I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5166 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide certain employees of 

Members of Congress and certain employees of State or local governmental agencies with access to case-tracking information of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 3, 2016 

Mr. YOHO (for himself, Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. 

NUGENT, Mr. DESANTIS, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. 

ROTHFUS, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. BABIN, Mr. HECK of 

Nevada, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. 

LAMALFA, Mr. HARPER, Mr. CURBELO of Florida, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. 

WILLIAMS, Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. BRAT, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, and Mr. RANGEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide certain 

employees of Members of Congress and certain employees 

of State or local governmental agencies with access to 

case-tracking information of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

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 ‘‘Working to Integrate 

3 Networks Guaranteeing Member Access Now Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘WINGMAN Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO CASE-TRACKING INFOR6 MATION. 

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

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘§ 5906. Provision of access to case-tracking informa11 tion 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Beginning not later than 180 

13 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and in 

14 accordance with subsection (b), the Secretary shall provide 

15 an accredited, permanent Congressional employee with 

16 read-only remote access to the electronic Veterans Bene17 fits Administration (VBA) claims records of the veteran 

18 they represent, regardless of whether such employee is act19 ing under a power of attorney executed by such veteran. 

20 ‘‘(2) In providing an accredited, permanent Congres21 sional employee with access to the electronic VBA claims 

22 records system under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 

23 ensure that such access is provided in a manner that does 

24 not allow such employee to modify the data contained in 

25 such system. 


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1 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—(1) The Secretary 

2 may not provide a permanent Congressional employee with 

3 access to the case-tracking system under subsection (a)(1) 

4 unless the accredited, permanent Congressional employee 

5 has successfully completed the certification process de6 scribed in paragraph (2). 

7 ‘‘(2) The certification process described in this para8 graph is the certification process that the Secretary re9 quires an agent or attorney under this chapter to complete 

10 before the agent or attorney may access the case-tracking 

11 system. 

12 ‘‘(3) Each Member of Congress who elects to have 

13 an accredited, permanent Congressional employee of the 

14 Member participate in the case-tracking system under 

15 subsection (a)(1) shall bear the cost of the certification 

16 process described in paragraph (2), to be paid from the 

17 Member’s Representational Allowance. 

18 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF DISCLOSURE.—The access to 

19 information by an accredited, permanent Congressional 

20 employee pursuant to subsection (a)(1) shall be deemed 

21 to be— 

22 ‘‘(1) a covered disclosure under section 552a(b) 

23 of title 5; and 

24 ‘‘(2) a permitted disclosure under regulations 

25 promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health InVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 05, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5166.IH H5166

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1 surance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 

2 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note). 

3 ‘‘(d) NONRECOGNITION.—The Secretary may not rec4 ognize an accredited, permanent Congressional employee 

5 for the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of 

6 claims under laws administered by the Secretary by reason 

7 of the Secretary providing the accredited, permanent Con8 gressional employee with access to the electronic VBA 

9 claims records system pursuant to subsection (a). An ac10 credited, permanent Congressional employee who is pro11 vided such access may not use such access to act as such 

12 a recognized individual. 

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

14 ‘‘(1) The term ‘electronic VBA claims records 

15 system’ means the system of the Department of Vet16 erans Affairs that provides information regarding 

17 the status of a claim submitted by a veteran, includ18 ing information regarding medical records, com19 pensation and pension exams records, rating deci20 sions, statement of the case (SOC), supplementary 

21 statement of the case (SSOC), notice of disagree22 ment (NOD), and Form–9. 

23 ‘‘(2) The term ‘accredited, permanent Congres24 sional employee’ means an employee of a Member of 

25 Congress who assists the constituents of the Member 


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1 with issues regarding departments or agencies of the 

2 Federal Government. 

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

4 Representative, a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, 

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

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

7 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘5906. Provision of access to case-tracking information.’’. 

Æ 


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