II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2341 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the processing of veterans 

benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs, to limit the authority 

of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recover overpayments made by 

the Department and other amounts owed by veterans to the United 

States, to improve the due process accorded veterans with respect to 

such recovery, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25, 2018 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) 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 improve the 

processing of veterans benefits by the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, to limit the authority of the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs to recover overpayments made by 

the Department and other amounts owed by veterans 

to the United States, to improve the due process accorded veterans with respect to such recovery, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veteran Debt Fairness 

3 Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. IMPROVING PROCESSING OF VETERANS BENEFITS 

5 BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

6 (a) NOTIFICATION OF DEBTS INCURRED.—The Sec7 retary of Veterans Affairs shall make such changes to such 

8 information technology systems of the Department of Vet9 erans Affairs, including the eBenefits system or successor 

10 system, as may be necessary so that a person who is enti11 tled to a payment from the Department by virtue of the 

12 person’s participation in a benefits program administered 

13 by the Secretary will receive, at the request of the person, 

14 a notice from the Department (by electronic mail or other 

15 mechanism) whenever such person incurs a debt to the 

16 United States by virtue of such participation. 

17 (b) UPDATING DEPENDENT INFORMATION.—The 

18 Secretary shall make such changes to such information 

19 technology systems of the Department, including the 

20 eBenefits system or successor system, as may be necessary 

21 so that whenever the Secretary records in such systems 

22 information about a dependent of a person, the person is 

23 able to review and revise such information. 

24 (c) TRACKING OF METRICS.—The Secretary shall 

25 make such changes to such information technology sysVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Jan 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2341.IS S2341

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1 tems of the Department as may be necessary to track the 

2 following: 

3 (1) The number and amount of payments made 

4 by the Department to persons as part of a benefits 

5 program administered by the Secretary which result 

6 in the persons incurring a debt to the United States 

7 by virtue of such payments. 

8 (2) The average debt to the United States in9 curred by a person by virtue of a payment described 

10 in paragraph (1). 

11 (3) The frequency by which applications for re12 lief under section 5302(a) of title 38, United States 

13 Code, are approved and denied. 

14 (4) Such other metrics as the Secretary con15 siders appropriate. 

16 SEC. 3. REFORMS RELATING TO RECOVERY BY DEPART17 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS OF AMOUNTS 

18 OWED BY VETERANS TO THE UNITED STATES. 

19 (a) INDEBTEDNESS OFFSETS.— 

20 (1) LIMITATION ON SCOPE OF AUTHORITY.— 

21 Subsection (a) of section 5314 of title 38, United 

22 States Code, is amended— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘to subsections (b) and (d) 

24 of this section’’ and inserting ‘‘to paragraphs 


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1 (2) through (6) of this subsection, subsections 

2 (b) and (e) of this section,’’; and 

3 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

4 paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may only deduct under paragraph 

6 (1) an amount of the indebtedness of a veteran, the estate 

7 of a veteran, or a spouse or child of a veteran who is de8 ceased if the indebtedness is a result of one or more of 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) An error made by the veteran, estate, 

11 spouse, or child, as the case may be. 

12 ‘‘(B) Fraud perpetrated by the veteran, estate, 

13 spouse, or child, as the case may be. 

14 ‘‘(C) A misrepresentation made by the veteran, 

15 estate, spouse, or child, as the case may be. 

16 ‘‘(3)(A) The Secretary may not deduct under para17 graph (1) from any payment made under chapter 11 or 

18 15 of this title more than the lessor of— 

19 ‘‘(i) 25 percent; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) such other percent as the Secretary deter21 mines, pursuant to a request made under subpara22 graph (B), is the greatest percent that would not 

23 cause a hardship to the recipient of the payment. 

24 ‘‘(B) A person whose future payments are to be re25 duced under paragraph (1) may request, via the adminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:28 Jan 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2341.IS S2341

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1 trative process prescribed under subsection (c), the Sec2 retary make a determination under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

3 of this paragraph. 

