zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act

This bill amends the definition of "spouse" for purposes of veterans' benefits to require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to recognize a marriage based on the law of the state where the marriage occurred.

When a marriage occurs outside a state, the VA shall recognize it if the marriage is lawful in the place where it occurs and could have been entered into under the laws of any state.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Sexual Assault Victims Empowerment Act or the Military SAVE Act

This bill amends the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to make eligible for treatment in a non-Department of Veterans Affairs entity any veteran who was the victim of a sexual trauma which occurred while the veteran was serving on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on July 16, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Ruth Moore Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report to Congress, by December 1, 2015 and each year thereafter through 2019, on claims submitted during the previous fiscal year for disability compensation based on a covered mental health condition alleged to have been incurred or aggravated by military sexual trauma (covered claims).

Each report shall include:

 the number of covered claims submitted or considered; the number and percentage of such claims submitted by each sex, and the number of claims approved or denied; the number and percentage, listed by each sex, of approved covered claims assigned to each rating percentage; the three most common reasons for denial of covered claims, and the number of denials based on the veteran's failure to report for a medical examination; the number of covered claims pending and the number on appeal; the average number of days that covered claims take to complete; and a description of related training provided to Veterans Benefits Administration employees. The VA shall submit to Congress an initial report within 90 days after enactment of this Act, and annual reports beginning in December 2015.

It is the sense of Congress that the VA should update regulations regarding military sexual trauma by:

 ensuring that military sexual trauma is specified as an in-service stressor in determining the service-connection of post-traumatic stress disorder, and recognizing the full range of physical and mental disabilities (including depression, anxiety, and other disabilities as indicated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association) that can result from military sexual trauma. For the period starting fifteen months after enactment of this Act and lasting until VA publishes updated regulations, the VA shall provide:

 a copy of the congressional report to each veteran who has submitted a covered claim or been treated for military sexual trauma at a VA medical facility; and monthly to each such veteran information that includes the date that the VA plans to complete such updated regulations, the number of granted or denied covered claims, a comparison to the rate of grants and denials with the rate for other claims regarding post-traumatic stress disorder, the three most common reasons for claim denials, and the average time for processing covered claims at each regional office. The VA shall report to Congress monthly regarding: (1) all adjudicated covered claims and their outcomes, and (2) the reason for denial of any covered claim.

(Sec. 3) The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 is amended to limit to $2 million during each of FY2016-FY2018 the aggregate amount of awards and bonuses paid to VA employees who are members of the Senior Executive Service.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Pain Management Improvement Act

Directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a Pain Management Board in each Veterans Integrated Service Network.

Requires each Board to provide: (1) recommendations for treatment, on an in-patient or out-patient basis, for patients with complex clinical pain for whom a request has been made by the patient, the patient's physician, spouse, family member, or an individual designated by the patient to make health care decisions or receive health care information for the patient, or an employee of the covered VA facility; and (2) recommendations on best practices regarding pain management in complex clinical pain cases to VA health care professionals located in the Network covered by the Board.

Requires each Board to annually submit to the VA a report on pain management practices carried out in the covered Network.

Directs the VA, by December 1, 2015, to submit to specified congressional committees the approved clinical guideline, handbook, directive, policy, or other guidance established to govern the step-down methodologies employed by clinicians in VA medical facilities to manage the use of opioid therapies and associated prescribing practices.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on November 30, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

(Sec. 1) This bill states that Disabled American Veterans (the corporation) is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, and includes among its purposes: (1) education of the public about the sacrifices and needs of disabled veterans, and (2) education of disabled veterans about the benefits and resources available to them.

On dissolution or final liquidation of the corporation, any assets remaining after the discharge or satisfactory provision for the discharge of all liabilities shall be transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the care of disabled veterans.

Date: 2015-04-13
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Toxic Exposure Research Act of 2016

(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to select a VA medical center to serve as the national center for research on the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions of the biological children or grandchildren of individuals exposed to toxic substances while serving as members of the Armed Forces that are related to such exposure.

 The bill requires: (1) the Department of Defense (DOD) or the head of a federal agency to make available to the VA for review records held by DOD, an Armed Force, or that federal agency that might assist the VA in making determinations regarding individuals and descendents afflicted with an exposure-related health condition; (2) the VA and DOD or such agency head to jointly establish a mechanism for VA review of records; and (3) the national center to employ at least one licensed clinical social worker to coordinate access of individuals to appropriate social and health care programs and to handle case management.

