I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7144 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the processing of veterans 

benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs, to limit the authority 

of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recover overpayments made by 

the Department and other amounts owed by veterans to the United 

States, to improve the due process accorded veterans with respect to 

such recovery, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2018 

Mr. DELANEY (for himself, Mr. TROTT, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. COFFMAN, 

Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. FOSTER, 

Mr. RASKIN, Mr. KILMER, and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

processing of veterans benefits by the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, to limit the authority of the Secretary 

of Veterans Affairs to recover overpayments made by 

the Department and other amounts owed by veterans 

to the United States, to improve the due process accorded veterans with respect to such recovery, 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 ‘‘Veteran Debt Fairness 

3 Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY 

5 OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO RECOVER 

6 AMOUNTS OWED BY VETERANS TO THE 

7 UNITED STATES. 

8 (a) INDEBTEDNESS OFFSETS.—Section 5314 of title 

9 38, United States Code, is amended as follows: 

10 (1) In subsection (a)— 

11 (A) by inserting ‘‘AUTHORITY TO OFFSET; 

12 LIMITATIONS.—(1)’’ before ‘‘Subject to’’; 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘subsections (b) and (d) of 

14 this section and’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2) 

15 and (3) of this subsection, subsections (b) and 

16 (d) of this section, and’’; and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

18 paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may make a deduction under 

20 paragraph (1) only if— 

21 ‘‘(A) the indebtedness to the United States de22 scribed in that paragraph— 

23 ‘‘(i) is the result of an error, a misrepre24 sentation, or fraud by the person described in 

25 that paragraph; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an error by the person 

2 described in that paragraph, is less than five 

3 years old; 

4 ‘‘(iii) is not in dispute under regulations 

5 prescribed pursuant to subsection (d)(2)(A); 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(iv) exceeds $2,500; and 

8 ‘‘(B) the Secretary determines that the amount 

9 of the indebtedness exceeds the cost to the Depart10 ment to recover the indebtedness. 

11 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may not make a deduction under 

12 paragraph (1) to a payment under chapter 11 or 15 of 

13 this title that exceeds the lesser of— 

14 ‘‘(A) 25 percent of the payment; and 

15 ‘‘(B) a percentage that the Secretary deter16 mines is the greatest percentage that would not 

17 cause a hardship to the recipient.’’. 

18 (2) In subsection (b)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘Deductions may not be 

20 made’’ and inserting ‘‘NOTICE REQUIRED.—No 

21 deduction may be made’’; 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘unless the Secretary’’ and 

23 inserting ‘‘until after’’; 

24 (C) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

25 follows: 


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1 ‘‘(1) the Secretary has made reasonable efforts to no2 tify the person of the person’s right— 

3 ‘‘(A) to dispute the existence or amount of such 

4 indebtedness under regulations prescribed pursuant 

5 to subsection (d)(2)(A); 

6 ‘‘(B) to request a waiver of such indebtedness 

7 under section 5302 of this title; and 

8 ‘‘(C) in the case of a payment under chapter 11 

9 or 15 of this title, to request the Secretary make a 

10 determination under subsection (a)(3)(B);’’; and 

11 (D) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘the 

12 Secretary’’ before ‘‘has made’’; and 

13 (E) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

14 follows: 

15 ‘‘(3) the day that is 90 calendar days after the day 

16 the Secretary sends notice to the person of the indebted17 ness and of the proposed deduction.’’. 

18 (3) In subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘INAPPLICA19 BILITY OF STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS TO ADMINIS20 TRATIVE ACTIONS.—’’ before ‘‘Notwithstanding’’. 

21 (4) In subsection (d)— 

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘REGULATIONS.—(1)’’ be23 fore ‘‘The Secretary’’ ; and 

24 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

25 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(2) The regulations under paragraph (1) shall in2 clude administrative processes by which a person described 

3 in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) may— 

4 ‘‘(A) dispute the existence or amount of indebt5 edness described in that paragraph; and 

6 ‘‘(B) request that the Secretary make a deter7 mination under paragraph (3)(B) of such subsection. 

8 ‘‘(3) The regulations under paragraph (1) shall direct 

9 the Secretary to ensure that each dispute under paragraph 

10 (2)(A) is adjudicated not later than 120 days after the 

11 initiation of such dispute. 

12 ‘‘(4) The regulations under paragraph (1) may not 

13 permit the Secretary to submit to any debt collector (as 

14 defined in section 803 of the Fair Debt Collection Prac15 tices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)) any debt in dispute under 

16 paragraph (2)(A). 

17 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 

18 prohibit a person from seeking relief from a court of com19 petent jurisdiction.’’. 

20 (b) LIMITATIONS ON INTEREST AND FEES CHARGED

21 DURING PERIOD OF DISPUTE.—Section 5315 of such title 

22 is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (b)(1), in the first sentence by 

24 striking ‘‘or (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) for any period 

25 during which the existence or amount of the indebtVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Nov 19, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7144.IH H7144

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1 edness is being disputed under regulations pre2 scribed pursuant to section 5314(d) of this title, or 

3 (C)’’; and 

4 (2) in subsection (c)— 

5 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘The admin6 istrative’’; and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(2) No administrative costs may be charged under 

10 this section with respect to indebtedness described in sub11 section (a) while the existence or amount of the indebted12 ness is being disputed under section 5314(d) of this title.’’. 