4 ‘‘(4) The Secretary may not deduct under paragraph 

5 (1) any amount relating to an indebtedness that was in6 curred by a veteran more than five years previously. 

7 ‘‘(5) The Secretary may not deduct under paragraph 

8 (1) any amount relating to an indebtedness while the ex9 istence or amount of such indebtedness is being disputed 

10 under subsection (c). 

11 ‘‘(6) The Secretary may not deduct under paragraph 

12 (1) any amount if the Secretary determines that the cost 

13 that would be incurred by the Department to recover such 

14 amount would exceed the amount to be recovered.’’. 

15 (2) DUE PROCESS.— 

16 (A) MINIMUM PERIOD FOR NOTICE AND

17 SECONDARY REVIEW.—Subsection (b) of such 

18 section is amended— 

19 (i) by amending paragraph (1) to read 

20 as follows: 

21 ‘‘(1) has made reasonable efforts to notify such 

22 person of such person’s right— 

23 ‘‘(A) to dispute through prescribed admin24 istrative processes the existence or amount of 

25 such indebtedness; 


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1 ‘‘(B) to request a waiver of such indebted2 ness under section 5302 of this title; and 

3 ‘‘(C) to request the Secretary make a de4 termination under subsection (a)(3)(A)(ii).’’; 

5 (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘; 

6 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 

7 (iii) by striking paragraph (3) and in8 serting the following new paragraphs: 

9 ‘‘(3) has notified such person, not later than 90 

10 days before making any of such deductions— 

11 ‘‘(A) about the proposed deductions; and 

12 ‘‘(B) detailed information about the in13 debtedness, including, in the case of an over14 payment, an itemized list of each overpayment 

15 and the specific reason for the overpayment; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(4) in any case in which the Secretary deter18 mines the amount of indebtedness of a person ex19 ceeds $2,500, the Secretary completes a secondary 

20 review to ensure that the determination is accurate 

21 and the indebtedness is subject to offset under this 

22 section.’’. 

23 (B) ADJUDICATION OF DISPUTES.— 

24 (i) IN GENERAL.—Such section is 

25 amended— 


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1 (I) by redesignating subsections 

2 (c) and (d) as subsections (d) and (e); 

3 and 

4 (II) by inserting after subsection 

5 (b) the following new subsection (c): 

6 ‘‘(c)(1) The Secretary shall prescribe an administra7 tive process for— 

8 ‘‘(A) the dispute of the existence or amount of 

9 an indebtedness subject to subsection (a); and 

10 ‘‘(B) making requests under paragraph (3)(B) 

11 of such subsection. 

12 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that each dispute 

13 under paragraph (1)(A) is adjudicated not later than 120 

14 days after the dispute is filed. 

15 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may not submit to any debt col16 lector (as defined in section 803 of the Fair Debt Collec17 tion Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)) any debt pending 

18 adjudication under the process prescribed under para19 graph (1). 

20 ‘‘(4) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 

21 prohibit a person from seeking relief from a court of com22 petent jurisdiction.’’. 

23 (ii) LIMITATIONS ON INTEREST AND

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1 PUTE.—Section 5315 of such title is 

2 amended— 

3 (I) in subsection (b)(1), in the 

4 first sentence by striking ‘‘or (B)’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘(B) for any period dur6 ing which the existence or amount of 

7 the indebtedness is being disputed 

8 under section 5314(c) of this title, or 

9 (C)’’; and 

10 (II) in subsection (c)— 

11 (aa) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ be12 fore ‘‘The administrative’’; and 

13 (bb) by adding at the end 

14 the following new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(2) No administrative costs may be charged under 

16 this section with respect to an indebtedness described in 

17 subsection (a) while the existence or amount of the indebt18 edness is being disputed under section 5314(c) of this 

19 title.’’. 