(Sec. 4) The VA shall establish an Advisory Board to oversee and assess the national center and to advise the VA regarding the center's work.

 The board shall report on its recommendations at least once a year.

(Sec. 5) DOD shall: (1) conduct a declassification review to determine what information may be made publicly available related to any known incident in which at least 100 members of the Armed Forces were exposed to a toxic substance that resulted in at least one case of a disability that an occupational medicine specialist has determined to be credibly associated with such substance; and (2) make such information available consistent with national security and limited to information necessary for determining whether an individual was exposed to such substance, the severity of exposure, and any potential health conditions resulting from such exposure.

(Sec. 6) The VA shall conduct a national outreach and education campaign directed toward members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their family members to communicate information on: (1) incidents of exposure of members of the Armed Forces to toxic substances, health conditions resulting from such exposure, and potential long-term effects; and (2) the national center for individuals eligible to participate in national center studies.

DOD and the Department of Health and Human Services shall assist the VA in implementing such campaign. (Sec. 7) No additional funds are authorized to carry out this bill.

Date: 2015-04-14
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Back to Work Act of 2015

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) make permanent the work opportunity tax credit for hiring qualified veterans (veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability and other federal assistance), and (2) allow employers who hire qualified veterans an exemption from employment and railroad retirement taxes for such veterans' first-year wages. Appropriates amounts to the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund to cover any revenue loss to such Funds resulting from this Act.

Date: 2015-04-15
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on May 10, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a demonstration program for states with a shortage of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to streamline state requirements and procedures to assist veterans who completed military EMT training to meet state EMT certification, licensure, and other requirements.

Date: 2015-04-15
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Health
Directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a three-year pilot program with community partners (private nonprofit organizations) to provide intensive community care coordination and supportive services to disabled veteran families who lack access to VA or other direct wellness services.

Authorizes such services to include:

 care coordination and case management services; outreach services; assistance in obtaining VA benefits, including vocational and rehabilitation counseling, employment and training service, educational assistance, and health care services; assistance in obtaining and coordinating the provision of other public benefits provided in federal, state or local agencies or other community partners, including marriage counseling, services for children, suicide prevention, substance abuse awareness and treatment, mental health awareness and treatment, financial counseling, anger management counseling, domestic violence awareness and prevention, employment assistance, transportation services, child care, housing counseling, preparing and updating family care plans, development of strategies for living with a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury, and accessing emergency financial assistance through philanthropic efforts; and providing direct services that are necessary to improve the well-being and address the needs of the disabled veteran families but are otherwise unavailable through existing public or private programs.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill authorizes the President to award the Medal of Honor posthumously to former Major Dominic S. Gentile, U.S. Army Air Forces, for acts of valor as a pilot during World War II.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Local Care for Veterans Act 

This bill amends the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure that a veteran may elect to receive health care treatment and services in a qualifying non-VA facility if: (1) the veteran is enrolled in the VA health care system and resides not more than 50 miles from the nearest VA facility that the Secretary has identified in a prospectus level lease request as being deficient with respect to providing certain treatment or services or as needing expansion; and (2) the Secretary determines that such deficiency has not been resolved or such expansion has not occurred.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Filipino Veterans Recognition Act

This bill amends the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make a payment from the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund to an eligible person who, during the one-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this paragraph, submits to the Secretary:

 a benefits claim; or with respect to a person who filed a benefits claim during such one-year period, a new claim or an appeal to such previously filed claim. In determining an individual's eligibility to receive Compensation Fund benefits the Secretary shall accept as proof of service an affidavit from the government of the Philippines certifying an eligible individual's service (AGO Form 23).

 Such an affidavit shall serve as proof of service regardless of whether the eligible individual:

 submits any other qualifying document, or is included in the Approved Revised Reconstructed Guerilla Roster of 1948, (Missouri List). The Secretary may not accept such an affidavit as proof of service for any VA benefit other than the Compensation Fund.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing additional amounts to be appropriated to the Compensation Fund.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Increases the amounts payable through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for: (1) burial and funeral expenses of certain veterans, and (2) such expenses in connection with a veteran's death due to a service-connected disability.

 Directs VA, with respect to any fiscal year, to provide percentage increases for burial and funeral expenses.