13 (c) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY TO SUE TO COL14 LECT CERTAIN DEBTS.—Section 5316(a) of title 38, 

15 United States, is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘paragraphs 

17 (2) and (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2), (3), and 

18 (4)’’; 

19 (2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para20 graph (4); and 

21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol22 lowing new paragraph (3): 

23 ‘‘(3) No suit may be filed under this section to re24 cover any indebtedness more than five years old.’’. 

25 (d) REPAIR OF CREDIT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 53 of such title is 

2 amended by adding at the end the following new sec3 tion: 

4 ‘‘§ 5320. Correction of erroneous information sub5 mitted to consumer reporting agencies 

6 ‘‘(a) CORRECTING ERRORS BY THE DEPARTMENT.— 

7 In any case in which the Secretary finds that the Depart8 ment has submitted erroneous information to a consumer 

9 reporting agency about the indebtedness of any person 

10 who has been determined by the Secretary to be indebted 

11 to the United States by virtue of the participation of that 

12 person in a benefits program administered by the Sec13 retary, the Secretary shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) instruct the consumer reporting agency to 

15 remove such erroneous information from the con16 sumer report of such person or take such other ac17 tion as may be required to ensure that such erro18 neous information is not included in the report of 

19 such person; and 

20 ‘‘(2) transmit to the consumer reporting agency 

21 such information as the consumer reporting agency 

22 may require to take such appropriate actions. 

23 ‘‘(b) CORRECTING ERRORS BY DEBT COLLECTORS.— 

24 In any case in which the Secretary finds that a debt col25 lector acting on behalf of the Department has submitted 


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1 erroneous information to a consumer reporting agency 

2 about the indebtedness of any person who has been deter3 mined by the Secretary to be indebted to the United States 

4 by virtue of the participation of that person in a benefits 

5 program administered by the Secretary, the Secretary 

6 shall instruct the debt collector to request the consumer 

7 reporting agency remove such erroneous information from 

8 the consumer report of such person or take such other 

9 action as may be required to ensure such erroneous infor10 mation is not included in the report of such person. 

11 ‘‘(c) NOTICE.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

12 on which the Secretary issues an instruction under sub13 section (a)(1) or (b) with respect to a person, the Sec14 retary shall notify the person that the Secretary issued 

15 such instruction. 

16 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 ‘‘(1) The terms ‘consumer report’ and ‘con18 sumer reporting agency’ have the meanings given 

19 such terms in section 603 of the Fair Credit Report20 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a). 

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘debt collector’ has the meaning 

22 given such term in section 803 of the Fair Debt Col23 lection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a).’’. 

24 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec25 tions at the beginning of chapter 53 of such title is 


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1 amended by adding at the end the following new 

2 item: 

‘‘5320. Correction of erroneous information submitted to consumer reporting 

agencies.’’. 

3 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

5 of this Act and shall apply with respect to deductions 

6 made under section 5314 of such title, administrative 

7 costs under section 5315 of such title, and suits filed 

8 under section 5316 of such title on or after such date. 

9 SEC. 3. IMPROVED PROCESSING OF BENEFITS BY DEPART10 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

11 The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall improve the 

12 information technology of the Department of Veterans Af13 fairs (including the eBenefits system or successor system) 

14 as may be necessary to achieve the following: 

15 (1) NOTIFICATION OF DEBTS INCURRED.—The 

16 Secretary shall provide a notification to a person 

17 who— 

18 (A) is entitled to a payment from the Sec19 retary under a benefits program administered 

20 by the Secretary; 

21 (B) incurs a debt to the United States 

22 under that benefits program; and 

23 (C) elects to receive such notifications. 


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1 (2) REVIEW OF INFORMATION REGARDING DE2 PENDENTS.—A person entitled to a payment from 

3 the Secretary under a benefits program administered 

4 by the Secretary may review information relating to 

5 dependents of that person. 

6 (3) TRACKING METRICS.—The Secretary shall 

7 be able to track— 

8 (A) the number and amount of payments 

9 made by the Secretary to a person entitled to 

10 a payment from the Secretary under a benefits 

11 program administered by the Secretary who in12 curs a debt to the United States under such 

13 program; 

14 (B) the average debt to the United States 

15 incurred by a person described in subparagraph 

16 (A); 

17 (C) how frequently the Secretary approves 

18 and denies applications for relief under section 

19 5302(a) of title 38, United States Code; and 

20 (D) such other metrics the Secretary deter21 mines appropriate. 


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1 SEC. 4. AUDIT OF ERRONEOUS PAYMENTS BY VETERANS 

2 BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION; PLAN OF COR3 RECTION. 

4 (a) AUDIT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans 

6 Affairs shall complete an audit to determine the following: 

7 (1) The frequency by which the Department of 

8 Veterans Affairs makes an error that results in a 

9 payment to a person by virtue of such person’s par10 ticipation in a benefits program administered by the 

11 Secretary that such person is not entitled to or in 

12 an amount that exceeds the amount to which the 

13 person is entitled. 

14 (2) Whether and to what degree vacant posi15 tions in the Veterans Benefits Administration affect 

16 such frequency. 

17 (b) PLAN.—Not later than 30 days after the comple18 tion of the audit under subsection (a), the Secretary of 

19 Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Vet20 erans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives 

21 a plan and description of resources necessary to align in22 formation technology systems to ensure that errors de23 scribed in subsection (a)(1) are not the result of commu24 nication or absence of communication between information 

25 technology systems. 

Æ 


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