II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1068
To amend title 5 and title 38, United States Code, to put veteran and
military families first and to provide protections for employees, benefits,
and programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH13, 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL(for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mrs. GILLI-
BRAND, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. KAINE, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Mr.
S
CHIFF, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. HIRONO,
Mr. K
ELLY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr.
L
UJA´N, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. VANHOLLEN) intro-
duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 5 and title 38, United States Code, to put
veteran and military families first and to provide protec-
tions for employees, benefits, and programs of the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Putting Veterans First Act of 2025’’. 5
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(b) TABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1
this Act is as follows: 2
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
TITLE I—PUTTING VETERAN AND MILITARY FAMILIES FIRST
Sec. 101. Reinstatement of members of the military community who were Fed-
eral employees.
Sec. 102. Protection for members of the military community who were Federal
employees.
Sec. 103. Report on members of the military community in the civil service.
Sec. 104. Comptroller General report on military community employment.
TITLE II—DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEES
Subtitle A—Protections
Sec. 201. Limitations on hiring freezes at Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 202. Limitations on closing offices at Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 203. Limitations on changes to telework and remote work at Department
of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 204. Limitations on changes to final job offers at Department of Veterans
Affairs.
Subtitle B—Reporting
Sec. 205. Notice and justification required before reduction in force at Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 206. Department of Veterans Affairs personnel reporting.
Sec. 207. Department of Veterans Affairs research personnel reporting.
Sec. 208. Prohibition on individuals serving as Secretary of Veterans Affairs
from also serving as heads of other Federal agencies.
Sec. 209. Office of Special Counsel.
Sec. 210. Office of Government Ethics.
Subtitle C—Restoring Accountability and Services
Sec. 211. Report on effects of removing essential programs, offices, and services
from Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 212. Restoring Department of Veterans Affairs programs, offices, and
services affected since the beginning of the second Trump Ad-
ministration.
TITLE III—PROTECTIONS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS
Sec. 301. Nominations to Merit Systems Protection Board.
Sec. 302. Modifications to appeal rights for probationary employees.
Sec. 303. Authority to retract offers and contracts relating to deferred resigna-
tions.
Sec. 304. Limitation on changes to competitive service categories of positions.
TITLE IV—MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR CIVIL SERVANTS
Sec. 401. Mental health services.
Sec. 402. Mental health services for current civil servants.
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TITLE V—EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE FOR CIVIL SERVANTS
Sec. 501. Employment assistance.
Sec. 502. Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Labor work
on employment opportunities for members of the military com-
munity.
TITLE VI—DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY
Sec. 601. Limitation on access to veteran and department information, systems,
and data.
Sec. 602. Limitation on application of certain Executive Orders relating to De-
partment of Government Efficiency at Department of Veterans
Affairs.
Sec. 603. Report on compliance with limitation on access to veteran and De-
partment of Veterans Affairs information, systems, and data
and Inspector General review.
TITLE VII—FINANCIAL NEEDS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS
Sec. 701. Definition; rule of construction.
Sec. 702. Report on financial effect of the Department of Government Effi-
ciency on the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 703. Reinstatement of contracts and review of mass contract cancellations.
Sec. 704. Limitations on mass contract cancellations.
Sec. 705. Charge card program of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
TITLE VIII—REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Sec. 801. Requirement for Veterans Benefits Administration Monday Morning
Workload Report.
Sec. 802. Improvements regarding periodic publication of metrics relating to
processing of appeals.
Sec. 803. Publication of wait times for community care from Department of
Veterans Affairs.
Sec. 804. Period for Secretary of Veterans Affairs to respond to questions sub-
mitted by members of certain congressional committees.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
1
In this Act: 2
(1) A
GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 3
meaning given that term in section 3330d of title 5, 4
United States Code. 5
(2) C
AREGIVER.—The term ‘‘caregiver’’ means 6
an adult family member or other individual who has 7
a significant relationship with, and who provides a 8
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broad range of assistance to, a wounded, ill, injured, 1
or disabled member of the Armed Forces or veteran 2
or a dependent of such a member or veteran with a 3
chronic or other health condition, disability, or func-4
tional limitation. 5
(3) C
IVIL SERVICE.—The term ‘‘civil service’’ 6
has the meaning given that term in section 2101 of 7
title 5, United States Code. 8
(4) D
EMOTION.—The term ‘‘demotion’’ means 9
a reduction in grade (as defined in section 7511(a) 10
of title 5, United States Code). 11
(5) M
EMBER OF THE ARMED FORCES .—The 12
term ‘‘member of the armed forces’’ has the mean-13
ing given that term in 315.612(b)(4) of title 5, Code 14
of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto. 15
(6) M
ILITARY SPOUSE.—The term ‘‘military 16
spouse’’ means— 17
(A) the husband or wife of a member of 18
the armed forces; 19
(B) the husband or wife of a retired, to-20
tally disabled, or separated member of the 21
armed forces; or 22
(C) the widow or widower of a member of 23
the armed forces killed while performing active 24
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duty or who died from a service-connected in-1
jury or illness. 2
(7) R
EMOVAL.—The term ‘‘removal’’ means re-3
moving an individual from the civil service. 4
(8) R
ESERVE COMPONENT .—The term ‘‘reserve 5
component’’ has the meaning given that term in sec-6
tion 101 of title 38, United States Code. 7
(9) S
USPENSION.—The term ‘‘suspension’’ 8
means the placing an individual in a temporary sta-9
tus without duties and pay for a period of longer 10
than 7 days. 11
(10) S
URVIVOR.—The term ‘‘survivor’’ means a 12
family member of a member of the armed forces or 13
veteran who died while on active duty or after mili-14
tary retirement or of a service-connected injury or 15
illness. 16
(11) V
ETERAN.— 17
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 18
subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘veteran’’ means a 19
person who served on active duty as a member 20
