterans affairs at institutions of 

15 higher learning, as defined in section 3452(f), in accord16 ance with this section. 

17 ‘‘(b) PAYMENTS TO INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER

18 LEARNING.—(1)(A) The Secretary shall, subject to the 

19 availability of appropriations, make payments to any insti20 tution of higher learning, under and in accordance with 

21 this section, during any fiscal year if the number of per22 sons eligible for services from offices assisted under this 

23 section at the institution is at least 50, determined in the 

24 same manner as the number of eligible veterans or eligible 

25 persons is determined under section 3684(c) of this title. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The persons who are eligible for services from 

2 the offices assisted under this section are persons receiving 

3 educational assistance administered by the Department of 

4 Veterans Affairs, including assistance provided under 

5 chapter 1606 of title 10. 

6 ‘‘(2) To be eligible for a payment under this section, 

7 an institution of higher learning or a consortium of insti8 tutions of higher learning, as described in paragraph (3), 

9 shall submit an application to the Secretary. The applica10 tion shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) set forth such policies, assurances, and 

12 procedures that will ensure that— 

13 ‘‘(i) the funds received by the institution, 

14 or each institution in a consortium of institu15 tions described in paragraph (3), under this 

16 section will be used solely to carry out this sec17 tion; 

18 ‘‘(ii) for enhancing the functions of its vet19 erans education outreach program, the appli20 cant will expend, during the academic year for 

21 which a payment is sought, an amount equal to 

22 at least the amount of the award under this 

23 section from sources other than this or any 

24 other Federal program; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the applicant will submit to the Sec2 retary such reports as the Secretary may re3 quire or as are required by this section; 

4 ‘‘(B) contain such other statement of policies, 

5 assurances, and procedures as the Secretary may re6 quire in order to protect the financial interests of 

7 the United States; 

8 ‘‘(C) set forth such plans, policies, assurances, 

9 and procedures as will ensure that the applicant will 

10 maintain an office of veterans’ affairs which has re11 sponsibility for— 

12 ‘‘(i) veterans’ certification, outreach, re13 cruitment, and special education programs, in14 cluding the provision of or referral to edu15 cational, vocational, and personal counseling for 

16 veterans; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) providing information regarding other 

18 services provided veterans by the Department, 

19 including the readjustment counseling program 

20 authorized under section 1712A of this title and 

21 the programs carried out under chapters 41 

22 and 42 of this title; and 

23 ‘‘(D) be submitted at such time or times, in 

24 such manner, in such form, and contain such infor25 mation as the Secretary determines necessary to 


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1 carry out the functions of the Secretary under this 

2 section. 

3 ‘‘(3) An institution of higher learning which is eligible 

4 for funding under this section and which the Secretary 

5 determines cannot feasibly carry out, by itself, any or all 

6 of the activities set forth in paragraph (2)(C), may carry 

7 out such program or programs through a consortium 

8 agreement with one or more other institutions of higher 

9 learning in the same community. 

10 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall not approve an application 

11 under this subsection unless the Secretary determines that 

12 the applicant will implement the requirements of para13 graph (2)(C) within the first academic year during which 

14 it receives a payment under this section. 

15 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENTS.—(1)(A) Subject to sub16 paragraph (B), the amount of the payment which any in17 stitution shall receive under this section for any fiscal year 

18 shall be $100 for each person who is described in sub19 section (b)(1)(B). 

20 ‘‘(B) The maximum amount of payments to any insti21 tution of higher learning, or any branch thereof which is 

22 located in a community which is different from that in 

23 which the parent institution thereof is located, in any fis24 cal year is $150,000. 


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1 ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary shall pay to each institution 

2 of higher learning which has had an application approved 

3 under subsection (b) the amount which it is to receive 

4 under this section. If the amount appropriated for any fis5 cal year is not sufficient to pay the amounts which all such 

6 institutions are to receive, the Secretary shall ratably re7 duce such payments. If any amount becomes available to 

8 carry out this section for a fiscal year after such reduc9 tions have been imposed, such reduced payments shall be 

10 increased on the same basis as they were reduced. 

11 ‘‘(B) In making payments under this section for any 

12 fiscal year, the Secretary shall apportion the appropriation 

13 for making such payments, from funds which become 

14 available as a result of the limitation on payments set 

15 forth in paragraph (1)(B), in an equitable manner. 

16 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION AND PROVISION OF ASSIST17 ANCE, TECHNICAL CONSULTATION, AND INFORMATION.— 

18 The Secretary, in carrying out the provisions of this sec19 tion, shall seek to assure the coordination of programs as20 sisted under this section with other programs carried out 

21 by the Department pursuant to this title, and the Sec22 retary shall provide all assistance, technical consultation, 

23 and information otherwise authorized by law as necessary 

24 to promote the maximum effectiveness of the activities and 

25 programs assisted under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(e) BEST PRACTICES AND ADMINISTRATION.—(1) 

2 From the amounts made available for any fiscal year 

3 under subsection (f), the Secretary shall retain one per4 cent or $20,000, whichever is less, for the purpose of col5 lecting information about exemplary veterans educational 

6 outreach programs and disseminating that information to 

7 other institutions of higher learning having such programs 

8 on their campuses. Such collection and dissemination shall 

9 be done on an annual basis. 

10 ‘‘(2) From the amounts made available under sub11 section (f), the Secretary may retain not more than two 

12 percent for the purpose of administering this section. 

13 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2012 and each fiscal year there16 after.’’. 

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

18 at the beginning of chapter 36 of title 38, United States 

19 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

20 section 3697A the following new item: 

‘‘3697B. Veterans education outreach program.’’. 

Æ 


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