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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Principles of Benefits Automation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs should increase automation in the processing 
of claims for benefits under the laws administered by the 
Secretary in accordance with the following principles: 
(1) The purpose of automation should be to in-
crease the speed and accuracy of claims processing 
decisions. 
(2) Automation should be conducted in a man-
ner that enhances the productivity of employees of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
(3) Automation should be carried out in a man-
ner that achieves greater consistency in the proc-
essing and rating of claims by relying on patterns of 
similar evidence in claim files. 
(4) To the greatest extent possible, automation 
should be carried out by drawing from information 
in the possession of the Department, other Govern-
ment agencies, and claimants for benefits. 
(5) Automation of any claims process or deter-
mination should not be end-to-end. 
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(6) Employees of the Department should con-
tinue to make decisions with respect to the approval 
of claims and the granting of benefits. 
(7) Automation should not be carried out in a 
manner that reduces or infringes upon— 
(A) the due process rights of claimants for 
benefits under the laws administered by the 
Secretary; or 
(B) the duties of the Secretary to assist 
and notify claimants. 
(8) Automation should be carried out while tak-
ing all necessary measures to protect the privacy of 
claimants and their personally identifiable informa-
tion. 
(9) Automation of claims processing should not 
eliminate or reduce the Veterans Benefits Adminis-
tration workforce. 
SEC. 3. PLAN FOR MODERNIZATION OF VETERANS BENE-
FITS ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION TECH-
NOLOGY SYSTEMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall submit to appropriate congressional 
committees a plan for the modernization of the informa-
tion technology systems of the Veterans Benefits Adminis-
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tration. The plan shall cover the first fiscal year that be-
gins after the date of the enactment of this Act and the 
subsequent four fiscal years and shall include each of the 
following: 
(1) An identification of any information system 
to be modernized or retired, if applicable, during the 
period covered by the plan. 
(2) A description of how the Secretary intends 
to incorporate the principles referred to in section 2 
into the modernization of such information systems. 
(3) An identification of targets, for each fiscal 
year, by which the Secretary intends to complete the 
modernization of each information system or major 
component or functionality of such system identified 
under paragraph (1). 
(4) Cost estimates for the modernization of 
each information system identified under paragraph 
(1) for each fiscal year covered by the plan and in 
total. 
(b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 
In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans’ 
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Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on 
Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans’ 
Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate. 
Passed the House of Representatives May 17, 2022. 
Attest: 
CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 
Clerk. 
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