zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Expedited Hiring for VA Trained Psychiatrists Act of 2013 - Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to appoint a psychiatrist who completes a residency at a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facility to a VHA health care position immediately after such residency, without regard to civil service or classification laws, if: (1) the psychiatrist meets the qualifications established in regulations prescribed for the position, and (2) such position has been unfilled for at least 35 days.

Date: 2013-06-27
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Access to Timely Medical Appointments Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a standardized policy to ensure that veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system are able to schedule: (1) primary care medical appointments within 7 days of the date requested, and (2) specialty care medical appointments within 14 days of the date requested.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) ensure that such policy will provide reliable data regarding the length of time that veterans are waiting for such appointments, (2) issue detailed guidance to the directors of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks to ensure the consistent implementation of such policy, (3) ensure that only VA employees who have completed required training are allowed to schedule medical appointments, and (4) assess the resources of each Network every 180 days to determine the Network's ability to meet such scheduling requirements.

Requires the Secretary to direct each VA medical center to provide oversight of telephone access and implement the best practices outlined in the VA telephone systems improvement guide, including practices to ensure that: (1) calls are answered in a timely manner and patient messages will have a return call within 24 hours, and (2) a call center at each such center is properly staffed to meet the needs of the veteran population served.

Directs the Inspector General of the VA to submit an annual report on the Secretary's progress in implementing this Act.

Date: 2013-07-11
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Education Transparency Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide to any veteran or person who receives educational assistance under the laws administered by the Secretary the option of making such person's relevant records maintained by the Secretary, including information about the amount of educational assistance to which the person is entitled, available through an Internet website to the educational institution that provides the course of education in which the person is enrolled.

Directs the Secretary to take steps to ensure that: (1) such educational institution agrees that such records will be made available only for the purpose of counseling the person in making decisions related to his or her education, and (2) no unauthorized person is given access to any such record.

Date: 2013-07-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Reserve Jobs Act - Grants hiring preferences for federal employment to members of a reserve component of the Armed Forces who: (1) have successfully completed officer candidate training or entry level and skill training and have incurred, or are performing, a 6-year commitment with a reserve component (3 point preference); (2) have completed at least 10 years of service with a reserve component and have earned at least 50 retirement points per year (4 point preference); or (3) are retired from service in a reserve component and are eligible for, but have not yet begun receiving, retired pay for non-regular service (5 point preference). Extends the appeals process for veterans employed by the Veterans Health Administration for violations of preference rights.

Date: 2013-07-22
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Government operations and politics
Fairness for America's Heroes Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to exempt veterans, until January 1, 2015, from the penalty for failure to maintain minimum essential health care coverage. Defines a "veteran," for purposes of this Act, as an individual who served on active duty (other than active duty for training) and who has been discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.

Date: 2013-07-31
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Reestablishes the Professional Certification and Licensure Advisory Committee of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through December 31, 2019. (The Committee terminated on December 31, 2006.)

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Makes eligible for beneficiary travel through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) a veteran whose travel to a specialized outpatient or residential program at a VA facility is in connection with treatment or care for military sexual trauma.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Requires a state, as a condition for receipt of a grant or contract from the Department of Labor for support of disabled veterans' outreach specialists and local veterans' employment representatives, to: (1) establish a program that issues a license or credential to a veteran without requiring any training or apprenticeship if such veteran receives a satisfactory score on completion of an examination administered by that state and has at least 10 years of experience in a military occupational specialty that is similar to the civilian occupation for which such license or credential is required; and (2) submit a report each year on the exams administered that includes the number of veterans who completed such exams and a description of the results of such exams, disaggregated by occupational field.

Date: 2013-08-02
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act - Authorizes the appropriate federal official (either the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Secretary of the Army) to reconsider a decision to inter or honor the memory of a person in the National Cemetery Administration or in Arlington National Cemetery upon receiving information that such person may have committed a federal or state capital crime but was not convicted by reason of unavailability for trial due to death or flight to avoid prosecution.

Requires the appropriate federal official, upon finding, after an opportunity for a hearing, that the person committed but was not convicted of such crime, to provide notice to the individual's next of kin or other authorized person. Allows such next of kin or other person 60 days to file a notice of disagreement, which shall be decided in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe. Authorizes the appropriate federal official, when a decision becomes final, to disinter the remains or remove the memorial headstone.