Date: 2015-04-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans' Access to Child Care Act

Directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide child care assistance to an eligible veteran for any period that the veteran: (1) receives covered health care services at a VA facility, and (2) is required to travel to and return from such facility for the receipt of such services.

Defines: (1) "covered health care services" to mean regular mental health care services, intensive mental health care services, or such other intensive health care services to which the VA determines that provision of child care assistance would improve the veteran's access; and (2) "eligible veteran" as a veteran who is the primary caretaker of a child and who is receiving covered health care services from the VA or who is in need of, and who would receive, such services from the VA but for lack of child care.

Includes among child care assistance to be provided under this Act:

 a stipend for the payment of the full cost of child care offered by a licensed child care center, which shall be modeled after the VA's Child Care Subsidy Program; direct provision of child care at an on-site VA facility; a payment made directly to a private child care agency; and collaboration with a facility or program of another federal department or agency.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military and Veteran Caregiver Services Improvement Act of 2015

Expands eligibility for the family caregiver program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to include members of the Armed Forces or veterans who are seriously injured or who became ill on active duty prior to September 11, 2001 (currently, limited to service after September 11, 2001).

Expands services to caregivers of veterans under such program to include child care services, financial planning services, and legal services.

 Terminates the support program for caregivers of covered veterans on October 1, 2020, except that any caregiver activities carried out on September 30, 2020, shall be continued on and after October 1, 2020.

Authorizes the transfer of entitlement to post 9/11 education assistance to family members by veterans who are retired for a physical disability or who are seriously injured veterans in need of family caregiver services, without regard to length-of-service requirements.

Authorizes the VA Secretary to pay monthly special compensation to seriously injured or ill veterans in need of personal care services and to their caregivers. Excludes from gross income, for income tax purposes, such compensation paid to injured or ill veterans.

Authorizes flexible work schedules or telework for federal employees who are caregivers of veterans.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to designate a veteran participating in the program of comprehensive assistance for family caregivers as an adult with a special need for purposes of the lifespan respite care program.

Establishes in the executive branch an interagency working group to review and report on policies relating to the caregivers of veterans and members of the Armed Forces.

Directs the Secretary to provide for studies on members of the Armed Forces who commenced service after September 11, 2001, and veterans who have incurred a serious injury or illness, including a mental health injury, and their caregivers.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Conservation Corps Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a veterans conservation corps to assist unemployed veterans in the transition from service in the Armed Forces to civilian life and to employ such veterans: (1) in conservation, resource management, firefighting, law enforcement, and historic preservation projects on public lands; (2) in maintenance and improvement projects for cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the National Cemetery Administration; and (3) as firefighters, law enforcement officers, and disaster relief personnel.

Requires priority to be given to the employment of veterans who served on active duty on or after September 11, 2001.

Requires, as part of the veterans conservation corps: (1) the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to award grants under the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to hire veterans as firefighters, (2) the Attorney General to award grants under the public safety and community policing grant program (COPS ON THE BEAT grant program) under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to hire veterans as law enforcement officers, and (3) the DHS Secretary to provide funds to increase participation by veterans in the Federal Emergency Management Agency Corps program.

Authorizes the VA Secretary to transfer amounts to carry out the corps to the Attorney General, the Chief of Engineers, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, DHS, and the Interior.

Directs the VA Secretary to establish a steering committee to establish selection criteria for, and provide advice to the VA Secretary on, the awarding of assistance under this Act.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Ensuring Veteran Safety Through Accountability Act of 2015

This bill expands the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to remove senior VA executives for performance or misconduct to include removal of VA health care professionals.

Date: 2015-04-28
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Reserve Survivor Benefit Equity Act

Makes the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity for survivors of members of the reserves who die from an injury or illness incurred or aggravated in the line of duty during inactive-duty training the same as the annuity for survivors of members of the regular Armed Forces who die in the line of duty while on active duty.

Prescribes the same increase with respect to the payment of an SBP annuity to a dependent child or children when there is no eligible surviving spouse.

 Declares that, for any death that occurred before the date of enactment of this Act for which an annuity is being paid (or could be paid) to a surviving spouse, the Secretary concerned may, within six months of that date and in consultation with the surviving spouse, provide an annuity for the dependent children of the decedent instead of an annuity for the surviving spouse.