of the armed forces, regardless of length of 21
service, and who was discharged or released 22
therefrom. 23
(B) E
XCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ 24
does not include a person who— 25
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(i) received a dishonorable discharge 1
from the Armed Forces; or 2
(ii) was discharged or dismissed from 3
the Armed Forces by reason of the sen-4
tence of a general court-martial. 5
TITLE I—PUTTING VETERAN 6
AND MILITARY FAMILIES FIRST 7
SEC. 101. REINSTATEMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY 8
COMMUNITY WHO WERE FEDERAL EMPLOY-9
EES. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Any removal, demotion, or sus-11
pension of a veteran, military spouse, caregiver, survivor, 12
or member of a reserve component who was serving in a 13
position in the civil service that occurred during the period 14
beginning on January 20, 2025, and ending on the date 15
of enactment of this Act shall have no force or effect. 16
(b) B
ACKPAY ANDRESUMPTION OF BENEFITS.— 17
Any person whose removal, demotion, or suspension is ren-18
dered without force or effect under subsection (a) shall— 19
(1) receive back pay for any pay not received by 20
the person during the period beginning on the date 21
of the removal, suspension, or demotion and ending 22
on the date of enactment of this Act; and 23
(2) have benefits restored, retroactive to the 24
date of the removal, demotion, or suspension. 25
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(c) ELECTIONTORESIGN.—At the election of a per-1
son whose removal, demotion, or suspension is rendered 2
without force or effect under subsection (a), at any time 3
after the date of enactment of this Act, the person may 4
resign from the position of the person in the civil service, 5
which shall not affect the obligation to provide back pay 6
or the resumption of benefits with respect to the period 7
beginning on the date of the removal, demotion, or suspen-8
sion and ending on the date of enactment of this Act. 9
SEC. 102. PROTECTION FOR MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY 10
COMMUNITY WHO WERE FEDERAL EMPLOY-11
EES. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Any veteran, military spouse, 13
caregiver, survivor, or member of a reserve component who 14
is in a position in the civil service may not be removed, 15
demoted, or suspended— 16
(1) as a part of a group of more than 5 persons 17
who are being removed, demoted, or suspended on 18
the same day by the agency employing the persons; 19
(2) without providing a notification to the di-20
rect supervisor of the veteran, military spouse, care-21
giver, survivor, or member of a reserve component 22
not less than 10 business days before the removal, 23
demotion, or suspension, unless the supervisor ad-24
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vises or approves the removal, demotion, or suspen-1
sion; 2
(3) on the basis of performance, unless the vet-3
eran, military spouse, caregiver, survivor, or member 4
of a reserve component has received at least 1 per-5
formance rating at or below level 2 or minimally sat-6
isfactory (or a similar equivalent level) during the 1- 7
year period ending on the date of the removal, demo-8
tion, or suspension; or 9
(4) if the removal, demotion, or suspension 10
would result in a greater than 50 percent vacancy 11
rate for the office or position of the veteran, military 12
spouse, caregiver, survivor, or member of a reserve 13
component or a significant reduction or elimination 14
of the duties being carried out by the veteran, mili-15
tary spouse, caregiver, survivor, or member of a re-16
serve component, without approval by the direct su-17
pervisor of the veteran, military spouse, caregiver, 18
survivor, or member of a reserve component. 19
(b) R
EVIEW.—Not later than 10 days after the date 20
of the removal, demotion, or suspension of any veteran, 21
military spouse, caregiver, survivor, or member of a re-22
serve component in a position the civil service, the re-23
moval, demotion, or suspension shall be referred to the 24
Merit Systems Protection Board or the Office of Special 25
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Counsel, unless the individual agrees to waive the right 1
to such a referral. 2
SEC. 103. REPORT ON MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY COMMU-3
NITY IN THE CIVIL SERVICE. 4
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 5
of this Act, and not later than 90 days after the end of 6
each fiscal year thereafter, each agency shall submit to 7
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the Committee on 8
Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and 9
the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 10
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af-11
fairs, the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 12
on Appropriations, and the Committee on Homeland Secu-13
rity of the House of Representatives the following informa-14
tion: 15
(1) The number of veterans, military spouses, 16
caregivers, survivors, and members of a reserve com-17
ponent who, during the prior fiscal year— 18
(A) were hired by the agency, 19
disaggregated by those who were serving at a 20
different agency immediately before being hired 21
by the agency and those hired from outside the 22
Federal Government; 23
(B) separated from service with the agen-24
cy, disaggregated by those who were hired by 25
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another agency and those who were not hired 1
by another agency; or 2
(C) were removed by the agency. 3
(2) The number of veterans, military spouses, 4
caregivers, survivors, and members of a reserve com-5
ponent who, as of the end of the prior fiscal year, 6
were employed by the agency. 7
(3) Data regarding any directed efforts or in-8
centives utilized to recruit or retain veterans, mili-9
tary spouses, caregivers, survivors, and members of 10
a reserve component during the prior fiscal year. 11
(4) For the second report under this section, 12
and each report thereafter, data on changes to the 13
number of veterans, military spouses, caregivers, 14
survivors, or members of a reserve component hired 15
by, separated from, or were employed by the agency, 16
as compared to the most recent report. 17
SEC. 104. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON MILITARY 18
COMMUNITY EMPLOYMENT. 19
Not later than April 1, 2027, the Comptroller Gen-20
eral of the United States shall submit to the Committee 21
on Veterans’ Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, 22
the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on 23
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen-24
ate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the Com-25
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mittee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed Serv-1
ices, and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 2
House of Representatives and publicly issue a report re-3
garding employment of military community members by 4
the Federal Government, which shall— 5
(1) include a review of employment of veterans, 6
military spouses, caregivers, survivors, and members 7
of a reserve component by the Federal Government 8
during fiscal years 2024 and 2025; 9
(2) review the period of service in positions in 10
the civil service by veterans, military spouses, care-11
givers, survivors, and members of a reserve compo-12
nent and the rate of removal, suspension, or demo-13
tion of veterans, military spouses, caregivers, sur-14