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs: (1) to disinter the remains of Michael LaShawn Anderson from Fort Custer National Cemetery (Michigan); (2) to notify his next of kin of the impending disinterment; and (3) upon disinterment, to relinquish the remains to the next of kin or, if the next of kin of record in unavailable, arrange for the appropriate disposition of the remains.

Date: 2013-09-17
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Includes among the circumstances under which the federal government shall not be entitled to recover a portion of the value of state home facilities that received a grant for, but that the state has ceased to operate for, furnishing domiciliary or nursing home care to veterans the provision by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) of a contract or grant for veterans' residential care in such facilities.

Date: 2013-09-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Benefits Fairness for Filipino Veterans Act of 2013 - Provides that, with respect to eligibility for benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of Filipino veterans who are lawful U.S. residents, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not determine that such a person is not an individual residing in the United States solely because the person is outside the United States for any period of less than one year.

Date: 2013-09-27
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans' Independent Living Enhancement Act - Repeals provisions that: (1) prohibit the initiation of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs providing independent living services and assistance for greater than 2,700 veterans in each fiscal year; and (2) require giving first priority under such programs to veterans for whom the reasonable feasibility of achieving a vocational goal is precluded solely as a result of disability.

Date: 2013-10-23
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Authorizes and requests the President to issue a posthumous commission in the grade of captain in the regular Army to Milton Holland, who, while a sergeant major of the 5th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry, was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Civil War.

Date: 2013-10-29
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Day Off Act - Entitles veterans who have been employed by an employer for at least 12 months, except those employed by a public agency, to leave from such employer on Veterans Day upon request if such veteran would otherwise be required to work on Veterans Day. Authorizes employers who employ 50 or more employees to deny leave if providing leave to veterans would negatively impact public health or safety or cause the employer significant economic or operational disruption.

Authorizes leave granted to consist of unpaid leave. Authorizes an employee to elect, or an employer to require the employee, to substitute accrued paid vacation leave or personal leave for leave provided under this Act.

Prohibits: (1) such employers from interfering with, restraining, or denying the taking of any leave provided under this Act; (2) such employers from discharging or discriminating against individuals for opposing practices made unlawful by this Act; and (3) any person from discharging or discriminating against individuals for filing any charge or instituting any proceeding under this Act, giving any information in connection with inquiries or proceedings relating to such leave, or testifying in inquiries or proceedings related to such leave.

Gives the Secretary of Labor investigative authority with respect to the provisions of this Act in the same manner and under the same terms and conditions as the investigative authority provided under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

Requires such employers to post in conspicuous places on their premises a notice with information pertaining to the filing of a charge under this Act.

Date: 2013-10-29
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Hmong Veterans' Service Recognition Act - Authorizes burial in any open national cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration of the remains of any individual: (1) who was naturalized pursuant to the Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act of 2000 and who resided in the United States at the time of death; or (2) who the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) determines served with a special guerrilla unit or irregular forces operating from a base in Laos in support of the U.S. Armed Forces between February 28, 1961, and May 7, 1975, and who, at the time of death, resided in the United States and was a U.S. citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

Date: 2013-10-29
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Caregivers Expansion and Improvement Act of 2013 - Extends to all veterans with a serious service-connected injury the eligibility to participate in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program of comprehensive assistance to family caregivers of such veterans. (Under current law, such eligibility is limited to those veterans who incurred such an injury on or after September 11, 2001.)

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans' Entry to Apprenticeship Act - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to treat a pre-apprenticeship program as a program of apprenticeship, for purposes of providing educational assistance, if such pre-apprenticeship program: (1) is recognized under or compliant with relevant state standards for a postsecondary pre-apprenticeship program, or (2) is in a state that does not require such standards and the curriculum of the program is approved by a sponsor who certifies that the program will prepare an individual with skills and competencies needed to enroll in a registered apprenticeship program and the pre-apprenticeship program maintains conduct and attendance policies in accordance with such sponsor.