Date: 2015-04-28
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Cold War Service Medal Act of 2015

Authorizes the military department concerned to issue the Cold War Service Medal to members of the Armed Forces who: (1) served on active duty for at least 24 consecutive months during the Cold War (September 2, 1945, through December 26, 1991); (2) were deployed outside the continental United States for at least 30 days during such period; (3) were members of a reserve component of the Armed Forces and were called or ordered to active duty to participate in exercises or operations directly related to the Cold War; or (4) performed other Cold War service as DOD may prescribe. Disqualifies any such person who was not discharged or released from the Armed Forces under under honorable conditions.

Expresses the sense of Congress that DOD should expedite the design and issuance of the Medal.

Date: 2015-04-28
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2015

Defines a "covered individual" as an individual who is a Vietnam resident and who: (1) is affected by health issues related to Agent Orange exposure which took place between January 1, 1961, and May 7, 1975; (2) lives or had lived in or near geographic areas in Vietnam that continue to contain high levels of Agent Orange; or (3) is affected by such health issues as the child or descendant of such an individual.

Directs the Secretary of State to provide assistance: (1) to address the health care needs of covered individuals, (2) to institutions in Vietnam that provide health care to such individuals, (3) to repair and rebuild substandard homes in Vietnam for covered individuals and their families, and (4) to remediate geographic areas of Vietnam that contain high levels of Agent Orange.

Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide assistance to support research relating to health issues of individuals affected by Agent Orange.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) make grants to appropriate public health organizations and Vietnamese-American organizations to conduct a broad health assessment of Vietnamese-Americans who may have been exposed to Agent Orange and their children or descendants; and (2) establish centers in U.S. locations where large populations of Vietnamese-Americans reside to provide assessment, counseling, and treatment for conditions related to Agent Orange exposure.

Amends veterans benefits provisions to provide benefits to the children of male (currently only female) Vietnam veterans who are affected by certain birth defects. Requires the VA Secretary to require any health care provider with whom the Secretary enters into a contract for the provision of health care to such children to provide the VA access to the medical records of such children for research into the intergenerational effects of Agent Orange exposure.

Date: 2015-04-29
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: International affairs
Veteran's Benefits Claims Faster Filing Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to post notices of average times for the processing of compensation claims, as well as the percentage of claims approved, in a conspicuous place in each VA regional office and claims intake facility and on the VA website.

Requires the Secretary to notify each person submitting a claim of the above information, as well as the person's eligibility to receive up to an extra year of benefit payments upon filing a claim that is fully developed.

Requires the notice information to be updated at least quarterly.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Helping Veterans Exposed to Burn Pits Act

 This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a center of excellence in the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, and rehabilitation of health conditions relating to exposure to open burn pits and other environmental exposures in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The VA shall, in selecting the site, consider entities that:

 are equipped with the specialized equipment needed to study, diagnose, and treat health conditions relating to such exposure; have a publication track record of post-deployment health exposures among veterans who served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom; have collaborated with a geosciences department that has a medical geology division; have developed animal models and in vitro models of dust immunology and lung injury consistent with the injuries of members of the Armed Forces who served in support of such Operations; and have expertise in allergy and immunology, pulmonary diseases, and industrial and management engineering. The VA shall ensure that the center collaborates with the Department of Defense (DOD), institutions of higher education, and other appropriate public and private entities to:

 provide for dissemination within the VA of best practices for the treatment of such conditions and the training of health professionals; provide guidance for the VA and DOD health systems in determining the personnel required to provide quality health care for members of the Armed Forces and veterans with such conditions; establish, implement, and oversee a comprehensive program to train VA and DOD health professionals in the treatment of such conditions; facilitate advancements in the study of the short-term and long-term effects of such exposure; conduct basic science and translational research on such conditions for the purposes of understanding the etiology of such conditions and developing preventive interventions and new treatments; and provide medical treatment to all veterans identified as part of the burn pits registry established under the Dignified Burial and Other Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012. The center shall have access to and make use of the data accumulated by such registry.

Date: 2015-05-05
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act This bill deems as active military service for Department of Veterans Affairs purposes any service as a member of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps between July 1, 1943, and December 15, 1945 (qualified service).

 The Department of Defense shall issue an honorable discharge within one year to each person whose qualified service warrants one.

 Retroactive benefits shall not be paid to persons as a result of enactment of this Act.