vivors, and members of a reserve component from 15
positions in the civil service, as compared to other 16
individuals in positions in the civil service; and 17
(3) describe any changes in employment of vet-18
erans, military spouses, caregivers, survivors, and 19
members of a reserve component across agencies be-20
tween the end of fiscal year 2024 and the end of fis-21
cal year 2025. 22
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TITLE II—DEPARTMENT OF 1
VETERANS AFFAIRS EMPLOYEES 2
Subtitle A—Protections 3
SEC. 201. LIMITATIONS ON HIRING FREEZES AT DEPART-4
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 5
(a) L
IMITATION.—Neither a position nor an employee 6
at the Department of Veterans Affairs may be subject to 7
a hiring freeze, hiring prohibition, or similar policy— 8
(1) unless the Secretary determines that un-9
filled positions or lack of staff subject to such a 10
freeze will not result in increased costs to the De-11
partment; and 12
(2) until the date that is 90 days after the date 13
that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs submits a re-14
port regarding the hiring freeze pursuant to sub-15
section (b). 16
(b) R
EPORT.—Before issuing any hiring freeze, hir-17
ing prohibition, or similar policy, the Secretary of Vet-18
erans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ 19
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af-20
fairs of the House of Representatives a report on the hir-21
ing strategy of the Secretary and budgetary proof that 22
such a freeze, hiring prohibition, or similar policy will not 23
cause increased costs to the Department. 24
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SEC. 202. LIMITATIONS ON CLOSING OFFICES AT DEPART-1
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 2
(a) P
ROHIBITION.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-3
fairs may not remove, close, or realign any office or pro-4
gram of the Department of Veterans Affairs except pursu-5
ant to a provision of law that specifically authorizes such 6
removal, closure, or realignment. 7
(b) N
OTIFICATIONREQUIRED.—Whenever the Sec-8
retary removes, closes, or realigns an office or program 9
of the Department, the Secretary shall, not later than 1 10
year before the date on which the Secretary commences 11
such removal, closure, or realignment, submit to the Com-12
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com-13
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa-14
tives notice of the intent of the Secretary to carry out such 15
removal, closure, or realignment. 16
(c) A
SSISTANCE FORDISPLACEDEMPLOYEES.—In 17
any case in which an employee of the Department is dis-18
placed by the removal, closure, or realignment of an office 19
or program of the Department, the Secretary shall make 20
a significant effort to find another employment oppor-21
tunity for the employee within the Department. 22
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SEC. 203. LIMITATIONS ON CHANGES TO TELEWORK AND 1
REMOTE WORK AT DEPARTMENT OF VET-2
ERANS AFFAIRS. 3
(a) N
OTICEREQUIRED.—The Secretary of Veterans 4
Affairs may not take any action to change to a telework 5
or remote work policy of the Department of Veterans Af-6
fairs until after the date that is 1 year after the date on 7
which the Secretary— 8
(1) submits to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-9
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 10
Affairs of the House of Representatives notice of the 11
intent of the Secretary to take such action or make 12
such change; and 13
(2) transmits notice of such intent to the fol-14
lowing: 15
(A) Labor organizations that represent em-16
ployees of the Department. 17
(B) The employees of the Department who 18
would be affected by such action or change. 19
(b) E
NFORCEMENT.—A violation of subsection (a) 20
against an employee of the Department of Veterans Af-21
fairs shall be treated, under section 505 of the Rehabilita-22
tion Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794a), as a violation of sec-23
tion 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 24
791) against an aggrieved employee described in sub-25
section (a) of that section. 26
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SEC. 204. LIMITATIONS ON CHANGES TO FINAL JOB OF-1
FERS AT DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-2
FAIRS. 3
(a) L
IMITATIONS.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-4
fairs may not rescind or make any change to a final offer 5
of employment with the Department of Veterans Affairs 6
for any reason that is not directly related to an action 7
or quality of the individual to whom the offer of employ-8
ment was extended. 9
(b) R
EMEDIES.—A rescission or change made in vio-10
lation of subsection (a) may be appealed to the Merit Sys-11
tems Protection Board in accordance with the procedures 12
under section 7701 of title 5, United States Code. 13
Subtitle B—Reporting 14
SEC. 205. NOTICE AND JUSTIFICATION REQUIRED BEFORE 15
REDUCTION IN FORCE AT DEPARTMENT OF 16
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days before 18
commencing any effort to carry out a reduction in force, 19
or similar action under a different name, at the Depart-20
ment of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Veterans Af-21
fairs shall submit a justification for the reduction in force 22
or similar action to the following: 23
(1) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and 24
the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 25
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(2) The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and 1
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 2
Representatives. 3
(3) The labor organizations that represent em-4
ployees of the Department. 5
(4) Each employee of the Department who will 6
be affected by the reduction in force or similar ac-7
tion. 8
(b) C
ONTENTS.—Each justification submitted pursu-9
ant to subsection (a) for a reduction in force or similar 10
action shall include the following: 11
(1) For each employee or position that will be 12
terminated pursuant to the reduction in force or 13
similar action, the following: 14
(A) Documentation and analysis used to 15
determine that the termination will not reduce 16
or negatively affect delivery of care or benefits 17
for veterans. 18
(B) Documentation and analysis used to 19
determine that the termination will not cost the 20
Department or the Federal Government more 21
than if the Department were to retain the posi-22
tion or employee. 23
(C) Cost estimate, strategic plan, analysis, 24
and any other relevant information or docu-25
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mentation the Secretary used to determine the 1
need to terminate the employee or position. 2
(2) The planned timeline for the reduction in 3
force or similar action and the methodology the Sec-4
retary will use to track the actual effects of the re-5
duction in force or similar action. 6
(3) Options for changing the plans of the Sec-7
retary and a strategy should an unexpected negative 8
impact to veterans occur from the planned actions. 9
SEC. 206. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PER-10
SONNEL REPORTING. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 505 of the John S. 12
McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson VA 13
Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Inte-14
grated Outside Networks Act of 2018 (Public Law 115– 15
182; 38 U.S.C. 301 note) is amended— 16
(1) in subsection (a)— 17
(A) in paragraph (1)— 18
(i) in the matter before subparagraph 19