20 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection and the 

21 amendments made by this subsection shall take ef22 fect on the date of the enactment of this Act and 

23 shall apply with respect to deductions made under 

24 section 5314 of such title on or after such date. 


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1 (b) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY TO SUE TO COL2 LECT CERTAIN DEBTS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 5316(a) of title 38, 

4 United States, is amended— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(2) and 

6 (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(2), (3), and (4)’’; 

7 (B) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

8 paragraph (4); and 

9 (C) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

10 following new paragraph (3): 

11 ‘‘(3) No suit may be filed under this section to re12 cover any indebtedness incurred more than five years pre13 viously.’’. 

14 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection and the 

15 amendments made by this subsection shall take ef16 fect on the date of the enactment of this Act and 

17 shall apply with respect to suits filed under section 

18 5316 of such title on or after such date. 

19 (c) REPAIR OF CREDIT.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 53 of such title is 

21 amended by adding at the end the following new sec22 tion: 


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1 ‘‘§ 5320. Correction of erroneous information sub2 mitted to consumer reporting agencies 

3 ‘‘(a) CORRECTING ERRORS BY THE DEPARTMENT.— 

4 In any case in which the Secretary finds that the Depart5 ment has submitted erroneous information to a consumer 

6 reporting agency about the indebtedness of any person 

7 who has been determined by the Secretary to be indebted 

8 to the United States by virtue of such person’s participa9 tion in a benefits program administered by the Secretary, 

10 the Secretary shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) instruct the consumer reporting agency to 

12 remove such erroneous information from the con13 sumer report of such person or take such other ac14 tion as may be required to ensure that such erro15 neous information is not included in the report of 

16 such person; and 

17 ‘‘(2) transmit to the consumer reporting agency 

18 such information as the consumer reporting agency 

19 may require to take such appropriate actions. 

20 ‘‘(b) CORRECTING ERRORS BY DEBT COLLECTORS.— 

21 In any case in which the Secretary finds that a debt col22 lector acting on behalf of the Department has submitted 

23 erroneous information to a consumer reporting agency 

24 about the indebtedness of any person who has been deter25 mined by the Secretary to be indebted to the United States 

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1 gram administered by the Secretary, the Secretary shall 

2 instruct the debt collector to request the consumer report3 ing agency remove such erroneous information from the 

4 consumer report of such person or take such other action 

5 as may be required to ensure such erroneous information 

6 is not included in the report of such person.’’ 

7 ‘‘(c) NOTICE.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

8 on which the Secretary issues an instruction under sub9 section (a)(1) or (b) with respect to a person, the Sec10 retary shall notify the person that the Secretary issued 

11 such instruction. 

12 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) The terms ‘consumer report’ and ‘con14 sumer reporting agency’ have the meanings given 

15 such terms in section 603 of the Fair Credit Report16 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a). 

17 ‘‘(2) The term ‘debt collector’ has the meaning 

18 given such term in section 803 of the Fair Debt Col19 lection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a).’’. 

20 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec21 tions at the beginning of chapter 53 of such title is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following new 

23 item: 

‘‘5320. Correction of erroneous information submitted to consumer reporting 

agencies.’’. 


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1 (d) AUDIT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 

3 Affairs shall complete an audit to determine the following: 

4 (1) The frequency by which the Department of 

5 Veterans Affairs makes an error that results in a 

6 payment to a person by virtue of such person’s par7 ticipation in a benefits program administered by the 

8 Secretary that such person is not entitled to or in 

9 an amount that exceeds the amount to which the 

10 person is entitled. 

11 (2) Whether and to what degree vacant posi12 tions in the Veterans Benefits Administration affect 

13 such errors. 

14 (e) PLAN.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

16 to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

17 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep18 resentatives a plan and description of resource require19 ments necessary to align information technology systems 

20 to ensure that errors described in subsection (d)(1) are 

21 not the result of communication or absence of communica22 tion between information technology systems. 

Æ 


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