Date: 2015-05-12
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
VOW to Hire Heroes Extension Act of 2015

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) extend through 2018 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 Internal Revenue Service, in consultation with the Department of Labor, to make annual reports on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this Act in increasing the employment of veterans.

Requires the Department 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: 2015-05-12
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Jobs for Veterans Act of 2015

Establishes in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) a Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration (VEOTA), headed by the Under Secretary for Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition, to administer VA programs of economic opportunity assistance to veterans and their dependents and survivors.

Requires VEOTA to administer the following VA programs: (1) vocational rehabilitation and employment programs; (2) educational assistance programs; (3) veterans' housing loan and related programs; (4) veterans' small business programs, including the program to increase participation in VA contracts by small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans who have service-connected disabilities and by veterans who do not have such disabilities; (5) homeless veterans reintegration programs; (6) job counseling, training, and placement services; and (7) employment and employment rights of members of the uniformed services.

Limits the aggregate number of full-time equivalent employees authorized for VEOTA for FY2017-FY2018.

Transfers, as of October 1, 2016, to VA specified veterans-related programs of the Department of Labor, including: (1) job counseling, training, employment, and placement services; (2) administration of employment and reemployment rights of members of the uniformed services; and (3) homeless veterans reintegration programs.

Directs the President, for FY2017 and thereafter, to include in the budget request funding for the VA for such functions.

Establishes a Deputy Under Secretary for Veterans' Employment, Training and Transition.

Date: 2015-05-12
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Prioritizing Urgent Claims for Veterans Act

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in processing veterans claims for compensation, to provide priority over other claimants to: (1) veterans who have attained age 70, (2) veterans who are terminally ill, and (3) veterans who have life-threatening illnesses.

Date: 2015-05-13
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Honor Guardsmen and Reservists Act

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make available for purchase a memorial headstone or marker for the marked or unmarked grave of: (1) an individual who performed inactive duty training or active duty for training as a member of a reserve component, but did not serve on active duty and is not otherwise ineligible for a memorial headstone or marker on account of the nature of the individual's separation from the Armed Forces or other cause; or (2) such an individual whose remains are unavailable.

Date: 2015-05-13
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 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: 2015-05-14
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Hire A Hero Act of 2015

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow employers a work opportunity tax credit for hiring a member of the Ready Reserve or the National Guard, and (2) make such credit with respect to the hiring of qualified veterans and members of the Ready Reserve and National Guard permanent.

Date: 2015-05-19
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Demanding Accountability for Veterans Act of 2015

 Requires the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), at the same time the IG submits a report to the VA, to submit a copy of such report to the House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs, including: (1) an explanation of any changes to the report recommended by the VA Secretary, and (2) a list of each manager responsible for an issue in a report that recommends actions to address to a public health or safety issue in the VA.

Requires the VA: (1) within seven days after such submission, to notify each such manager of such issue; (2) to direct such manager to resolve the issue, (3) to provide the manager with appropriate counseling and a mitigation plan for resolving the issue; and (4) to ensure that the manager's performance review includes an evaluation of actions taken regarding such issue.

Prohibits the Secretary from paying a bonus or award to any such manager if such issue remains unresolved.

Date: 2015-05-20
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Bertie's Respect for National Cemeteries Act

This bill requires the appropriate federal official to take every reasonable action, including by searching public records, to ensure that a person who will be interred in a cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in Arlington National Cemetery is not ineligible for such interment by reason of having been convicted of a federal or state capital crime or a tier III sex offense.

The bill applies the requirement of the Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act for a written notice of a disqualifying felony conviction with respect to any interment or memorialization conducted, either before or after enactment of that Act.

The Department of Veterans Affairs shall: (1) disinter the remains of George E. Siple from Indiantown Gap National Cemetery (Pennsylvania); (2) notify his next of kin of the impending disinterment; and (3) upon disinterment, relinquish the remains to the next of kin or, if the next of kin of record is unavailable, arrange for the appropriate disposition of the remains.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Wounded Warrior Service Dog Act of 2015 Directs the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs (VA) to jointly establish the K-9 Companion Corps program for the awarding of grants to assist nonprofit organizations in establishing, planning, designing, and/or operating programs to provide assistance dogs to certain members of the Armed Forces and veterans who have certain disabilities. Defines "assistance dog" to mean a dog specifically trained to perform physical tasks to mitigate the effects of such a disability, except that such term does not include a dog specifically trained for comfort or personal defense.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Spouses Achieving College Education for Survivors Act of 2015 or ACES Act of 2015

This bill amends the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to deem any member of the Armed Forces who died between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2005, to have died on January 1, 2006, in order to make that member's surviving spouse eligible for the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry scholarship. (Surviving spouses of service members who die in the line of duty after September 11, 2001, are eligible for such assistance until the earlier of the date they remarry or the date that is 15 years after the military spouse's death.)