(A), by striking ‘‘information,’’ and all 20
that follows through ‘‘facility:’’ and insert-21
ing ‘‘information:’’; 22
(ii) in subparagraph (B)— 23
(I) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ before ‘‘The 24
number’’; and 25
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(II) by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing new clause: 2
‘‘(ii) Information made available under this 3
subparagraph shall be updated not less fre-4
quently than once each quarter to account for 5
delays in data processing and shall reflect the 6
most recently available data.’’; 7
(iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 8
‘‘vacancies, by occupation.’’ and inserting 9
‘‘positions currently undergoing a recruit-10
ment action, disaggregated by occupation 11
and by stage of recruitment, including 12
Manager Request Initiation Stage, recruit-13
ment stage, onboarding stage, and waiting 14
to start stage, or successor stages if modi-15
fied.’’; 16
(iv) in subparagraph (E)(iii), by strik-17
ing ‘‘potential hires or’’; and 18
(v) by adding at the end the following 19
new subparagraph: 20
‘‘(F) The number of positions vacated dur-21
ing the quarter for which the Department has 22
not initiated a recruitment action, including the 23
date the position was vacated, disaggregated by 24
occupation.’’; 25
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(B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 1
paragraph (6); 2
(C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 3
following new paragraph (5): 4
‘‘(5) D
ISPLAY OF INFORMATION .—The display 5
of information made publicly available on an internet 6
website of the Department pursuant to paragraph 7
(1), shall be disaggregated— 8
‘‘(A) by departmental component; 9
‘‘(B) in the case of information relating to 10
Veterans Health Administration positions, by 11
medical facility; and 12
‘‘(C) in the case of information relating to 13
Veterans Benefits Administration positions, by 14
regional office.’’; and 15
(D) in paragraph (6), as redesignated by 16
subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘shall’’ and all 17
that follows and inserting ‘‘shall— 18
‘‘(A) review the administration of the 19
website required under paragraph (1); 20
‘‘(B) develop recommendations relating to 21
the improvement of such administration; and 22
‘‘(C) submit to the Committee on Vet-23
erans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 24
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on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Represent-1
atives a report containing— 2
‘‘(i) the findings of the Inspector Gen-3
eral with respect to the most recent review 4
conducted under subparagraph (A); and 5
‘‘(ii) the recommendations most re-6
cently developed under subparagraph 7
(B).’’; and 8
(2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-9
lows: 10
‘‘(b) A
NNUALREPORT.—Each year, the Secretary 11
shall submit to Congress an annual report that includes 12
the following: 13
‘‘(1) A description of the steps the Department 14
is taking to achieve full staffing capacity. 15
‘‘(2) A description of the actions the Depart-16
ment is taking to improve the onboard timeline for 17
facilities of the Department, including— 18
‘‘(A) in the case of facilities of the Vet-19
erans Health Administration, for facilities for 20
which the duration of the onboarding process 21
exceeds the metrics laid out in the Time to Hire 22
Model of the Veterans Health Administration, 23
or successor model; and 24
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‘‘(B) in the case of the Veterans Benefits 1
Administration, for regional offices that exceed 2
the time-to-hire target of the Office of Per-3
sonnel Management. 4
‘‘(3) The amount of additional funds necessary 5
to enable the Department to reach full staffing ca-6
pacity. 7
‘‘(4) Such recommendations for legislative or 8
administrative action as the Secretary may have in 9
order to achieve full staffing capacity at the Depart-10
ment.’’. 11
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 12
subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact-13
ment of this Act and shall apply with respect to the first 14
update under section 505(a)(3) of such Act beginning 15
after the date of the enactment of this Act and each up-16
date thereafter. 17
SEC. 207. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS RESEARCH 18
PERSONNEL REPORTING. 19
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-20
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 21
submit to Congress a report that includes— 22
(1) the number of Department of Veterans Af-23
fairs research employees who were terminated from 24
the Department since January 20, 2025; 25
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(2) the number of Department research employ-1
ees who had their term limits shortened since Janu-2
ary 20, 2025; and 3
(3) a list of the research studies the employees 4
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) were working 5
on. 6
SEC. 208. PROHIBITION ON INDIVIDUALS SERVING AS SEC-7
RETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FROM ALSO 8
SERVING AS HEADS OF OTHER FEDERAL 9
AGENCIES. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 303 of title 38, United 11
States Code, is amended— 12
(1) by striking ‘‘There is’’ and inserting the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is’’; and 15
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-16
sections: 17
‘‘(b) P
ROHIBITION.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 19
provision of law, including any provision of sub-20
chapter III of chapter 33 of title 5, an individual 21
who is serving as the Secretary, regardless of wheth-22
er such service is pursuant to an appointment made 23
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate or 24
such service is in an acting capacity, may not serve 25
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as the head of any other Executive agency, either 1
pursuant to an appointment made by and with the 2
advice and consent of the Senate or in an acting ca-3
pacity, while serving as the Secretary. 4
‘‘(2) E
FFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE .— 5
‘‘(A) R
EMOVAL FROM OFFICE .—An indi-6
vidual serving as the Secretary who is not in 7
compliance with subsection (a) is hereby re-8
moved from the position of Secretary. 9
‘‘(B) P
ROHIBITION ON CERTAIN AC -10
TIONS.—An individual removed from the posi-11
tion of Secretary by subparagraph (A) may not 12
issue orders, guidance, direct any people or re-13
sources, or in any other manner carry out any 14
of the functions of the Secretary. 15
‘‘(C) T
REATMENT OF ORDERS , GUIDANCE, 16
AND DIRECTION.—Any order, guidance, or di-17
rection of people or resources or any other lead-18
ership action issued by an individual who was 19
removed from the position of Secretary by sub-20
paragraph (A) and that was issued on or after 21
the date of such removal shall be considered un-22
lawful. 23
‘‘(c) D
EFINITION OFEXECUTIVEAGENCY.—In this 24
section, the term ‘Executive agency’ has the meaning 25
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given such term in section 105 of title 5 and includes the 1
Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Special 2
Counsel, but does not include any advisory committee (as 3
such term is defined in section 1001 of title 5).’’. 4
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—Subsections (b) and (c) of 5
section 303 of such title, as added by subsection (a), shall 6
take effect on the date that is 7 days after the date of 7
