II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 698 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand and enhance educational 

assistance for survivors and dependents of veterans. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2007 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. HAGEL, and Mr. WARNER) 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 expand and enhance educational assistance for survivors and dependents of veterans. 

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 ‘‘Veterans’ Survivors 

5 Education Enhancement Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXPANSION AND ENHANCEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL 

2 ASSISTANCE FOR SURVIVORS AND DEPEND3 ENTS OF VETERANS. 

4 (a) TERMINATION OF DURATIONAL LIMITATION ON

5 USE OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE AND RESTATEMENT

6 OF CONTINUING REQUIREMENTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 

8 3511 of title 38, United States Code, is amended to 

9 read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

11 chapter or chapter 36 of this title, any payment of edu12 cational assistance described in paragraph (2) shall not 

13 be charged against the entitlement of any individual under 

14 this chapter. 

15 ‘‘(2) The payment of educational assistance referred 

16 to in paragraph (1) is the payment of such assistance to 

17 an individual for pursuit of a course or courses under this 

18 chapter if the Secretary finds that the individual— 

19 ‘‘(A) had to discontinue such course pursuit as 

20 a result of being ordered to serve on active duty 

21 under section 688, 12301(a), 12301(d), 12301(g), 

22 12302, or 12304 of title 10 or of being involuntarily 

23 ordered to full-time National Guard duty under sec24 tion 502(f) of title 32; and 

25 ‘‘(B) failed to receive credit or training time to26 ward completion of the individual’s approved eduVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:39 Feb 28, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S698.IS S698

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1 cational, professional, or vocational objective as a re2 sult of having to discontinue, as described in sub3 paragraph (A), the course pursuit.’’. 

4 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Such title 38 

5 is further amended as follows: 

6 (A) In section 3511, by amending the 

7 heading to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘§ 3511. Treatment of certain interruptions in pursuit 

9 of programs of education’’. 

10 (B) In section 3532(g)— 

11 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking 

12 ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

13 (2)’’; 

14 (ii) by striking paragraph (2); and 

15 (iii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

16 paragraph (2). 

17 (C) By striking section 3541 and inserting 

18 the following new section: 

19 ‘‘§ 3541. Special restorative training 

20 ‘‘(a) The Secretary may, at the request of an eligible 

21 person— 

22 ‘‘(1) determine whether such person is in need 

23 of special restorative training; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) if such need is found to exist, prescribe a 

2 course that is suitable to accomplish the purposes of 

3 this chapter. 

4 ‘‘(b) A course of special restorative training under 

5 subsection (a) may, at the discretion of the Secretary, con6 tain elements that would contribute toward an ultimate 

7 objective of a program of education.’’. 

8 (D) In section 3695(a)(4), by striking 

9 ‘‘35,’’. 

10 (b) EXTENSION OF DELIMITING AGE OF ELIGIBILITY

11 FOR DEPENDENTS.—Section 3512(a) of such title, is 

12 amended by striking ‘‘twenty-sixth birthday’’ each place 

13 it appears and inserting ‘‘thirtieth birthday’’. 

14 (c) AMOUNT OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3532 of such title is 

16 amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘§ 3532. Amount of educational assistance 

18 ‘‘(a) The aggregate amount of educational assistance 

19 to which an eligible person is entitled under this chapter 

20 is $80,000, as increased from time to time under section 

21 3564 of this title. 

22 ‘‘(b) Within the aggregate amount provided for in 

23 subsection (a), educational assistance under this chapter 

24 may be paid for any purpose, and in any amount, as fol25 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(1) A program of education consisting of insti2 tutional courses. 

3 ‘‘(2) A full-time program of education that con4 sists of institutional courses and alternate phases of 

5 training in a business or industrial establishment 

6 with the training in the business or industrial estab7 lishment being strictly supplemental to the institu8 tional portion. 

9 ‘‘(3) A farm cooperative program consisting of 

10 institutional agricultural courses prescheduled to fall 

11 within 44 weeks of any period of 12 consecutive 

12 months that is pursued by an eligible person who is 

13 concurrently engaged in agricultural employment 

14 that is relevant to such institutional agricultural 

15 courses as determined under standards prescribed by 

16 the Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(4) A course or courses or other program of 

18 special educational assistance as provided in section 

19 3491(a) of this title. 

20 ‘‘(5) A program of apprenticeship or other on21 job training pursued in a State as provided in sec22 tion 3687(a) of this title. 

23 ‘‘(6) In the case of an eligible spouse or sur24 viving spouse, a program of education exclusively by 


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1 correspondence as provided in section 3686 of this 

2 title. 

3 ‘‘(7) Special restorative training as provided in 

4 section 3542 of this title. 

5 ‘‘(c) If a program of education is pursued by an eligi6 ble person at an institution located in the Republic of the 

7 Philippines, any educational assistance for such person 

8 under this chapter shall be paid at the rate of $0.50 for 

9 each dollar. 

10 ‘‘(d)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the amount of edu11 cational assistance payable under this chapter for a licens12 ing or certification test described in section 3501(a)(5) of 

13 this title is the lesser of $2,000 or the fee charged for 

14 the test. 

15 ‘‘(2) In no event shall payment of educational assist16 ance under this subsection for such a test exceed the 

17 amount of the available entitlement for the individual 

18 under this chapter.’’. 

19 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 38, 

20 United States Code, is amended as follows: 

21 (A) By striking section 3533 and inserting 

22 the following new section: 

23 ‘‘§ 3533. Tutorial assistance 

24 ‘‘An eligible person shall, without any charge to any 

25 entitlement of such person to educational assistance under 


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1 section 3532(a) of this title, be entitled to the benefits pro2 vided an eligible veteran under section 3492 of this title.’’. 

3 (B) Section 3534 is repealed. 

4 (C) In section 3542— 

5 (i) in subsection (a), by striking 

6 ‘‘computed at the basic rate’’ and all that 

7 follows through the end of the subsection 

8 and inserting a period; and 

9 (ii) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘an 

10 educational assistance allowance’’ and in11 serting ‘‘educational assistance’’. 

12 (D) In section 3543(c)— 

13 (i) in paragraph (1), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

14 at the end; 

15 (ii) by striking paragraph (2); and 

16 (iii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

17 paragraph (2). 

18 (E) In section 3564, by striking ‘‘rates 

19 payable under sections 3532, 3534(b), and 

20 3542(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘aggregate amount of 

21 educational assistance payable under section 

22 3532’’. 

23 (F) In section 3565(b), by striking para24 graph (1) and inserting the following new para25 graph (1): 


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1 ‘‘(1) educational assistance payable under sec2 tion 3532 of this title, including the special training 

3 allowance referred to in subsection (b)(7) of such 

4 section, shall be paid at the rate of $0.50 for each 

5 dollar; and’’. 

6 (G) In section 3687— 

7 (i) in subsection (a)— 

8 (I) in the matter preceding para9 graph (1), by striking ‘‘or an eligible 

10 person (as defined in section 3501(a) 

11 of this title)’’; and 

12 (II) in the flush matter following 

13 paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘chapters 

14 34 and 35’’ and inserting ‘‘chapter 

15 34’’; 

16 (ii) in subsection (c), by striking 

17 ‘‘chapters 34 and 35’’ and inserting ‘‘chap18 ter 34’’; and 

19 (iii) in subsection (e), by striking 

20 paragraph (3) and inserting the following 

21 new paragraph (3): 

22 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘individual’ means 

23 an eligible veteran who is entitled to monthly educational 

24 assistance allowances payable under section 3015(e) of 

25 this title.’’. 


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1 (d) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 38, 

2 United States Code, is further amended as follows: 

3 (1) In section 3524, by striking ‘‘the edu4 cational assistance allowance’’ each place it appears 

5 and inserting ‘‘educational assistance’’. 

6 (2) In section 3531— 

7 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘allow8 ance’’; 

9 (B) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘an edu10 cational assistance allowance’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘educational assistance’’; and 

12 (C) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘allow13 ance’’. 

14 (3) In section 3537(a), by striking ‘‘additional’’. 

15 (e) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of sections 

16 at the beginning of chapter 35 of such title is amended 

17 as follows: 

18 (1) By striking the item relating to section 

19 3511 and inserting the following new item: 

‘‘3511. Treatment of certain interruptions in pursuit of programs of education.’’. 

20 (2) By striking the items relating to section 

21 3531, 3532, and 3533 and inserting the following 

22 new items: 

‘‘3531. Educational assistance. 

‘‘3532. Amount of educational assistance. 

‘‘3533. Tutorial assistance.’’. 


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1 (3) By striking the item relating to section 

2 3534. 

3 (4) By striking the item relating to section 

4 3541 and inserting the following new item: 

‘‘3541. Special restorative training.’’. 

5 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall take effect on the date of the en8 actment of this Act. 

9 (2) ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS FOR FISCAL YEAR

10 2008.—Notwithstanding the effective date under 

11 paragraph (1) of the amendment to section 3564 of 

12 title 38, United States Code, made by subsection 

13 (c)(2)(E), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

14 make the first increase in the aggregate amount of 

15 educational assistance under section 3532 of such 

16 title as required by such section 3564 (as so amend17 ed) for fiscal year 2008. 

Æ 


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