Requires that a covered individual enrolled in a pre-apprenticeship program receive the same amount and kind of educational assistance the individual would receive if the individual were enrolled in a program of apprenticeship, with an exception of specified housing assistance if the individual is not paid as part of such pre-apprenticeship program.

 .

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Classified Veterans Access to Care Act - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) establish standards and procedures to ensure that a veteran who participated in a classified mission or served in a sensitive unit while in the Armed Forces may access mental health care provided by the VA in a manner that fully accommodates the veteran's obligation to not improperly disclose classified information; (2) disseminate guidance to employees of the Veterans Health Administration, including mental health professionals, on such standards and procedures and on how to best engage such veterans during the course of mental health treatment with respect to classified information; and (3) ensure that an individual may elect to identify as such a veteran on an appropriate form.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
VOW to Hire Heroes Extension Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend through 2017 the work opportunity tax credit for hiring a qualified veteran (defined as an unemployed veteran who is certified as being a member of a family receiving food stamp assistance and who is entitled to compensation for a service-connected disability), (2) revise tax credit eligibility requirements for documenting the status of veterans and their receipt of unemployment compensation, and (3) extend the payroll tax offset for such credit to certain for-profit employers.

 Directs the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, to make annual reports on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this Act in increasing the employment of veterans.

Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to pay: (1) each U.S. possession (i.e., American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) with a mirror code tax system amounts equal to the loss to such possession due to this Act; and (2) each U.S. possession without such a tax system an amount estimated to equal the loss to such possession that would have occurred due to this Act if such a tax system had been in effect in that possession.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to develop guidelines for the use by the Secretaries of the military departments and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) of unofficial sources of information, including eyewitness statements, to determine the eligibility of a member or former member of the Armed Forces for benefits and decorations when the member's service records are incomplete because of damage to the records as a result of the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, or any subsequent incident while the records were in DOD's possession.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Education Counseling Act - Modifies provisions relating to educational and vocational counseling for veterans to provide a program of counseling services to be known as the Academic Counseling and Educational Information Service. Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) make available to veterans information about the definitions, eligibility requirements, and services provided by such counseling and how such counseling services differ from those provided as part of rehabilitation and readjustment assistance programs for veterans; and (2) maintain a website on which a person is able to request such counseling services.

Establishes as the primary goal of such counseling services to provide individuals with assistance in: (1) pursuing postsecondary education and training opportunities, (2) obtaining information about and data on such opportunities, (3) selecting a program of education or training, and (4) addressing other needs relating to education.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Injured and Amputee Veterans Bill of Rights - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that an Injured and Amputee Veterans Bill of Rights is printed on signage in accessible formats and displayed prominently and conspicuously in each Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prosthetics and orthotics clinic. Requires VA employees who work at such clinics, as well as patient advocates of veterans who receive care there, to receive training on such Bill of Rights. Directs the Secretary to conduct outreach to inform veterans of such Bill of Rights.

Includes in the Bill of Rights the right to: (1) access the highest quality prosthetic and orthotic care; (2) select the practitioner that best meets their prosthetic and orthotic needs; (3) timely and efficient prosthetic and orthotic care; and (4) transition and readjust to civilian life in an honorable manner, including by having ample access to vocational rehabilitation, employment programs, and housing assistance.

Directs: (1) the Secretary to collect information relating to the alleged mistreatment of injured and amputee veterans, (2) the veteran liaison at each VA medical center to submit quarterly to the VA's Chief Consultant of Prosthetics and Sensory Aids a report on such information, and (3) the Chief Consultant to investigate and address such information.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make grants to non-profit organizations in the 75 U.S. cities with the largest populations of veterans to establish clearinghouses for veterans to receive information about available employment opportunities and services.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Streamlining Support for Veterans and Military Caregivers Act - Expands the program of assistance and support services for caregivers of veterans to include all caregivers (currently allowed for family caregivers).

Modifies the program of special compensation to members of the uniformed services for injuries and illness to allow such compensation for a serious injury or illness (currently allowed for a catastrophic injury or illness). Exempts payments of such compensation from taxation.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Putting Our Veterans Back to Work Act of 2013 - Amends the: (1) VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 to extend through March 31, 2016, the veterans retraining assistance program; and (2) Wounded Warrior Act to extend through 2016 the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) (Secretary) to provide the same rehabilitation and vocational benefits to members of the Armed Forces (members) with severe injuries or illnesses as are provided to veterans.