 A surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces who died between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2005, who elected before enactment of this Act to receive educational benefits under the Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance program or the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Frye program may revoke such choice. (Such an election is currently irrevocable.)

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veteran Wellness Act

 Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a two-year pilot program under which the VA makes grants to nonprofit veterans services organizations (VSOs) to: (1) upgrade their community facilities into health and wellness centers in at least 10 different geographic locations, and (2) promote and expand complementary and integrative wellness programs.

Directs the VA to give priority to locations in economically depressed areas that are not in close proximity to VA medical centers.

Requires a VSO, as a condition of receiving a grant, to agree to carry out the operation and maintenance of a facility that is repaired or constructed using grant funds for three years after completion of the repair or construction.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Paul A. Smithhisler Medal of Honor Act

This bill authorizes the President to award the Medal of Honor posthumously to Sergeant Paul A. Smithhisler for the acts of valor during World War I for which Sergeant Smithhisler originally was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

It is the sense of Congress that should the President award the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Paul A. Smithhisler, November 11, 2018, the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended formal hostilities in western Europe during World War I, would be an appropriate occasion upon which to make the award.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish headstones and markers for the graves of spouses and dependents of veterans buried in any cemetery in the United States if the spouses and dependents died on or after November 11, 1998.

Date: 2015-05-22
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Patriot Employer Tax Credit Act

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a Patriot employer a business-related tax credit for up to 10% of the first $15,000 of wages paid to any employee in a taxable year. Sets forth criteria for designation as a Patriot employer, including requirements that such employer: (1) maintains its headquarters in the United States and does not expatriate to avoid payment of U.S. income taxes, (2) complies with the employer mandate to provide minimum essential health care coverage to its employees under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (3) compensates at least 90% of its employees at a level that is 156% of the federal poverty level for a family of three and provides 90% of its employees with a basic level of retirement benefits, (4) provides for differential wage payments to its employees who are members of the Uniformed Services, and (5) increases the number of its employees performing substantially all of their services inside the United States to offset the number of employees who work outside the United States.

Sets forth a rule for the deferral of the tax deduction for foreign-related interest expense.

Date: 2015-06-02
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Fort McClellan Health Registry Act

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish and maintain a special record to be known as the Fort McClellan Health Registry containing the name of each individual who, while serving in the Armed Forces, was stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama, during the period beginning on January 1, 1935, and ending on May 20, 1999, and who: (1) applies for care or services from the VA; (2) files a claim for compensation on the basis of any disability which may be associated with such service; (3) dies and is survived by a spouse, child, or parent who files a claim for dependency and indemnity compensation on the basis of such service; (4) requests a health examination from the VA; or (5) receives such health examination and requests inclusion in the Registry. Requires the Secretary, upon request, to provide such health examination, as well as consultation and counseling with respect to examination results.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) notify individuals in the Registry of significant developments in research on the health consequences of potential exposure to a toxic substance or environmental hazard related to service at Fort McClellan; and (2) carry out appropriate outreach activities with respect to such health examinations, consultation, and counseling.

Date: 2015-06-02
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the House passed version is repeated here.)

(Sec. 2) This bill designates the arboretum at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, as the Phyllis E. Galanti Arboretum.

Date: 2015-06-09
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans National Remembrance Act

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in selecting a location for the establishment of a new national cemetery, to: (1) give priority to a state that does not have a national cemetery and that has the largest population of veterans among states without such a cemetery, and (2) ensure that such location is within 10 miles of a significant amount of the population to be served by such cemetery during the 25 years following its establishment.

Permits the Secretary, after establishing two national cemeteries, to waive the requirement of giving priority to a state that does not have a national cemetery if such waiver will allow the Secretary to establish a cemetery that will serve a larger population of veterans.

