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Union Calendar No. 524 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6874 

[Report No. 118–626] 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a system or process 

to actively monitor the veteran self-service and data transmission functions of the main internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

for certain adverse events, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2023 

Mr. ROSENDALE (for himself and Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas) introduced the 

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

AUGUST 9, 2024 

Additional sponsor: Ms. MACE

AUGUST 9, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 19, 2023] 


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A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement 

a system or process to actively monitor the veteran selfservice and data transmission functions of the main 

internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

for certain adverse events, and for other purposes. 


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•HR 6874 RH

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 ‘‘Department of Veterans 

5 Affairs Watching over Electronic Benefits Act’’ or the ‘‘VA 

6 WEB Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. SYSTEM OR PROCESS TO ACTIVELY MONITOR CER8 TAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE COVERED WEBSITE 

9 FOR ADVERSE EVENTS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 

12 Affairs shall develop and implement a system or process 

13 to actively monitor certain functions of the covered website, 

14 including covered features and any underlying interface or 

15 system, for adverse events. The Secretary may use the au16 thority under section 701(a) of the Sergeant First Class 

17 Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Com18 prehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–168; 38 

19 U.S.C. 324 note) to carry out this subsection. 

20 (b) SYSTEM OR PROCESS REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec21 retary shall ensure that the system or process developed 

22 under subsection (a) is designed to monitor, and log and 

23 store data, with respect to— 

24 (1) the volume of traffic to the covered website; 


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1 (2) the number of submissions made using a cov2 ered feature; 

3 (3) software updates or other modifications to a 

4 covered feature or underlying interface or system; 

5 (4) needs, deficiencies, or obsolescence of a cov6 ered feature or underlying interface or system; 

7 (5) adverse events, including— 

8 (A) the date and time of any such adverse 

9 event; 

10 (B) the number of users of the covered 

11 website who were affected by the adverse event; 

12 (C) the number of submissions affected by 

13 the adverse event; and 

14 (D) any factor related to an underlying 

15 interface or system that caused or contributed to 

16 the adverse event; and 

17 (6) any other factors, as determined by the Sec18 retary. 

19 (c) NOTICE AND REPORT REGARDING CERTAIN AD20 VERSE EVENTS.— 

21 (1) NOTICE.—In the case of any significant ad22 verse event affecting the covered website, not later 

23 than 30 days after the date of such event, the Sec24 retary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ 

25 Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives 


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1 notice of the event, including a description of the 

2 event. 

3 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after re4 ceiving a request from the Chair of the Committee on 

5 Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate or the Chair of the 

6 Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep7 resentatives for a report about an adverse event, in8 cluding a significant adverse event, the Secretary 

9 shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of 

10 the Senate and the House of Representatives a report 

11 on the adverse event covered by the request. Each such 

12 report shall include— 

13 (A) a description of the adverse event; 

14 (B) the date and time when the adverse 

15 event began and ended; 

16 (C) the number of users of the covered 

17 website who were affected; 

18 (D) the number of submissions made using 

19 a covered feature that were affected; and 

20 (E) a description of any underlying inter21 face or system that was affected. 

22 (3) SUNSET.—The requirements under this sub23 section shall expire on the date that is seven years 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (d) REPORT REGARDING EXERCISE OF CERTAIN AU2 THORITY.—If the Secretary exercises authority under sec3 tion 701(a) of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson 

4 Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics 

5 Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–168; 38 U.S.C. 324 note) to 

6 carry out subsection (a), not later than 30 days after the 

7 date on which the Secretary first exercises such authority 

8 for such purpose, the Secretary shall submit to the Commit9 tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the House of 

10 Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations of 

11 the Senate and the House of Representatives a report about 

12 the exercise of such authority. Such report shall include— 

13 (1) the cost of implementing the system or proc14 ess developed under subsection (a); 

15 (2) a description of any modernization or re16 placement of an underlying interface or system nec17 essary to implement the system or process; 

18 (3) an identification of any ways in which the 

19 covered website and any underlying interface or sys20 tem is susceptible to any adverse event; and 

21 (4) a description of how the Secretary plans to 

22 eliminate or mitigate, to the extent possible, any such 

23 susceptibility. 

24 (e) TESTING STRATEGY.—Not later than one year after 

25 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary 


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1 for Information and Technology of the Department of Vet2 erans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ 

3 Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives a 

4 strategy to reduce the occurrence of adverse events by im5 proving testing for each modification or software update to 

6 a covered feature or underlying system or interface. 

7 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘adverse event’’ means, with respect 

9 to the covered website, including covered features— 

10 (A) a failure to properly receive or process 

11 a submission; 

12 (B) a system outage; 

13 (C) an error in an underlying interface or 

14 system that prevents the transmission of data; 

15 (D) a deficiency in information storage ca16 pacity; 

17 (E) a loss of data; 

18 (F) a presentation of incorrect information; 

19 (G) an error regarding a status notifica20 tion; or 

21 (H) any similar event that affects a func22 tion of the covered website, as determined by the 

23 Secretary. 

24 (2) The term ‘‘covered feature’’ means any fea25 ture or function of the covered website for use in the 


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1 facilitation of the application, maintenance, or re2 ceipt of benefits under the laws administered by the 

3 Secretary. 

4 (3) The term ‘‘covered website’’ means the main 

5 internet website of the Department of Veterans Af6 fairs. 

7 (4) The term ‘‘significant adverse event’’, with 

8 respect to the covered website, including covered fea9 tures, means an adverse event that affects users of, or 

10 submissions to, the covered website for a period of 24 

11 hours or longer. 

12 (5) The term ‘‘underlying interface or system’’ 

13 means— 

14 (A) any information technology system that 

15 transmits data through, or accepts data from, a 

16 covered feature; or 

17 (B) any mechanism through which any 

18 such information technology system connects and 

19 interacts with the covered website. 

20 SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENT OF CERTAIN LOAN FEES. 

21 The loan fee table in section 3729(b)(2) of title 38, 

22 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘November 15, 

23 2031’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘November 28, 

24 2031’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 524 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6874 

[Report No. 118–626] 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to imevents, and for other purposes. partment of Veterans Affairs for certain adverse functions of the main internet website of the De- the veteran self-service and data transmission plement a system or process to actively monitor 

AUGUST 9, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS