IIB 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7153 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 18 (legislative day, MAY 17), 2022 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

AN ACT 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to 

Congress a plan to modernize the information technology 

systems of the Veterans Benefits Administration, 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 ‘‘Department of Vet3 erans Affairs Principles of Benefits Automation Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Vet6 erans Affairs should increase automation in the processing 

7 of claims for benefits under the laws administered by the 

8 Secretary in accordance with the following principles: 

9 (1) The purpose of automation should be to in10 crease the speed and accuracy of claims processing 

11 decisions. 

12 (2) Automation should be conducted in a man13 ner that enhances the productivity of employees of 

14 the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

15 (3) Automation should be carried out in a man16 ner that achieves greater consistency in the proc17 essing and rating of claims by relying on patterns of 

18 similar evidence in claim files. 

19 (4) To the greatest extent possible, automation 

20 should be carried out by drawing from information 

21 in the possession of the Department, other Govern22 ment agencies, and claimants for benefits. 

23 (5) Automation of any claims process or deter24 mination should not be end-to-end. 


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1 (6) Employees of the Department should con2 tinue to make decisions with respect to the approval 

3 of claims and the granting of benefits. 

4 (7) Automation should not be carried out in a 

5 manner that reduces or infringes upon— 

6 (A) the due process rights of claimants for 

7 benefits under the laws administered by the 

8 Secretary; or 

9 (B) the duties of the Secretary to assist 

10 and notify claimants. 

11 (8) Automation should be carried out while tak12 ing all necessary measures to protect the privacy of 

13 claimants and their personally identifiable informa14 tion. 

15 (9) Automation of claims processing should not 

16 eliminate or reduce the Veterans Benefits Adminis17 tration workforce. 

18 SEC. 3. PLAN FOR MODERNIZATION OF VETERANS BENE19 FITS ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION TECH20 NOLOGY SYSTEMS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet23 erans Affairs shall submit to appropriate congressional 

24 committees a plan for the modernization of the informa25 tion technology systems of the Veterans Benefits AdminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 May 19, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7153.RFS H7153

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1 tration. The plan shall cover the first fiscal year that be2 gins after the date of the enactment of this Act and the 

3 subsequent four fiscal years and shall include each of the 

4 following: 

5 (1) An identification of any information system 

6 to be modernized or retired, if applicable, during the 

7 period covered by the plan. 

8 (2) A description of how the Secretary intends 

9 to incorporate the principles referred to in section 2 

10 into the modernization of such information systems. 

11 (3) An identification of targets, for each fiscal 

12 year, by which the Secretary intends to complete the 

13 modernization of each information system or major 

14 component or functionality of such system identified 

15 under paragraph (1). 

16 (4) Cost estimates for the modernization of 

17 each information system identified under paragraph 

18 (1) for each fiscal year covered by the plan and in 

19 total. 

20 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 

21 In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com22 mittees’’ means— 

23 (1) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 

24 Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans’ 


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1 Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on 

2 Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and 

3 (2) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 

4 Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans’ 

5 Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on 

6 Appropriations of the Senate. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 17, 2022. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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