I 
119TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7176 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to establish a secure database and messaging platform to enable 
veterans to reconnect with other veterans with whom they served, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 21, 2026 
Mr. EDWARDS (for himself and Ms. BUDZINSKI) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to establish a secure database 
and messaging platform to enable veterans to reconnect 
with other veterans with whom they served, and for 
other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Vets Connect Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. VETS CONNECT SECURE DATABASE AND MES-
SAGING PLATFORM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OF SECURE DATABASE
AND 
MESSAGING PLATFORM.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs shall establish and maintain a secure, privacy-pre-
serving database and messaging platform (in this section 
referred to as the ‘‘Vets Connect System’’) for the purpose 
of enabling veterans to reconnect with other veterans with 
whom they served, without disclosing personal contact in-
formation such as phone numbers, email addresses, phys-
ical addresses, or social media identifiers unless expressly 
authorized by the veteran. 
(b) CONTENT OF SYSTEM.—The Secretary shall en-
sure that the Vets Connect System includes only the min-
imum information necessary to facilitate service-based 
matching between veterans, including— 
(1) service-connection information, such as 
branch of service, units, dates of service, deploy-
ments, occupational specialty, and rank; 
(2) a display name selected by the veteran, 
which need not contain the veteran’s legal name; and 
(3) any additional information the veteran 
elects to include for visibility within the System by 
taking an affirmative, documented opt-in action exe-
cuted within the System. 
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(c) USE WITHIN DEPARTMENT.—Information con-
tained in the Vets Connect System may not be used by 
the Department for any purpose other than operating, se-
curing, and overseeing the System. 
(d) ACCESS LIMITED TO VERIFIED VETERANS.—Ex-
cept for access required by subsection (c), the Secretary 
shall ensure that— 
(1) access to the Vets Connect System is lim-
ited to individuals whose military service has been 
verified by the Department of Veterans Affairs or 
the Department of Defense; and 
(2) no individual whose service has not been 
verified may gain access. 
(e) INFORMATION ABOUT VETERANS ONLY IF THEY 
OPT IN.—The Secretary shall ensure that— 
(1) no veteran appears in search results or is 
discoverable by other users unless the veteran has 
affirmatively opted in to participation in the System; 
and 
(2) no veteran’s personal contact information is 
stored in, displayed through, or retrievable from the 
Vets Connect System, or disclosed through the mes-
saging platform within the System, except to the ex-
tent the veteran takes an affirmative, documented 
opt-in action executed within the System. 
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(f) OPTIONS TO OPT-OUT.—The Secretary shall en-
sure that a veteran may at any time— 
(1) change their visibility settings; 
(2) restrict communications from some or all 
other users; 
(3) opt out of participation in the System; or 
(4) delete any information the veteran has con-
tributed to the System. 
(g) PROHIBITION
ON COMMERCIAL SOLICITATION 
AND DATA BROKERAGE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—No veteran or other person 
or entity may use information contained in or de-
rived from the Vets Connect System for— 
(A) solicitation of legal, financial, or 
claims-related services; 
(B) advertising, marketing, or commercial 
outreach; or 
(C) any data-brokerage activity, including 
the sale, transfer, licensing, or aggregation of 
user information. 
(2) CONTRACTORS, 
SUBCONTRACTORS, 
AND 
THIRD PARTIES.—No contractor, subcontractor, or 
third party may use System data for any purpose 
other than performing duties under a contract with 
the Department. 
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(h) SECURITY, AUDIT LOGS, AND OVERSIGHT.— 
(1) SECURITY.—The Secretary shall implement 
industry-standard cybersecurity protections, includ-
ing encryption, access controls, and monitoring, to 
prevent unauthorized access, scraping, mass-mes-
saging, or harvesting of veteran data in the System. 
(2) AUDIT LOGS.—The Secretary shall maintain 
system-level audit logs documenting all access, que-
ries, administrative actions, and communications 
metadata (but not message content) for the purpose 
of oversight. 
(3) OVERSIGHT.—The Inspector General of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs shall have access to 
such audit logs and may conduct periodic reviews of 
compliance, security controls, and misuse prevention. 
(i) PENALTIES FOR MISUSE.—Any individual who 
knowingly accesses, attempts to access, or uses informa-
tion in the Vets Connect System for a prohibited purpose 
or otherwise violates this section shall be subject to such 
penalties as the Secretary may prescribe by regulation and 
any other penalties available under law, including section 
5701 of title 38, United States Code, if applicable. 
(j) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to authorize the disclosure of any 
record protected under section 5701 of title 38, United 
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States Code, or any other privacy or security law applica-
ble to the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
Æ 
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