Extends through: (1) March 31, 2016, additional VA rehabilitation programs for certain disabled veterans who have completed a VA rehabilitation program and have exhausted their rights to state unemployment benefits; and (2) FY2015 the collaborative veterans' training, mentoring, and placement program.

Directs the Secretary to develop a single, unified federal web-based employment portal for veterans to access information on federal programs and activities concerning veterans employment, unemployment benefits, and training.

Directs the: (1) Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to award grants to hire veterans as firefighters, and (2) Attorney General (AG) to award grants to hire veterans as law enforcement officers.

Requires the head of each executive and defense agency to consider favorably, as an evaluation factor in federal solicitations for contracts and task or delivery orders valued at or above $25 million, the employment by a prospective contractor of veterans constituting at least 5% of the contractor's workforce.

Allows a veteran on whose behalf a complaint of a violation of employment or reemployment rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) is made by the AG to intervene in such action, and to obtain appropriate relief. Requires the AG, within 60 days after receiving a referral of an unsuccessful attempt to resolve a complaint relating to a state or private employer, to notify the person on whose behalf the complaint is submitted of either the decision to commence such an action or of when such decision is expected to be made. Requires, in the latter case, such decision to be made within an additional 30 days. Requires the AG to commence such an action when there is reasonable cause to believe that a state or private employer is engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of such rights and benefits, and that the pattern or practice denies the full exercise of such rights and benefits.

Authorizes the suspension, termination, or debarment of federal contractors for repeated failures or refusals to comply with USERRA protections.

Provides the Special Counsel with subpoena power to require the attendance and testimony of, and production of documents from, federal employees, to be enforced through the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Authorizes the AG, in employment or reemployment rights investigations, to issue and serve a civil investigative demand for the production of documentary material.

Date: 2013-11-12
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Support Earned Recognition for Veterans Act or the SERV Act - Excludes from the definitions of "active duty," "active duty for training," and "inactive duty training," for veteran benefit or employment preference purposes, any service performed at a preparatory school of a service academy by a student who is not otherwise a member of the Armed Forces.

Date: 2013-11-13
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Legal Support Act of 2013 - Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide support to at least one university law school program that is designed to provide legal assistance to veterans.

Allows programs of university law schools which may receive support under this Act to include those that assist veterans with: (1) filing and appealing claims for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary; and (2) such other civil, criminal, and family legal matters as considered appropriate.

Permits the support provided to a program to include financial support.

Limits the total amount of financial support provided in any fiscal year to $1 million.

Date: 2013-11-13
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Servicemembers Transition Improvement Act of 2013 - Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of providing information on members of the Armed Forces who are separating from service to state veterans agencies to facilitate the transition of such members to civilian life. Authorizes such agencies to share such information with appropriate county veterans service offices.

Date: 2013-11-14
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to award the Distinguished Service Cross to Robert L. Towles for acts of valor during the Vietnam War, notwithstanding otherwise applicable time limitations.

Date: 2013-11-14
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Private legislation
Honor Our Fallen Heroes With Dignity Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of the Army to permit visitors to leave on any gravesite or government-furnished marker located in section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery any item that: (1) does not present a safety or health concern, (2) is not permanently affixed to such marker, and (3) does not interfere with the normal operations and maintenance procedures of the Cemetery.

Requires the History Office of Arlington National Cemetery: (1) to collect, catalog, and store any other items left on a gravesite, headstone, or marker in section 60; and (2) at the end of each calendar month, to collect, catalog, and store all items left on gravesites, headstones, and government-furnished markers.

Date: 2013-11-15
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Increased Age Limit for Post-9/11 Education Assistance Dependents Act - Increases from 26 to 29 years old the age after which a child may not use transferred educational assistance for service in the Armed Forces commencing on or after September 11, 2001.