the enactment of this Act. 8
(c) R
EPORT.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 10
the date specified in subsection (b), the most senior 11
career individual in the Office of the General Coun-12
sel of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall sub-13
mit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 14
Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 15
the House of Representatives a report on compliance 16
with the provisions of this Act. 17
(2) C
ONTENTS.—The report submitted pursu-18
ant to paragraph (1) shall include the following: 19
(A) Documentation as to whether the Sec-20
retary of Veterans Affairs is in compliance with 21
section 303(b) of title 38, United States Code, 22
as added by subsection (a). 23
(B) A description of the procedures in ef-24
fect to reestablish firewalls, conflict of interest 25
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protections, and independence requirements at 1
the Department of Veterans Affairs. 2
(C) An affirmation that the Department of 3
Veterans Affairs will comply with and respect 4
the independent oversight and investigative 5
power of the Office of Special Counsel, the Of-6
fice of Government Ethics, the Merit Systems 7
Protection Board, the Government Account-8
ability Office, the Office of Inspector General of 9
the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Fed-10
eral Labor Relations Board, and all other rel-11
evant investigatory and audit bodies. 12
SEC. 209. OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL. 13
Section 1211(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 14
amended by striking the sixth sentence and inserting the 15
following: ‘‘The Special Counsel, including any individual 16
serving as the Special Counsel in an acting capacity, may 17
not hold another office or position in the Government of 18
the United States while serving as the Special Counsel. 19
Notwithstanding any provision of subchapter III of chap-20
ter 33, if the Special Counsel dies, resigns, or is otherwise 21
unable to perform the functions and duties of the office, 22
the most senior career attorney serving in the Office of 23
General Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel, as of 24
the date of the death, resignation, or beginning of inability 25
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to serve, shall serve as the Special Counsel until an indi-1
vidual is appointed by the President as the Special Coun-2
sel in accordance with this subsection.’’. 3
SEC. 210. OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS. 4
Section 13121(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 5
amended— 6
(1) by striking ‘‘There shall’’ and inserting the 7
following: 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—There shall’’; and 9
(2) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(2) R
EMOVAL OR TRANSFER .—The Director 11
may only be removed from office by the President 12
for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in 13
office. 14
‘‘(3) R
ESTRICTION ON HOLDING OTHER OF -15
FICES.—The Director, including any individual serv-16
ing as the Director in an acting capacity, may not 17
hold another office or position in the Government of 18
the United States while serving as the Director. 19
‘‘(4) A
BSENCE OR UNAVAILABILITY OF DIREC -20
TOR.—Notwithstanding any provision of subchapter 21
III of chapter 33, if the Director dies, resigns, or is 22
otherwise unable to perform the function and duties 23
of the office, the most senior career individual serv-24
ing in the office of the Chief of Staff of the Office 25
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of Government Ethics, as of the date of the death, 1
resignation, or beginning of inability to serve, shall 2
serve as the Director until an individual is appointed 3
by the President as the Director in accordance with 4
this subsection.’’. 5
Subtitle C—Restoring 6
Accountability and Services 7
SEC. 211. REPORT ON EFFECTS OF REMOVING ESSENTIAL 8
PROGRAMS, OFFICES, AND SERVICES FROM 9
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 10
(a) R
EPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than 30 days 11
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 12
shall submit to Congress a report on the effects of remov-13
ing essential programs, offices, and services from the De-14
partment of Veterans Affairs during the period beginning 15
on January 20, 2025, and ending on the date of the enact-16
ment of this Act. 17
(b) C
ONTENTS.—The report submitted pursuant to 18
subsection (a) shall include, for the period covered by the 19
report, the following: 20
(1) A description of all offices or programs ei-21
ther reorganized, renamed, shut down, or reduced. 22
(2) Position titles of individuals either termi-23
nated or placed on leave, disaggregated by which of-24
fice they were housed in. 25
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(3) A list of all websites, pamphlets, fliers, re-1
ports, photographs, or other public-facing documents 2
removed. 3
(4) A detailed description of how accessibility of 4
Department facilities and websites has been affected, 5
for both veterans and Department employees. 6
(5) A list of any Department research projects 7
cancelled or postponed. 8
(6) A list of all Department employee-facing 9
documents or trainings removed from intranet sites. 10
(7) A list of all events cancelled or postponed 11
by the Department. 12
(8) For each of paragraphs (1) through (7), a 13
justification for why each action was taken. 14
SEC. 212. RESTORING DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-15
FAIRS PROGRAMS, OFFICES, AND SERVICES 16
AFFECTED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE 17
SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. 18
(a) R
ESTORINGDEPARTMENT OF VETERANSAF-19
FAIRS.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any removal, demotion, or 21
suspension of a Department of Veterans Affairs em-22
ployee during the period beginning on January 20, 23
2025, and ending on the date of the enactment of 24
this Act shall be considered null and void. 25
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(2) BACKPAY AND RESUMPTION OF BENE -1
FITS.—A person subject to a removal, demotion, or 2
suspension described in paragraph (1) shall be eligi-3
ble for backpay and resumption of benefits. 4
(3) R
ESIGNATIONS.—A person described in 5
paragraph (2) who does not wish to be restored to 6
a position from which the person was removed, de-7
moted, or suspended as described in paragraph (1) 8
may resign from the position as they so choose. 9
(b) P
UBLICATION OF CERTAINMATERIALS AND 10
W
EBSITES.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall com-11
mence publishing all materials and websites described in 12
section 211(b). 13
(c) N
ULLIFICATION OF CANCELLATION OR POST-14
PONEMENT OF CERTAINRESEARCHPROJECTS.—The 15
cancellation or postponement of any research projects dur-16
ing the period beginning on January 20, 2025, and ending 17
on the date of the enactment of this Act shall be consid-18
ered null and void. 19
(d) W
ITHDRAWAL OF CERTAINDIRECTIVERELAT-20
ING TOFLAGS.—The Secretary shall withdraw the Feb-21
ruary 12, 2025 directive of the Secretary entitled ‘‘Public 22
Display or Depiction of Flags throughout Department of 23
Veterans Affairs (VA) Facilities’’. 24
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TITLE III—PROTECTIONS FOR 1
CIVIL SERVANTS 2
SEC. 301. NOMINATIONS TO MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION 3
BOARD. 4
Subchapter I of chapter 12 of title 5, United States 5
