I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1391
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide restoration of entitlement
to educational assistance to individuals defrauded by educational institu-
tions receiving payment on behalf of such individuals under the laws
administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and to provide repay-
ment of funds to the Secretary from such educational institutions, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY14, 2025
Mrs. R
AMIREZ(for herself, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms.
B
UDZINSKI, Mr. GARCI´Aof Illinois, Mr. FROST, and Mr. GRIJALVA) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Vet-
erans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide restoration
of entitlement to educational assistance to individuals
defrauded by educational institutions receiving payment
on behalf of such individuals under the laws administered
by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and to provide
repayment of funds to the Secretary from such edu-
cational institutions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Veteran Ben-2
efit Restoration Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 4
THAT RECEIVE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE 5
FROM PROGRAMS ADMINISTERED BY THE 6
SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 36 of 8
title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 9
end the following new section: 10
‘‘§ 3699C. Restoration of entitlement for pursuit of 11
courses or programs of education at cer-12
tain educational institutions 13
‘‘(a) R
ESTORATION OF ENTITLEMENT.—The Sec-14
retary shall determine that any payment of covered edu-15
cational assistance for the pursuit by a covered individual 16
of a course or program of education at an educational in-17
stitution occurring during a period set forth under sub-18
section (b) is not— 19
‘‘(1) charged against any entitlement of the 20
covered individual to the covered educational assist-21
ance; or 22
‘‘(2) counted against the aggregate period for 23
which section 3695 of this title limits the receipt of 24
educational assistance by the covered individual. 25
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‘‘(b) COVEREDPERIODS.—A period set forth under 1
this subsection with respect to a course or program of edu-2
cation pursued by a covered individual at an educational 3
institution is any of the following: 4
‘‘(1) Any period, occurring on or after the date 5
of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-6
toration Act of 2025, in which the educational insti-7
tution was not approved by a State approving agen-8
cy or the Secretary acting as a State approving 9
agency, including periods in which an educational in-10
stitution is not approved because an approval is re-11
voked. 12
‘‘(2) Any period, occurring on or after the date 13
of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-14
toration Act of 2025, with regards to which the Sec-15
retary has made a final determination that the edu-16
cational institution, or the owner of the educational 17
institution, was in violation during such period of an 18
applicable provision of section 3696 of this title. 19
‘‘(3) Any period, occurring on or after the date 20
of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-21
toration Act of 2025, during which a court of com-22
petent jurisdiction found the educational institution 23
guilty of, or liable for, fraud. 24
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‘‘(4) Any period, occurring on or after the date 1
of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-2
toration Act of 2025, during which the educational 3
institution was closed by the Department of Justice 4
on the basis of fraud or a violation of a provision of 5
Federal or State law. 6
‘‘(5) Any period occurring on or after the date 7
of enactment of the Student Veteran Benefit Res-8
toration Act of 2025— 9
‘‘(A) during which the educational institu-10
tion engaged in fraud; and 11
‘‘(B) after which the educational institu-12
tion closes. 13
‘‘(c) R
EPAYMENT OFFUNDS.—(1) As a condition of 14
the approval of a course or program of education under 15
this chapter, the educational institution offering the 16
course or program shall agree that if the educational insti-17
tution receives payment of covered educational assistance 18
for a covered individual to pursue a course or program 19
of education at the educational institution and the Sec-20
retary, pursuant to subsection (a), restores to such cov-21
ered individual some portion of the entitlement of the cov-22
ered individual to such covered educational assistance, the 23
educational institution shall repay to the Secretary the 24
amount of that portion of the covered educational assist-25
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ance that the educational institution received for that indi-1
vidual. 2
‘‘(2) In the case of an educational institution that has 3
been found guilty of, or liable for, fraud by a court of com-4
petent jurisdiction and is ordered to pay financial relief 5
to the Federal Government, the Secretary may file a claim 6
with the Department of the Treasury for recoupment of 7
all amounts of educational assistance received by such 8
educational institution pursuant to the educational assist-9
ance programs administered by the Secretary that the 10
Secretary determines were obtained through such fraud. 11
‘‘(d) A
PPEALS.—(1) The Secretary shall establish a 12
process by which an educational institution or the owner 13
of an educational institution that is subject to a finding 14
by the Secretary that the educational institution is re-15
quired to repay an amount under subsection (c) may re-16
quest a review of such finding. 17
‘‘(2) The process established pursuant to paragraph 18
(1) shall be distinct and separate from the process estab-19
lished under section 3696(i) of this title. 20
‘‘(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
‘‘(1) The term ‘covered educational assistance’ 22
means educational assistance under chapter 30, 31, 23
32, 33, or 35 of this title, or chapter 1606 or 1607 24
of title 10. 25
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‘‘(2) The term ‘covered individual’ means a vet-1
eran or other individual using covered educational 2
assistance to pursue a course or program of edu-3
cation that has been approved under this chapter. 4
‘‘(3) The term ‘fraud’ means fraud or another 5
false, misleading, or deceptive act or omission.’’. 6
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 7
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 8
after the item relating to section 3699B the following new 9
item: 10
‘‘3699C. Restoration of entitlement for pursuit of courses or programs of edu-
cation at certain educational institutions.’’.
Æ
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