Date: 2013-11-15
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Protecting the Freedoms and Benefits for All Veterans Act - Revises the definition of "surviving spouse" for purposes of veterans benefits provisions to eliminate the requirement that the person who was the spouse of a veteran at the time of the veteran's death be a person of the opposite sex.

Considers an individual to be a "spouse" if: (1) the marriage is valid in the state in which it was entered into; or (2) in the case of a marriage entered into outside any state, the marriage is valid in the place in which it was entered into and could have been entered into in a state, or it was valid in the place in which all parties to it resided at the time it was entered into.

Date: 2013-11-20
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
GI Education Benefit Fairness Act - Expands the definition of "children," for purposes of provisions allowing members or former members of the uniformed services who served on active duty for specified periods beginning on or after September 11, 2001, to transfer their entitlement to educational assistance, to mean an unmarried person who: (1) is placed in the legal custody of a member or former member by court order for at least 12 consecutive months, (2) has not attained the age of 21, (3) has not attained the age of 23 and is enrolled in a full-time course of study at an institution of higher learning, (4) is incapable of self support due to a mental or physical incapacity that occurred while such person was a dependent of the member or former member, (5) is dependent on the member or former member for over one-half of his or her support, (6) resides with the member or former member unless separated due to military service or institutionalization for a disability or incapacitation, and (7) is not a dependent of a member or former member under any other provision defining dependent.

Date: 2013-11-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Skills to Careers Act - Requires a state, as a condition for receipt of a grant or contract from the Department of Labor to employ disabled veterans' outreach program specialists and local veterans' employment representatives, to establish a program under which that state administers an examination and issues a license or credential to a veteran without requiring any training or apprenticeship if such veteran: (1) receives a satisfactory score on such examination, (2) has been awarded a military occupational specialty that is substantially equivalent to or exceeds the state requirements for such license or credential, (3) has engaged in active practice of such occupation for at least two of the five years preceding the date of application for such license or credential, and (4) pays any fees required by the state for such license or credential. Requires the state to report annually to the Secretary of Labor on the exams administered, the number of veterans who completed such exams, and exam results, disaggregated by occupational field.

Allows the Secretary to waive the requirement that a state establish such a program if the state certifies that it: (1) takes into account previous military training or testing; (2) permits veterans to satisfy through examination training or testing requirements for which a veteran has previously completed military training; and (3) substantially reduces training time, based on the military training received by a veteran, required to satisfy requirements the veteran is unable to completely satisfy through examination.

Requires an annual report from the Secretary to Congress and the Secretary of Defense on administered exams and exam results.

Date: 2013-11-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Careers for Heroes Act - Directs the head of each federal agency other than the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop a plan for exercising, during the five-year period beginning on the enactment of this Act, authority to make veterans recruitment appointments and authority under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998.

Requires the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to ensure that, under such plans, agencies shall appoint no less than 15,000 qualified covered veterans during such period. (Covered veterans include those who: (1) are disabled or recently separated; (2) served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized; or (3) while serving on active duty, participated in a military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded.)

Date: 2013-11-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide trained guide dogs to veterans who are blind by reason of a service-connected disability, are enrolled for VA hospital care and medical services, and elect to receive such a dog.

Date: 2013-12-04
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Jobs for Veterans Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an increased work opportunity tax credit for the hiring in 2013 or 2014 of veterans discharged or released from active military duty after September 11, 2001.

Reduces amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Veterans Affairs for general administration in FY2013 and FY2014 to offset the cost of the increased credit allowed by this Act.

Date: 2013-12-04
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to furnish a medallion or other device to signify the veteran status of a deceased individual, to be attached to a headstone or marker furnished at private expense, regardless of the date of death of such individual.

Date: 2013-12-05
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Entrepreneurs Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a business-related tax credit of up to $400,000 for 25% of the franchise fees paid or incurred by a veteran for the purchase of a franchise. Reduces the amount of such credit if the veteran does not own 100% of the stock or capital or profits interest of the franchisee.

Directs the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide information about the tax credit allowed by this Act to veterans service organizations and veteran advocacy groups.

Date: 2013-12-12
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Repeals a provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Prohibits any increase in the pension of a retired Member of Congress who is under age 62.

