I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8415 

To provide for the continuation of certain educational assistance benefits 

during the COVID–19 emergency, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Mr. CISNEROS (for himself and Mr. BERGMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for the continuation of certain educational assistance benefits during the COVID–19 emergency, 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 ‘‘Restoring Education 

5 Access for Student Veterans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONTINUATION OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF2 FAIRS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE BENEFITS 

3 DURING COVID–19 EMERGENCY. 

4 (a) AUTHORITY.—If the Secretary of Veterans Af5 fairs determines under subsection (c) that an individual 

6 is negatively affected by the COVID–19 emergency, the 

7 Secretary may provide educational assistance to that indi8 vidual under the laws administered by the Secretary as 

9 if such negative effects did not occur. The authority under 

10 this section is in addition to the authority provided under 

11 section 1 of Public Law 116–128 (38 U.S.C. 3001 note 

12 prec.), but in no case may the Secretary provide more than 

13 a total of four weeks of additional educational assistance 

14 by reason of section 4 of the Student Veteran Coronavirus 

15 Response Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–140; 38 U.S.C. 

16 3680 note) and this section. 

17 (b) HOUSING AND ALLOWANCES.—In providing edu18 cational assistance to an individual pursuant to subsection 

19 (a), the Secretary may— 

20 (1) continue to pay a monthly housing stipend 

21 under chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code, 

22 during a month the individual would have been en23 rolled in a program of education or training but for 

24 the COVID–19 emergency at the same rate such sti25 pend would have been payable if the individual had 

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1 gency, except that the total number of weeks for 

2 which stipends may continue to be so payable may 

3 not exceed four weeks; and 

4 (2) continue to pay payments or subsistence al5 lowances under chapters 30, 31, 32, 33, and 35 of 

6 such title and chapter 1606 of title 10, United 

7 States Code, during a month for a period of time 

8 that the individual would have been enrolled in a 

9 program of education or training but for the 

10 COVID–19 emergency, except that the total number 

11 of weeks for which payments or allowances may con12 tinue to be so payable may not exceed four weeks. 

13 (c) DETERMINATION OF NEGATIVE EFFECTS.—The 

14 Secretary shall determine that an individual was nega15 tively affected by the COVID–19 emergency if— 

16 (1) the individual is enrolled in a covered pro17 gram of education of an educational institution or 

18 enrolled in training at a training establishment and 

19 is pursuing such program or training using edu20 cational assistance under the laws administered by 

21 the Secretary; 

22 (2) the educational institution or training estab23 lishment certifies to the Secretary that such pro24 gram or training is truncated, delayed, relocated, 

25 canceled, partially canceled, converted from being 


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1 on-site to being offered by distance learning, or oth2 erwise modified or made unavailable by reason of the 

3 COVID–19 emergency; and 

4 (3) the Secretary determines that the modifica5 tion to such program or training specified under 

6 paragraph (2) would reduce the amount of edu7 cational assistance (including with respect to month8 ly housing stipends, payments, or subsistence allow9 ances) that would be payable to the individual but 

10 for the COVID–19 emergency. 

11 (d) EFFECT ON ENTITLEMENT PERIOD.—If the Sec12 retary determines that an individual who received assist13 ance under this section did not make progress toward the 

14 completion of the program of education in which the indi15 vidual is enrolled during the period for which the indi16 vidual received such assistance, any assistance provided 

17 pursuant to this section shall not be counted for purposes 

18 of determining the total amount of an individual’s entitle19 ment to educational assistance, housing stipends, or pay20 ments or subsistence allowances under chapters 30, 31, 

21 32, and 35 of such title and chapter 1606 of title 10, 

22 United States Code. 

23 (e) APPLICABILITY PERIOD.—This section shall 

24 apply during the period beginning on March 1, 2020, and 

25 ending on December 21, 2021. 


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1 SEC. 3. EFFECTS OF CLOSURE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITU2 TION AND MODIFICATION OF COURSES BY 

3 REASON OF COVID-19 EMERGENCY. 

4 (a) CLOSURE OR DISAPPROVAL.—Any payment of 

5 educational assistance described in subsection (b) shall 

6 not— 

7 (1) be charged against any entitlement to edu8 cational assistance of the individual concerned; or 

9 (2) be counted against the aggregate period for 

10 which section 3695 of title 38, United States Code, 

11 limits the receipt of educational assistance by such 

12 individual. 

13 (b) EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE DESCRIBED.—Sub14 ject to subsection (d), the payment of educational assist15 ance described in this subsection is the payment of such 

16 assistance to an individual for pursuit of a course or pro17 gram of education at an educational institution under 

18 chapter 30, 31, 32, 33, or 35 of title 38, United States 

19 Code, or chapter 1606 of title 10, United States Code, 

20 if the Secretary determines that the individual— 

21 (1) was unable to complete such course or pro22 gram as a result of— 

23 (A) the closure of the educational institu24 tion, or the full or partial cancellation of a 

25 course or program of education, by reason of 

26 the COVID-19 emergency; or 


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1 (B) the disapproval of the course or a 

2 course that is a necessary part of that program 

3 under chapter 36 of title 38, United States 

4 Code, because the course was modified by rea5 son of such emergency; and 

6 (2) did not receive credit or lost training time, 

7 toward completion of the program of education being 

8 so pursued. 

