II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 242 

To amend 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 30, 2017 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. COTTON, Mr. 

ROUNDS, Mr. SULLIVAN, and Mr. BOOZMAN) 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 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’’. 


rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 242 IS

1 SEC. 2. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO CASE-TRACKING INFOR2 MATION. 

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

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 5906. Access of certain congressional employees to 

7 veteran records 

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

9 to each veteran who submits a claim for benefits under 

10 the laws administered by the Secretary an opportunity to 

11 permit a covered congressional employee employed in the 

12 office of the Member of Congress representing the district 

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

14 records of the veteran in the databases of the Veterans 

15 Benefits Administration. 

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

17 upon receipt of the permission from the veteran under 

18 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide read-only ac19 cess to such records to such a covered congressional em20 ployee in a manner that does not allow such employee to 

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

22 of a database of the Veterans Benefits Administration. 

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

24 than two employees of the Member as covered congres25 sional employees. 


rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 242 IS

1 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may not im2 pose any requirement other than the requirements speci3 fied under subsection (e)(1) before treating an employee 

4 as a covered congressional employee for purposes of this 

5 section. 

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

7 employee may not be recognized as an agent or attorney 

8 under this chapter. 

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

10 amounts made available to carry out this section may be 

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

12 purposes of providing training to covered congressional 

13 employees. 

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

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

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

17 of Congress— 

18 ‘‘(A) whose responsibilities include assist19 ing the constituents of the Member with issues 

20 regarding departments or agencies of the Fed21 eral Government; 

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

23 the Secretary for recognition as an agent or at24 torney under this chapter; and 


rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 242 IS

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

2 Congress as a covered congressional employee 

3 for purposes of this section. 

4 ‘‘(2) The term ‘database of the Veterans Bene5 fits Administration’ means any database of the Vet6 erans Benefits Administration in which the records 

7 of veterans relating to claims for benefits under the 

8 laws administered by the Secretary are retained, in9 cluding information regarding medical records, com10 pensation and pension exams records, rating deci11 sions, statements of the case, supplementary state12 ments of the case, notices of disagreement, Form– 

13 9, and any successor form. 

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

15 Representative, a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, 

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

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

18 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

19 at the end the following new item: 

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

20 (c) NO AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—No additional funds are au22 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

23 or the amendments made by this section. This sec24 tion and such amendments may only be carried out 


rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 242 IS

1 using amounts otherwise authorized to be appro2 priated. 

3 (2) AMOUNTS OTHERWISE AVAILABLE.—For 

4 the period of fiscal years 2018 through 2021, not 

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

6 carry out section 5906 of title 38, United States 

7 Code, as added by subsection (a). 

Æ 


rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with BILLS