Requires the Secretaries of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) to jointly ensure that brand-name prescription drugs purchased by DOD and VA are purchased jointly by such Departments at the same level such drugs were purchased jointly by such Departments in FY2005 or in excess of that level.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Repeals the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the child tax credit, to require taxpayers claiming such credit to provide their social security numbers on their tax returns.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Exempts from the reduction in the cost-of-living adjustment of retired pay of members of the Armed Forces under the age of 62 enacted by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 the retired pay of any member or former member who is: (1) retired, (2) eligible for combat-related special compensation, or (3) entitled to concurrent payment of retired pay and veterans' disability compensation. Makes such reduction in the cost-of-living adjustment inapplicable to percentage increases allowed for annuities under survivor benefit plans based on retired or retainer pay.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Repeals the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Repeals a provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Retirement Restoration Act - Repeals the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to treat a foreign corporation managed and controlled, directly or indirectly, primarily in the United States as a domestic corporation for U.S. tax purposes if the stock of such corporation is regularly traded on an established securities market or the aggregate gross assets of such corporation during the taxable year or any preceding taxable year is $50 million or more. 

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Repeals a provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Requires a reduction in the unobligated balances of the Department of Defense (DOD) to offset the costs incurred by such repeal.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Repeals the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62. Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to reduce funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund in FY2015-FY2022 to provide for an offset against the cost of such repeal.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Repeals a provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Date: 2013-12-23
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Uphold Our Promise to Veterans Act - Repeals the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62.

Prohibits assistance to the Government of Egypt and economic and security assistance to the Government of Pakistan effective on the date of enactment of this Act with respect to funds made available beginning with FY2015.

Requires: (1) 8% of federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and 8% of the National Forest System land to be offered for competitive sale by auction, and (2) proceeds from the sale of such lands to be used to reduce the annual federal budget deficit or the outstanding federal debt.

Date: 2013-12-23
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Provides that the reduction in the annual adjustment to the retired pay of members of the Armed Forces under the age of 62 shall not apply to the retirement pay of members retired for a physical disability and to retirement pay used to compute benefit plan annuities of survivors of deceased members.

Date: 2013-12-23
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Burial with Dignity for Heroes Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a program to make grants to eligible entities to provide for the cost of burials for homeless veterans who: (1) are eligible to be buried in national cemeteries, and (2) the Secretary determines have no next-of-kin.

Date: 2014-01-14
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Wounded Veterans Recreation Act - Amends the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act to require the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, which is made available for the lifetime of the passholder without charge to any U.S. citizen or person domiciled in the United States who has been medically determined to be permanently disabled, to be made available to any veteran with a service-connected disability.

Date: 2014-01-29
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to enter into an enhanced-use lease for buildings 205 and 208 of the West Los Angeles Medical Center, California, for the provision of long-term therapeutic housing for homeless veterans who require assisted living or other similar forms of care. Exempts such buildings from a provision authorizing the Secretary to transfer property under an enhanced-use lease to the lessee.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) review such lease at least once during each two-year period in which it is in effect, including by assessing the leasing party and determining whether such lease should continue; and (2) submit a report.

Date: 2014-02-05
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Improving Veterans' Access to Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Act of 2014 - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), when calculating the rate of veterans determined to be rehabilitated to the point of employability, to divide the number of veterans who participated in VA vocational rehabilitation programs whom the Secretary determines to have been so rehabilitated by the total number of veterans who: (1) participated in such programs during that fiscal year, and (2) were entitled to participate in such programs during such fiscal year but who did not complete a program.

Allows a course of education and training to be pursued by a veteran as part of a rehabilitation program only if the course is approved under VA vocational rehabilitation requirements.

Makes veterans enrolled in a VA vocational rehabilitation program eligible for VA specially adapted housing, when appropriate.

Authorizes the Secretary to prioritize VA vocational rehabilitation services based on need upon consideration of disability ratings, the severity of employment handicaps, qualification for a program of independent living, income, and other factors determined appropriate.

Date: 2014-02-11
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Benefits Administration Information Technology Improvement Act of 2014 - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make such changes and improvements to the information technology system of the Veterans Benefits Administration to ensure that: (1) all original and supplemental claims for veterans educational assistance are adjudicated electronically, and (2) rules-based processing is used to make decisions with respect to such claims with little human intervention.