Code, is amended in section 1202, by adding at the end 6
the following: 7
‘‘(e) Not later than 30 days after the date on which 8
a vacancy on the Merit Systems Protection Board occurs 9
(whether before or at the end of a term of office of a mem-10
ber), the President shall appoint an individual to fill that 11
vacancy.’’. 12
SEC. 302. MODIFICATIONS TO APPEAL RIGHTS FOR PROBA-13
TIONARY EMPLOYEES. 14
Section 7701(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 15
amended, in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by in-16
serting ‘‘(including, notwithstanding any other provision 17
of law, an employee who is in a probationary period)’’. 18
SEC. 303. AUTHORITY TO RETRACT OFFERS AND CON-19
TRACTS RELATING TO DEFERRED RESIGNA-20
TIONS. 21
(a) A
UTHORITY.—Any offer or contract relating to 22
deferred resignation commitment accepted or entered into 23
by an employee in a position in the civil service may be 24
nullified by the employee (without penalty) at any time 25
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until the close of business on the last day of the employ-1
ment of the employee by the agency employing the em-2
ployee. 3
(b) R
EMEDY.—A violation of subsection (a) may be 4
appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board in ac-5
cordance with the procedures under section 7701 of title 6
5, United States Code, or challenged in a court of com-7
petent jurisdiction. 8
SEC. 304. LIMITATION ON CHANGES TO COMPETITIVE 9
SERVICE CATEGORIES OF POSITIONS. 10
(a) L
IMITATION.—A position in the civil service may 11
not be shifted, realigned, or removed from a competitive 12
service category to an excepted service category— 13
(1) unless— 14
(A) the employee who current fills the posi-15
tion agrees to such a shift; or 16
(B) the position is vacant; or 17
(2) until the date that is 2 years after the date 18
on which the head of the agency employing the em-19
ployee has given notice to the employee and sub-20
mitted to Congress notice of such a shift, realign-21
ment, or removal. 22
(b) R
EMEDY.—A violation of subsection (a) may be 23
appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board in ac-24
cordance with the procedures under section 7701 of title 25
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5, United States Code, or reviewed by a court of com-1
petent jurisdiction. 2
TITLE IV—MENTAL HEALTH 3
CARE FOR CIVIL SERVANTS 4
SEC. 401. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES. 5
The agency that currently employs, or most recently 6
employed, a veteran, military spouse, caregiver, survivor, 7
or member of a reserve component serving in a position 8
in the civil service who is removed, demoted, or suspended 9
on or after January 20, 2025, shall reimburse the veteran, 10
military spouse, caregiver, survivor, or member of a re-11
serve component for the cost of all mental health services 12
provided during the 90-day period beginning on the date 13
of the removal, demotion, or suspension. 14
SEC. 402. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR CURRENT CIVIL 15
SERVANTS. 16
(a) V
ETCENTERS.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-17
fairs shall deploy a mobile Vet Center to the office of any 18
agency that, on or after January 20, 2025, removes, sus-19
pends, or demotes a group of more than 5 veterans, mili-20
tary spouses, caregivers, survivors, or members of a re-21
serve component on any day, for use by any current or 22
former employees of the agency who are a veteran, mili-23
tary spouse, caregiver, survivor, or member of a reserve 24
component. 25
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(b) FUNDING.—Subject to the availability of appro-1
priations, until February 1, 2030, an agency may not re-2
duce the amount of funds spent, contracts, staff, or pro-3
gramming related to mental health counseling services, fi-4
nancial and legal services, dependent care services, work-5
place conflict resolution services, cultural competency serv-6
ices, substance use treatment services, crisis intervention 7
services, or employee assistance programs below the levels 8
as of January 5, 2025. 9
TITLE V—EMPLOYMENT ASSIST-10
ANCE FOR CIVIL SERVANTS 11
SEC. 501. EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE. 12
The President shall order measures to provide em-13
ployment assistance and opportunities for veterans, mili-14
tary spouses, caregivers, survivors, and members of a re-15
serve component who are removed, demoted, or suspended 16
from civil service on or after January 20, 2025. 17
SEC. 502. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT AND THE 18
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WORK ON EMPLOY-19
MENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEMBERS OF 20
THE MILITARY COMMUNITY. 21
The Director of the Office of Personnel Management 22
and the Secretary of Labor shall— 23
(1) work with the heads of other agencies to ex-24
pand and facilitate the use of Federal programs, hir-25
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ing and training opportunities, and retention incen-1
tives for veterans, military spouses, caregivers, sur-2
vivors, and members of a reserve component; 3
(2) seek to develop partnerships with firms in 4
the private sector to enhance employment opportuni-5
ties for veterans, military spouses, caregivers, sur-6
vivors, and members of a reserve component, includ-7
ing to provide for improved job portability for such 8
individuals; 9
(3) work with the United States Chamber of 10
Commerce and other appropriate private-sector enti-11
ties to facilitate the formation of such partnerships; 12
and 13
(4) examine and seek ways for incorporating 14
hiring preferences for veterans, military spouses, 15
caregivers, survivors, and members of a reserve com-16
ponent into contracts between an agency and 1 or 17
more private sector entities. 18
TITLE VI—DEPARTMENT OF 19
GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY 20
SEC. 601. LIMITATION ON ACCESS TO VETERAN AND DE-21
PARTMENT INFORMATION, SYSTEMS, AND 22
DATA. 23
(a) L
IMITATIONS.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 1
57 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 2
adding at the end of the following new section: 3
‘‘§ 5729. Limitations on access to certain information, 4
systems, and data 5
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary may not allow any 6
individual to use, exercise administrative control over, or 7
otherwise access any Department information technology 8
system, health or benefits data repository, contracting in-9
formation, financial system, record system, or other rel-10
evant system, or any data from any such system, unless— 11
‘‘(1) such individual is an officer, employee, or 12
contractor of the Department; and 13
‘‘(2) in the case of an individual not described 14
in paragraph (1)— 15
‘‘(A) such individual holds a security clear-16
ance at the appropriate level with respect to 17
such system or data and such clearance was 18
granted pursuant to the procedures established 19
under section 801 of the National Security Act 20
of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3161); 21
‘‘(B) such individual’s access to such sys-22
tem or data, or use thereof, does not constitute 23
a violation of section 208 of title 18 (deter-24
mined after the application of subsection (b)); 25
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‘‘(C) such individual is not a special Gov-1
ernment employee (as defined in section 202 of 2
title 18); 3
‘‘(D) such individual’s current continuous 4
service in the civil service (as that term is de-5
