I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2550 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the transfer of entitle-
ment to educational assistance under the Post-9/11 Educational Assist-
ance Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs by deceased mem-
bers of the Armed Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 15, 2011 
Mr. BOREN (for himself and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the 
transfer of entitlement to educational assistance under 
the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Program of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs by deceased members 
of the Armed Forces. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spouses of Fallen He-
roes Scholarship Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF ENTITLEMENT TO EDUCATIONAL AS-
SISTANCE 
UNDER 
THE 
POST-9/11 
EDU-
CATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS BY DE-
CEASED MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3319 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by— 
(1) redesignating subsection (j) as subsection 
(k); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol-
lowing new subsection (j): 
‘‘(j) TRANSFER
OF ENTITLEMENT
BY DECEASED 
MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.— 
‘‘(1) 
IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 
sub-
sections (b), (e) and (f), in the case of the death of 
any member of the Armed Forces who is entitled to 
educational assistance under this chapter while the 
member is serving on active duty, the member’s enti-
tlement to educational assistance under this chapter 
shall be transferred under this section to the mem-
ber’s surviving spouse, unless the member has des-
ignated another eligible dependent. 
‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ENTITLEMENT FOR 
TRANSFER.—The maximum amount of entitlement 
that may be transferred under this section is the 
amount to which the deceased member of the Armed 
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Forces was actually entitled on the date of the mem-
ber’s death. 
‘‘(3) ELECTION.—A surviving spouse to whom 
educational assistance is transferred under this sec-
tion who is also entitled to educational assistance 
under chapter 35 of this title may not receive assist-
ance under both such chapter and this section, but 
shall make an irrevocable election (in such form and 
manner as the Secretary may prescribe) under which 
chapter or section to receive educational assistance. 
‘‘(4) SURVIVING SPOUSE DEFINED.—For pur-
poses of this subsection, the term ‘surviving spouse’ 
means a person of the opposite sex who was the 
spouse of a member of the Armed Forces at the time 
of the member’s death, and who lived with the mem-
ber continuously from the date of marriage to the 
date of the member’s death (except where there was 
a separation which was due to the misconduct of, or 
procured by, the member without the fault of the 
spouse) regardless of remarriage.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.— 
(1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 
by this section shall take effect on August 1, 2009. 
(2) APPLICABILITY.—The Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall begin making payments to indi-
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viduals to whom entitlement to educational assist-
ance is transferred by reason of subsection (j) of 
section 3319 of title 38, United States Code, as 
added by subsection (a), by not later than August 1, 
2011. In the case of an individual who is entitled to 
educational assistance for the period beginning on 
August 1, 2009, and ending on July 31, 2011, by 
reason of such a transfer and who was enrolled for 
any part of such period in an approved program of 
education, the Secretary shall make retroactive pay-
ments to such individual for such period by not later 
than August 1, 2011. 
Æ 
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