I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2722
To limit the deferral or transfer of Federal funds made available to the
Department of Veterans Affairs, to limit layoffs and other personnel
actions at the Department, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL8, 2025
Mr. K
ENNEDYof New York (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. THANEDAR, Mrs.
D
INGELL, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. LANDSMAN, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mrs. RAMI-
REZ, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Mr. MANNION, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ,
Ms. W
ILLIAMSof Georgia, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. BUDZINSKI, Mr. RUIZ, Ms.
S
EWELL, and Ms. CROCKETT) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To limit the deferral or transfer of Federal funds made
available to the Department of Veterans Affairs, to limit
layoffs and other personnel actions at the Department,
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA Funding and 4
Workforce Protection Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON DEFERRAL OR TRANSFER OF FED-1
ERAL FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE FOR DEPART-2
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-4
sion of law, including the Impoundment Control Act of 5
1974, discretionary appropriations made available for the 6
Department of Veterans Affairs (in this Act referred to 7
as the ‘‘Department’’), including the Veterans Health Ad-8
ministration, may not be impounded, transferred, or re-9
programmed unless specific statutory authority is enacted 10
into law after the date of the enactment of this Act, with 11
express reference to this Act, permitting such impound-12
ment, transfer, or reprogramming. 13
(b) N
OTIFICATION.—The Secretary of the Depart-14
ment of Veterans Affairs (in this Act referred to as the 15
‘‘Secretary’’) shall notify the Committees on Veterans’ Af-16
fairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate if 17
the Secretary determines that the Department is within 18
30 days of having a shortfall of funding. 19
SEC. 3. PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS FOR DEPARTMENT OF 20
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 21
(a) E
XEMPTIONFROMHIRINGFREEZE.—The De-22
partment shall be exempt from any hiring freeze issued 23
by the President, the Secretary, or the Director of the Of-24
fice of Personnel Management during the period beginning 25
on January 20, 2025, and ending on January 20, 2029. 26
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(b) REINSTATEMENT OF VETERANS.—With respect 1
to any veteran (as that term is defined in section 101 of 2
title 38, United States Code) who was a career employee 3
of the Department and whom the Secretary removed from 4
employment with the Department during the period begin-5
ning on January 20, 2025, and ending on the date of the 6
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 7
(1) reinstate such veteran to the position (or 8
equivalent position) such veteran occupied on the 9
date that is one day before the date of removal; and 10
(2) exempt such veteran from separation under 11
any reduction in force that occurs before January 12
20, 2029. 13
(c) L
IMITATION ONLAYOFFS.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall submit 15
written notice, to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-16
fairs of the House of Representatives and the Sen-17
ate, not later than 15 days before the date that the 18
Department will remove any officer or employee 19
under a reduction in force or an agency reorganiza-20
tion. 21
(2) P
ROBATIONARY EMPLOYEES .— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 23
other provision of law, no employee of the De-24
partment in probationary status may be re-25
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moved from a position at the Department with-1
out the enactment into law after the date of the 2
enactment of this section, with express ref-3
erence to this section, permitting such removal. 4
(B) N
OTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall 5
submit to Congress— 6
(i) on the date the Secretary removes 7
a probationary employee for poor perform-8
ance, a report that includes the reasons for 9
the removal, the employee’s most recent 10
performance appraisal, and the removal 11
notice submitted to the employee; and 12
(ii) not later than 30 days after the 13
date of the enactment of this Act and 14
every 30 days thereafter, a list of any pro-15
bationary employees at the Department 16
that received a removal notice during the 17
period covered by the report. 18
SEC. 4. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE. 19
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-20
ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary 21
shall certify (in writing), to the Committees on Appropria-22
tions of the House of Representatives and the Senate and 23
the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-24
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resentatives and the Senate, that the Secretary is in com-1
pliance with the requirements of this Act. 2
Æ
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