I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2800 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant access 

to their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits Administration 

to certain designated congressional employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2021 

Mr. PERRY (for himself, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. PETERS, Mr. RICE of South 

Carolina, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. WALTZ, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. MOONEY, 

Mr. MASSIE, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Ms. 

STEFANIK, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Ms. MACE, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. 

TAYLOR, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. ROSE, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Ms. HERRELL, Mr. CLOUD, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mrs. RODGERS

of Washington, Mr. GARBARINO, Mr. BUDD, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. 

BROOKS, Mr. KINZINGER, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mrs. GREENE of 

Georgia, Mr. CURTIS, Mr. CAWTHORN, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. 

THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. DUNN) introduced the following 

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

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans 

to grant access to their records in the databases of 

the Veterans Benefits Administration to certain designated congressional employees, 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 ‘‘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 new section: 

10 ‘‘§ 5906. Access of certain congressional employees to 

11 veteran records 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) The Secretary shall provide 

13 to each veteran who submits a claim for benefits under 

14 the laws administered by the Secretary an opportunity to 

15 permit a covered congressional employee employed in the 

16 office of the Member of Congress representing the district 

17 where the veteran resides to have access to all of the 

18 records of the veteran in the databases of the Veterans 

19 Benefits Administration. 

20 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

21 upon receipt of permission from the veteran under para22 graph (1), the Secretary shall provide read-only access to 

23 such records to such a covered congressional employee in 

24 a manner that does not allow such employee to modify 

25 the data contained in such records or in any part of a 

26 database of the Veterans Benefits Administration. 


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1 ‘‘(3) A Member of Congress may designate not more 

2 than two employees of the Member as covered congres3 sional employees. 

4 ‘‘(b) COVERED CONGRESSIONAL EMPLOYEES.—(1) 

5 In this section, a covered congressional employee is a per6 manent, full-time employee of a Member of Congress— 

7 ‘‘(A) whose responsibilities include assisting the 

8 constituents of the Member with issues regarding de9 partments or agencies of the Federal Government; 

10 ‘‘(B) who satisfies the criteria required by the 

11 Secretary for recognition as an agent or attorney 

12 under this chapter; and 

13 ‘‘(C) who is designated by a Member of Con14 gress as a covered congressional employee for pur15 poses of this section. 

16 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may not impose any requirement 

17 other than the requirements under paragraph (1) before 

18 treating an employee as a covered congressional employee 

19 for purposes of this section. 

20 ‘‘(c) NONRECOGNITION.—A covered congressional 

21 employee may not be recognized as an agent or attorney 

22 under this chapter. 

23 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—None of the 

24 amounts made available to carry out this section may be 

25 used to design, develop, or administer any training for 


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1 purposes of providing training to covered congressional 

2 employees. 

3 ‘‘(e) NO AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—No 

4 additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to 

5 carry out this section. This section may only be carried 

6 out using amounts otherwise authorized to be appro7 priated, of which, during the period of fiscal years 2021 

8 through 2024, not more than $10,000,000 may be obli9 gated or expended for such purpose. 

10 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) The term ‘database of the Veterans Bene12 fits Administration’ means any database of the Vet13 erans Benefits Administration in which the records 

14 of veterans relating to claims for benefits under the 

15 laws administered by the Secretary are retained, in16 cluding information regarding medical records, com17 pensation and pension exams records, rating deci18 sions, statements of the case, supplementary state19 ments of the case, notices of disagreement, Form– 

20 9, and any successor form. 

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘Member of Congress’ means a 

22 Representative, a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, 

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


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

2 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

3 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘5906. Access of certain congressional employees to veteran records.’’. 

Æ 


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