I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 512 

To title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant access to 

their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits Administration 

to certain designated congressional employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2017 

Mr. YOHO (for himself, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. 

DELANEY, Mr. BABIN, Mr. BISHOP of Michigan, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 

COSTA, Mr. DAVIDSON, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. FLORES, 

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. 

HARRIS, Mr. HILL, Mr. JONES, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. KING of Iowa, 

Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. MAST, Mr. YOUNG of Iowa, Mr. 

NOLAN, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. 

CROWLEY, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. BACON, Mrs. COMSTOCK, Mr. 

KINZINGER, Mr. COURTNEY, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. EMMER, Mr. REED, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. HIMES, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. BISHOP

of Utah, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. SAM

JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, 

Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. 

SABLAN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. 

ALLEN, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. COLE, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. BERA, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. LEE, 

Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. FRANCIS ROONEY of 

Florida, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. RUSH, 

Mr. BYRNE, Mr. BARR, Mr. RATCLIFFE, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. POE of Texas, 

Mr. MITCHELL, Mr. MARSHALL, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mrs. LOVE, 

Mr. MARINO, Mr. MASSIE, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MESSER, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. 

ROKITA, Mr. THOMAS J. ROONEY of Florida, Mr. ROYCE of California, 

Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. WILSON of 

South Carolina, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. BRAT, Mr. CRIST, 

Mr. FASO, Mr. CURBELO of Florida, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. 

PERRY, Mr. COOK, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. OLSON, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, 

Mr. PETERS, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. DONOVAN, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. SOTO, Mr. DUNN, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, 

Mr. LEWIS of Minnesota, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. 

HURD, Mr. LANCE, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. 

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NEWHOUSE, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. FERGUSON, 

Mr. COMER, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. GOWDY, Mr. BOST, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. 

DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. VALADAO, 

Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. 

WALBERG, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. ISSA, Ms. JUDY CHU

of California, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. DESANTIS, and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant 

access to their records in the databases of the Veterans 

Benefits Administration to certain designated congressional employees, 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 ‘‘Working to Integrate 

5 Networks Guaranteeing Member Access Now Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘WINGMAN Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO CASE-TRACKING INFOR8 MATION. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 59 of title 38, United 

10 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘§ 5906. Access of certain congressional employees to 

13 veteran records 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) The Secretary shall provide 

15 to each veteran who submits a claim for benefits under 

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1 the laws administered by the Secretary an opportunity to 

2 permit a covered congressional employee employed in the 

3 office of the Member of Congress representing the district 

4 where the veteran resides to have access to all of the 

5 records of the veteran in the databases of the Veterans 

6 Benefits Administration. 

7 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

8 upon receipt of the permission from the veteran under 

9 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide read-only ac10 cess to such records to such a covered congressional em11 ployee in a manner that does not allow such employee to 

12 modify the data contained in such records or in any part 

13 of a database of the Veterans Benefits Administration. 

14 ‘‘(3) A Member of Congress may designate not more 

15 than two employees of the Member as covered congres16 sional employees. 

17 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may not im18 pose any requirement other than the requirements speci19 fied under subsection (e)(1) before treating an employee 

20 as a covered congressional employee for purposes of this 

21 section. 

22 ‘‘(c) NONRECOGNITION.—A covered congressional 

23 employee may not be recognized as an agent or attorney 

24 under this chapter. 

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1 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—None of the 

2 amounts made available to carry out this section may be 

3 used to design, develop, or administer any training for 

4 purposes of providing training to covered congressional 

5 employees. 

6 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered congressional employee’ 

8 means a permanent, full-time employee of a Member 

9 of Congress— 

10 ‘‘(A) whose responsibilities include assist11 ing the constituents of the Member with issues 

12 regarding departments or agencies of the Fed13 eral Government; 

14 ‘‘(B) who satisfies the criteria required by 

15 the Secretary for recognition as an agent or at16 torney under this chapter; and 

17 ‘‘(C) who is designated by the Member of 

18 Congress as a covered congressional employee 

19 for purposes of this section. 

20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘database of the Veterans Bene21 fits Administration’ means any database of the Vet22 erans Benefits Administration in which the records 

23 of veterans relating to claims for benefits under the 

24 laws administered by the Secretary are retained, in25 cluding information regarding medical records, commstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS

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1 pensation and pension exams records, rating deci2 sions, statements of the case, supplementary state3 ments of the case, notices of disagreement, Form– 

4 9, and any successor form. 

5 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Member of Congress’ means a 

6 Representative, a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, 

7 or the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico.’’. 

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

9 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘5906. Access of certain congressional employees to veteran records.’’. 

11 (c) NO AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—No additional funds are au13 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

14 or the amendments made by this section. This sec15 tion and such amendments may only be carried out 

16 using amounts otherwise authorized to be appro17 priated. 

18 (2) AMOUNTS OTHERWISE AVAILABLE.—For 

19 the period of fiscal years 2018 through 2021, not 

20 more than $10,000,000 may be made available to 

21 carry out section 5906 of title 38, United States 

22 Code, as added by subsection (a). 

Æ 

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