9 (c) HOUSING ASSISTANCE.—In this section, edu10 cational assistance includes, as applicable— 

11 (1) monthly housing stipends payable under 

12 chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code, for any 

13 month the individual would have been enrolled in a 

14 course or program of education; and 

15 (2) payments or subsistence allowances under 

16 chapters 30, 31, 32, and 35 of such title and chap17 ter 1606 of title 10, United States Code, during a 

18 month the individual would have been enrolled in a 

19 course or program of education. 

20 (d) PERIOD NOT CHARGED.—The period for which, 

21 by reason of this subsection, educational assistance is not 

22 charged against entitlement or counted toward the appli23 cable aggregate period under section 3695 of title 38, 

24 United States Code, shall not exceed the aggregate of— 


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1 (1) the portion of the period of enrollment in 

2 the course from which the individual did not receive 

3 credit or with respect to which the individual lost 

4 training time, as determined under subsection 

5 (b)(2); and 

6 (2) the period by which a monthly stipend is ex7 tended under section 3680(a)(2)(B) of title 38, 

8 United States Code. 

9 (e) CONTINUING PURSUIT OF DISAPPROVED

10 COURSES.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may treat a 

12 course of education that is disapproved under chap13 ter 36 of title 38, United States Code, as being ap14 proved under such chapter with respect to an indi15 vidual described in paragraph (2) if the Secretary 

16 determines, on a programmatic basis, that— 

17 (A) such disapproval is the result of an ac18 tion described in subsection (b)(1)(B); and 

19 (B) continuing pursuing such course is in 

20 the best interest of the individual. 

21 (2) INDIVIDUAL DESCRIBED.—An individual de22 scribed in this paragraph is an individual who is 

23 pursuing a course of education at an educational in24 stitution under chapter 30, 31, 32, 33, or 35 of title 

25 38, United States Code, or chapter 1606 of title 10, 


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1 United States Code, as of the date on which the 

2 course is disapproved as described in subsection 

3 (b)(1)(B). 

4 (f) STATUS AS FULL-TIME STUDENT FOR PURPOSES

5 OF HOUSING STIPEND CALCULATION.—In the case of an 

6 individual who, as of the first day of the COVID-19 emer7 gency was enrolled on a full-time basis in a program of 

8 education and was receiving educational assistance under 

9 chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code, or subsistence 

10 allowance under chapter 31 of such title, and for whom 

11 the Secretary makes a determination under subsection (b), 

12 the individual shall be treated as an individual enrolled 

13 in a program of education on a full-time basis for the pur14 pose of calculating monthly housing stipends payable 

15 under chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code, or sub16 sistence allowance payable under chapter 31 of such title, 

17 for any month the individual is enrolled in the program 

18 of education on a part-time basis to complete any course 

19 of education that was partially or fully canceled by reason 

20 of the COVID-19 emergency. 

21 (g) NOTICE OF CLOSURES.—Not later than 5 busi22 ness days after the date on which the Secretary receives 

23 notice that an educational institution will close or is closed 

24 by reason of the COVID-19 emergency, the Secretary shall 

25 provide to each individual who is enrolled in a course or 


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1 program of education at such educational institution using 

2 entitlement to educational assistance under chapter 30, 

3 31, 32, 33, or 35 of title 38, United States Code, or chap4 ter 1606 of title 10, United States Code, notice of— 

5 (1) such closure and the date of such closure; 

6 and 

7 (2) the effect of such closure on the individual’s 

8 entitlement to educational assistance pursuant to 

9 this section. 

10 (h) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply with 

11 respect to the closure of an educational institution, or the 

12 cancellation or modification of a course or program of edu13 cation, that occurs during the period beginning on March 

14 1, 2020, and ending on December 21, 2021. 

15 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) The term ‘‘covered program of education’’ 

18 means a program of education (as defined in section 

19 3002 of title 38, United States Code) approved by 

20 a State approving agency, or the Secretary of Vet21 erans Affairs when acting in the role of a State ap22 proving agency. 

23 (2) The term ‘‘COVID–19 emergency’’ means 

24 the public health emergency declared pursuant to 

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1 uary 31, 2020, entitled ‘‘Determination that a Pub2 lic Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Re3 sult of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus’’. 

4 (3) The term ‘‘educational institution’’ has the 

5 meaning given that term in section 3452(c) of title 

6 38, United States Code, and includes an institution 

7 of higher learning (as defined in such section). 

8 (4) The term ‘‘State approving agency’’ has the 

9 meaning given that term in section 3671 of title 38, 

10 United States Code. 

11 (5) The term ‘‘training establishment’’ has the 

12 meaning given that term in section 3452(e) of title 

13 38, United States Code. 

14 (6) The term ‘‘training’’ includes on-job train15 ing and apprenticeship programs and vocational re16 habilitation programs. 

Æ 


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