| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1912 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the repayment by the |
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| 6 | 6 | | Secretary of Veterans Affairs of benefits misused by a fiduciary, and |
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| 7 | 7 | | for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | MARCH6, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. C |
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| 11 | 11 | | ONNOLLY(for himself, Mr. CISCOMANI, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. NUNNof |
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| 12 | 12 | | Iowa, Ms. S |
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| 13 | 13 | | ALINAS, and Ms. TLAIB) introduced the following bill; which |
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| 14 | 14 | | was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the |
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| 17 | 17 | | repayment by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of bene- |
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| 18 | 18 | | fits misused by a fiduciary, and for other purposes. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veteran Fraud Reim-4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | bursement Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1912.IH H1912 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | •HR 1912 IH |
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| 27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT TO REPAYMENT BY SECRETARY OF 1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | VETERANS AFFAIRS OF CERTAIN MISUSED 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | BENEFITS. 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | Section 6107 of title 38, United States Code, is 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | amended to read as follows: 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | ‘‘§ 6107. Reissuance of benefits 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | ‘‘(a) R |
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| 34 | 34 | | EISSUANCE OFMISUSEDBENEFITS.—(1) In 7 |
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| 35 | 35 | | any case in which a fiduciary misuses all or part of an 8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | individual’s benefit paid to such fiduciary, the Secretary 9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | shall pay to the beneficiary or the beneficiary’s successor 10 |
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| 38 | 38 | | fiduciary an amount equal to the amount of such benefit 11 |
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| 39 | 39 | | so misused. 12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ‘‘(2) In any case in which the Secretary reissues a 13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | benefit payment (in whole or in part) under paragraph (1), 14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | the Secretary shall make a good faith effort to obtain 15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | recoupment from the fiduciary to whom the payment was 16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | originally made. 17 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ‘‘(3) In any case in which the Secretary obtains 18 |
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| 46 | 46 | | recoupment from a fiduciary who has misused benefits, 19 |
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| 47 | 47 | | the Secretary shall promptly remit payment of the re-20 |
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| 48 | 48 | | couped amounts to the beneficiary or the beneficiary’s suc-21 |
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| 49 | 49 | | cessor fiduciary, as the case may be, to the extent that 22 |
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| 50 | 50 | | such amounts have not been paid under paragraph (1). 23 |
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| 51 | 51 | | ‘‘(b) R |
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| 52 | 52 | | EISSUANCE OFAMOUNTS IN THE CASE OF A 24 |
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| 53 | 53 | | D |
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| 54 | 54 | | ECEASEDBENEFICIARY.—(1) If a beneficiary described 25 |
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| 55 | 55 | | in subsection (a)(1) predeceases a payment under such 26 |
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| 57 | 57 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •HR 1912 IH |
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| 59 | 59 | | subsection, the Secretary shall pay such amount, subject 1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | to paragraph (2), to an individual or entity in accordance 2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | with section 5121 of this title. 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(2) The Secretary may not make a payment under 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | this subsection to a fiduciary who misused benefits of the 5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | beneficiary. 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | ‘‘(c) L |
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| 66 | 66 | | IMITATION ONTOTALAMOUNTPAID.—The 7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | total of the amounts paid to a beneficiary or the bene-8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ficiary’s successor fiduciary under this section may not ex-9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | ceed the total benefit amount misused by the fiduciary 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | with respect to that beneficiary. 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | ‘‘(d) O |
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| 72 | 72 | | VERSIGHT OF NEGLIGENCE.—(1) The Sec-12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | retary shall establish methods and timing with respect to 13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | determining whether an instance of misuse by a fiduciary, 14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | of all or part of an individual’s benefit paid to such fidu-15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | ciary, is the result of negligence by the Secretary. 16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | ‘‘(2) The Secretary may not withhold the reissuing 17 |
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| 78 | 78 | | of a benefit payment under subsection (a)(1) by reason 18 |
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| 79 | 79 | | of a pending determination under paragraph (1). 19 |
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| 80 | 80 | | ‘‘(3) The Secretary is not required to make a deter-20 |
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| 81 | 81 | | mination under paragraph (1) for each instance of misuse 21 |
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| 82 | 82 | | by a fiduciary, of all or part of an individual’s benefit paid 22 |
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| 83 | 83 | | to such fiduciary.’’. 23 |
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| 84 | 84 | | Æ |
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| 85 | 85 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Mar 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1912.IH H1912 |
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| 86 | 86 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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