Requires the Secretary to reduce redundancy and inefficiencies in the use of information technology to process claims for rehabilitation programs by: (1) ensuring that payments of subsistence allowance for veterans participating in a rehabilitation program are processed and paid out of only one corporate information technology system, and (2) enhancing the information technology system supporting veterans participating in such a program to support more accurate accounting of services and outcomes.

Date: 2014-02-11
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to increase, as of December 1, 2014, the rates of veterans' disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children.

Requires each such increase to be the same percentage as the increase in benefits provided under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act, on the same effective date.

Date: 2014-02-26
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
American Heroes COLA Act of 2014 - Requires that, whenever there is an increase in benefit amounts payable under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) shall increase by the same percentage the amounts payable as veterans' disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled adult children, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children.

Date: 2014-02-26
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Timely Information Management Enforcement Act or the TIME Act - Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to provide covered beneficiaries and providers participating in the TRICARE program with written notice explaining changes to any program benefits.

Requires such notification through both mail and electronic means by the earlier of: (1) the date that would afford such individuals adequate time to understand and respond to the change, and (2) 90 days before the change becomes effective.

Date: 2014-02-26
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Provides for the payment of certain accrued benefits to the estate of a deceased veteran upon the veteran's death.

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to pay to the estate of Shelton Hickerson, formerly of Indianapolis, Indiana, the amount that the Secretary awarded to Hickerson upon his death but that was not payable to any survivor, or to the estate, of Hickerson.

Date: 2014-02-26
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Helping to Encourage Real Opportunity for Veterans Transitioning from Battlespace to Workplace Act of 2014 or the HERO Transition from Battlespace to Workplace Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employers a business-related tax credit for $1,000 times the number of veterans (not more than 25 in a taxable year) who begin work resulting from the efforts of a military relations manager.

Deems as a reasonable effort of an employer to employ veterans, for purposes of veteran employment and reemployment programs, the designation of an employee as a military relations manager and the use of the military skills translator database (database for assisting veterans in relating military skills, experience, and training to civilian skills, experience, and training). Defines "military relations manager" as an expert in the process of transitioning from being a member of the Armed Forces to being a civilian and in translating the skills, experience, and training gained in the Armed Forces to skills, experience, and training needed in the private sector.

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure that the military skills translator database may be used by civilian employers and conduct outreach to inform civilian employers of such database.

Date: 2014-02-27
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
America First Act - Repeals the provision of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 that reduces the cost-of-living adjustment to the retirement pay of members of the Armed Forces under age 62. Offsets the cost of such repeal by reducing amounts authorized to be appropriated for foreign aid (including non-military and military assistance) for FY2015-FY2024.

Date: 2014-02-28
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to enter into enhanced-use leases for excess property of the National Cemetery Administration that is unsuitable for burial purposes.

Date: 2014-03-04
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Help Hire our Heroes Act - Amends the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 to extend through September 30, 2014, the veterans retraining assistance program.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to transfer funds for such program from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.

Date: 2014-03-05
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Employment and Training Service Longitudinal Study Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Labor to enter into a contract with a non-governmental entity to conduct a longitudinal study of a statistically valid sample of each of the following groups of individuals over a period of at least five years: (1) veterans who have received intensive job counseling, training, and placement services; (2) veterans who did not receive intensive services but who otherwise received services; and (3) veterans who did not seek or receive services.

Requires the study to include the collection of specified information for each individual who participates in the study, including: (1) the average number of months served on active duty, (2) the distribution of disability ratings, (3) unemployment benefits received, (4) the average number of months employed and average individual and household annual income, (5) employment status, (6) whether the individual believes that any service received helped the individual to become employed, (7) use of educational assistance, (8) participation in a vocational rehabilitation program, (9) conditions of discharge or release from the Armed Forces, and (10) demographic information.

Directs the Secretary to submit annual reports on the outcomes of the study that include any information the Secretary determines is necessary to determine long-term outcomes of the individuals in such groups.

Amends the Social Security Act to grant the Secretary access to new hire information reported by employers.

Date: 2014-03-05
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security