fined in section 2101 of title 5) as of the date 6
of such access is for a period of not less than 7
one year; 8
‘‘(E) such individual has completed any re-9
quired training or compliance procedures with 10
respect to privacy laws, cybersecurity regula-11
tions, national security regulations, and best 12
practices; and 13
‘‘(F) has signed a written ethics agreement 14
with either the senior career Designated Agency 15
Ethics Official of the Department, or the most 16
senior career official within the Office of Gov-17
ernment Ethics. 18
‘‘(b) T
REATMENT OF INDIVIDUALSWHOARENOT 19
O
FFICERS OREMPLOYEES OF EXECUTIVEBRANCH OF 20
F
EDERALGOVERNMENT.—(1) Any individual who ac-21
cesses any system or data described in subsection (a) who 22
is not otherwise an officer or employee of the executive 23
branch of the Federal Government shall be treated as an 24
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employee of the executive branch of the United States 1
Government for purposes of section 208 of title 18. 2
‘‘(2) For purposes of such section 208, exercise of 3
administrative control or stopping, canceling, adjusting, 4
holding, rejecting, changing, or otherwise impacting any 5
payment or data in any Department system, data reposi-6
tory, or other similar location, shall be considered personal 7
and substantial participation as a Government officer or 8
employee in a particular matter. 9
‘‘(c) D
EFINITION OFOTHERRELEVANTSYSTEM.— 10
In this section, the term ‘other relevant system’ means any 11
data, system, connection, database, repository, or any 12
other tangible thing of the Department that stores infor-13
mation of the Department, veterans, surviving spouses, 14
caregivers, or other recipients of health care or benefits 15
under laws administered by the Secretary, including 16
health data, personally identifiable information, protected 17
health information, burial data information, contract data, 18
the Corporate Data Warehouse of the Department, data 19
regarding benefits provided to veterans, financial trans-20
action and bank information, Department of Veterans Af-21
fairs Integrated Enterprise Workflow Solution system and 22
data, payroll information, research and development data, 23
and data that is part of the Million Veteran Program.’’. 24
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(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-1
tions at the beginning of chapter 57 of such title is 2
amended by inserting after section 5728 the fol-3
lowing new section: 4
‘‘5729. Limitations on access to certain information, systems, and data.’’.
(b) DELETION OFIMPROPERLYOBTAINEDDATA.— 5
In any action brought against the Department of Veterans 6
Affairs or a recipient agency or other recipient in a court 7
of competent jurisdiction for a violation of subsection (b) 8
or (e) of section 552a of title 5, United States Code, the 9
court may order the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the re-10
cipient agency, or other recipient to delete records improp-11
erly disclosed or maintained in a system of records in vio-12
lation of the rules and regulations set out pursuant to such 13
section. 14
(c) R
EMOVAL OFCONNECTIONS.—Not later than 15 15
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-16
retary of Veterans Affairs shall remove any information 17
technology connection between the Department and any 18
entity not in compliance with the provisions of this section 19
or section 5729 of title 38, United States Code, as added 20
by subsection (a). 21
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SEC. 602. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF CERTAIN EXEC-1
UTIVE ORDERS RELATING TO DEPARTMENT 2
OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY AT DEPART-3
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 4
Executive Order 14158 (90 Fed. Reg. 8441; relating 5
to establishing and implementing the President’s Depart-6
ment of Government Efficiency), Executive Order 14210 7
(90 Fed. Reg. 9669; relating to implementing the Presi-8
dent’s ‘‘Department of Government Efficiency’’ workforce 9
optimization initiative), Executive Order 14219 (90 Fed. 10
Reg. 10583; relating to ensuring lawful governance and 11
implementing the President’s ‘‘Department of Govern-12
ment Efficiency’’ deregulatory initiative), and Executive 13
Order 14222 (90 Fed. Reg. 11095; relating to imple-14
menting the President’s ‘‘Department of Government Effi-15
ciency’’ cost efficiency initiative) shall not apply as it re-16
lates to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Depart-17
ment of Veterans Affairs. 18
SEC. 603. REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH LIMITATION ON 19
ACCESS TO VETERAN AND DEPARTMENT OF 20
VETERANS AFFAIRS INFORMATION, SYSTEMS, 21
AND DATA AND INSPECTOR GENERAL RE-22
VIEW. 23
(a) R
EPORT ONCOMPLIANCE.—Not later than 30 24
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-25
retary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee 26
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on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 1
Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 2
on the compliance of the Department of Veterans Affairs 3
with the provisions of this section and section 5729 of title 4
38, United States Code, as added by section 601(a), in-5
cluding with respect to removal of connections pursuant 6
to section 601(c) and the removal of relevant employees 7
and their credentials from all Department systems, prem-8
ises, and networks consistent with the such sections. 9
(b) I
NSPECTORGENERALREVIEW.— 10
(1) R
EVIEW.—Not later than 10 days of after 11
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector 12
General of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall 13
initiate a review on any instance of unauthorized use 14
or other access of systems described in section 15
5729(a) of title 38, United States Code, as added by 16
section 601(a), that has occurred during the period 17
beginning on November 6, 2024, and ending on the 18
date of the enactment of this Act. 19
(2) P
RELIMINARY BRIEFING .—Not later than 20
90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 21
the Inspector General shall provide the Committee 22
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com-23
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-24
resentatives a preliminary briefing on the findings of 25
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the Inspector General with respect to the review ini-1
tiated pursuant to paragraph (1). 2
(3) F
INAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 3
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the In-4
spector General shall submit to the Committee on 5
Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 6
on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 7
a final report on— 8
(A) the findings of the Inspector General 9
with respect to the review initiated pursuant to 10
paragraph (1); and 11
(B) such recommendations for administra-12
tive or legislative action as the Inspector Gen-13
eral may have as a result of such findings. 14
(4) C
ONTENTS.—Each report submitted under 15
this subsection shall include the following: 16
(A) a detailed description of the unauthor-17
ized use or access, including any actions the in-18
dividual or individuals carried out; 19
(B) a risk assessment of any threat to pri-20
vacy, contracting and financial information, 21
protected veteran health and disability informa-22
tion, national security, cybersecurity, or the in-23
tegrity of the applicable system as a result of 24