Date: 2015-06-09
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill requires that a military working dog be retired in the United States, except when a U.S. citizen living abroad adopts the dog at the time of retirement.

Amounts available to the military department concerned shall be available for such dog's transport to the United States for retirement.

Date: 2015-06-11
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Atomic Veterans Service Medal Act 

This bill directs the Secretary of Defense to design and produce an Atomic Veterans Service Medal to honor retired and former members of the Armed Forces who are radiation-exposed veterans.

The Secretary may provide for issuance of the Medal to the next-of-kin of a deceased radiation-exposed veteran.

Date: 2015-06-12
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veteran Employment Transition Act 

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) revise the definition of "qualified veteran" for purposes of the work opportunity tax credit to include recently discharged veterans, and (2) make permanent the work opportunity tax credit for qualified veterans.

Requires the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Guard to inform military personnel who are discharged or released from active duty of the work opportunity tax credit and provide them with documentation relating to eligibility for and use of such credit.

Requires DOD and the Departments of Labor and Veterans Affairs to enter into an agreement to govern the coordination of veteran job training services. Requires the Departments of Labor and Veterans Affairs to prepare reports on the veteran job training programs of their respective departments.

Amends the DOD pilot program for assessing the feasibility and advisability of permitting enlisted personnel to obtain civilian credentialing or licensing for skills required for military occupational specialties to require the designation as military occupational specialties of the MOS 31B Military Police, MOS 15Q AC-Air Traffic Controller, and the MOS 12M Fire Protection, in addition to not fewer than three and not more than five additional military occupational specialties.

Amends the Small Business Act to direct the head of each executive department to submit an annual report to the Small Business Administration containing the percentage of the total value of all prime contracts awarded by the executive department during the preceding one-year period to small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans.

Date: 2015-06-23
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Secure Legal Services for Veterans Act

This bill prohibits an individual who is not an agent or attorney from soliciting, contracting for, charging, or receiving any fee or compensation for services rendered in the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of an appeal before the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Board of Veterans' Appeals.

 Violators of such prohibition shall be fined, imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

 Amounts collected for such violations shall be deposited in the TBI Research and Initiatives Fund and remain available to the VA without fiscal year limitation for traumatic brain injury research and initiatives.

Date: 2015-06-23
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Andrew P. Carpenter Tax Act 

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income any amount attributable to the discharge of student loan indebtedness of a veteran who died as a result of a service-connected disability.

Date: 2015-06-24
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Taxation
Manufacturing American Defense Emblems Act or MADE Act

This bill requires the 100% U.S.-manufacture of any decorative object that depicts the seals for the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, the Armed Forces, the defense intelligence agencies, and any other defense agency.

Date: 2015-06-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Caregivers Access and Responsible Expansion for All Veterans Act or the CARE for All Veterans Act

Expands eligibility for the family caregiver program of the Department of Veterans Affairs to include members of the Armed Forces or veterans who are seriously injured or who became ill (or aggravated such injury or illness) on active duty before September 11, 2001 (currently, limited to service after September 11, 2001).

 Establishes three monthly caregiver stipend starting dates for pre-September 11, 2001, members of the Armed Forces or veterans based upon the amount and degree of personal care services provided.

 Includes among program eligibility criteria a veteran's need for regular or extensive instruction or supervision in completing two or more instrumental activities of daily living.

Date: 2015-06-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Disabled Veterans Red Tape Reduction Act

Amends the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003 to extend through 2018 Department of Veterans Affairs authority for the performance of medical disability evaluations by contract physicians.

Date: 2015-06-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Affairs Employee Accountability Act 

 Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure that no VA employee who knowingly violates any federal civil law or regulation, including one covered under the Federal Acquisition Regulation or the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Regulation, or any internal VA policy, receives any specified pay augmentation, incentive, or additional gift of any value (bonus).

Date: 2015-06-25
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Protect Veterans from Financial Fraud Act

This bill states that, in any case not involving negligent failure by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to investigate or monitor a fiduciary that results in fiduciary misuse of benefits, but in which any fiduciary misuses all or part of an individual's benefit paid to the fiduciary, the VA shall pay to the beneficiary or the beneficiary's successor fiduciary an amount equal to the amount of the misused benefit.

Date: 2015-07-08
Topic: Defense (Other)
Subject: Armed forces and national security