such unauthorized use or access; and 25
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(C) a detailed description of any stopped 1
benefits, health care delivery, or other services 2
of the Department of Veterans Affairs during 3
the unauthorized use or access. 4
TITLE VII—FINANCIAL NEEDS 5
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 6
VETERANS AFFAIRS 7
SEC. 701. DEFINITION; RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 8
(a) M
ASSCONTRACTCANCELLATIONDEFINED.—In 9
this title, the term ‘‘mass contract cancellation’’ means the 10
termination by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of— 11
(1) five or more contracts in a single business 12
day; or 13
(2) ten or more contracts in a five-business-day 14
period. 15
(b) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this title 16
shall be construed to prevent the Secretary of Veterans 17
Affairs from cancelling individual contracts for poor per-18
formance, fraud, breach of contract, or other reasons in 19
accordance with applicable law, including the Federal Ac-20
quisition Regulation. 21
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SEC. 702. REPORT ON FINANCIAL EFFECT OF THE DEPART-1
MENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY ON THE 2
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not less frequently than once 4
each quarter until September 30, 2029, the Secretary of 5
Veteran Affairs shall submit to the appropriate commit-6
tees of Congress a report detailing the estimated costs as-7
sociated with or attributed to policy changes prompted by 8
the Department of Government Efficiency or the Presi-9
dent since January 20, 2025. 10
(b) C
OSTS.—Each report required by subsection (a) 11
shall account for the following: 12
(1) The cancellation of any contracts and po-13
tential litigation to resolve related matters. 14
(2) The wrongful termination of employees and 15
any settlements. 16
(3) The need to hire contracted providers or 17
staff to backfill vacant roles. 18
(4) Such other matters as the Secretary of Vet-19
erans Affairs considers appropriate. 20
(c) A
PPROPRIATECOMMITTEES OF CONGRESSDE-21
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit-22
tees of Congress’’ means— 23
(1) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 24
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 25
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(2) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 1
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-2
resentatives. 3
SEC. 703. REINSTATEMENT OF CONTRACTS AND REVIEW OF 4
MASS CONTRACT CANCELLATIONS. 5
(a) R
EINSTATEMENT; PAUSE; REVIEW.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 7
Affairs— 8
(A) shall reinstate each contract cancelled 9
in a mass contract cancellation during the pe-10
riod beginning on January 20, 2025, and end-11
ing on the date of the enactment of this Act; 12
(B) shall pause any mass contract can-13
cellation in progress as of the date of the enact-14
ment of this Act; and 15
(C) shall not commence any mass contract 16
cancellation unless— 17
(i) each condition described in para-18
graph (2) is met; and 19
(ii) the requirements of section 704 20
are fulfilled. 21
(2) C
ONDITIONS.—The conditions described in 22
this paragraph are the following: 23
(A) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has 24
reviewed all contracts cancelled or proposed to 25
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be cancelled during the period beginning on 1
January 20, 2025 and ending on April 30, 2
2025. 3
(B) The Secretary has submitted to Con-4
gress a report on the reviews conducted under 5
subparagraph (A), including, for each contract 6
reviewed, a certification by the Secretary and 7
career head of each relevant administration or 8
office of the Department of Veterans Affairs 9
that canceling the contract has not or will not 10
affect any of the following: 11
(i) The delivery of health care, bene-12
fits, and memorial services to veterans. 13
(ii) Safety and cleanliness of any facil-14
ity of the Department, including surgical 15
suites. 16
(iii) The ability of the Department to 17
prevent and detect waste, fraud, and 18
abuse. 19
(iv) Medical research carried out by 20
the Department. 21
(v) Cyber and information security. 22
(vi) Planning, delivery, and mainte-23
nance for infrastructure, leasing, and con-24
struction. 25
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(vii) Homelessness services, including 1
prevention and housing. 2
(viii) Cancer research and care. 3
(ix) Memorial services. 4
(x) Claims processing and retrieval 5
and digitization of records. 6
(xi) Veteran-directed care. 7
(xii) Payments and program oversight 8
for educational assistance under laws ad-9
ministered by the Secretary of Veterans 10
Affairs. 11
(xiii) Medical supplies. 12
(xiv) Mental health and suicide pre-13
vention. 14
(xv) Implementation of the Sergeant 15
First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our 16
Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics 17
Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–168) (com-18
monly known as the ‘‘PACT Act’’). 19
(xvi) Radiology services. 20
(xvii) Pharmacy services. 21
(xviii) Prosthetics services. 22
(xix) The Transition Assistance Pro-23
gram. 24
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(xx) The Home Loan Guaranty Pro-1
gram of the Department. 2
(xxi) Police and security services pro-3
vided by the Department. 4
(xxii) Emergency response, including 5
the ‘‘Fourth Mission’’ of the Department. 6
(xxiii) Veterans employment. 7
(xxiv) The disposal of waste, including 8
hazardous waste. 9
(xxv) Any other critical service, func-10
tion, or operation of the Department, in-11
cluding those required by statute. 12
(C) The Secretary has submitted to Con-13
gress a report that sets forth a day-by-day 14
timeline of how the effort to carry out mass 15
contract cancellations was initiated, led, and 16
unfolded, including the following: 17
(i) An identification of each of the fol-18
lowing: 19
(I) Who directed the effort to 20
begin and the date on which such di-21
rection took place. 22
(II) The parameters of the effort. 23
(III) Whether the Department 24
was provided with a dollar number 25
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target to meet for ‘‘savings’’ or wheth-1
er officials of the Department deter-2
mined the amount of savings desired. 3
(IV) The search terms used to 4
select contracts for cancellation. 5
(V) Who led the contract review 6
process. 7
(VI) The specific individuals who 8
reviewed the justifications to defend 9
the merits of each contract. 10
(VII) The data and fact-based 11
criteria used to decide which contracts 12
should be cancelled based on the re-13
view of the defense of those contracts 14
prepared by career officials. 15
(VIII) Whether any contracts 16
were removed from the initial list of 17
contracts to be cancelled prior to that 18
list being finalized. 19
(IX) The criteria used to develop 20
the list of contracts announced for 21
termination on March 3, 2025. 22
(ii) An estimate developed by the 23
Chief Financial Officer or the Assistant 24
Secretary for Management of the Depart-25
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ment of the cost expended by employees of 1
the Department to respond to data calls 2
and contract justification exercises during 3
the period beginning on January 20, 2025 4
and ending on April 30, 2025. 5
(iii) A list of contracts cancelled dur-6
ing the period described in clause (ii) that 7
were subsequently restored, and any costs 8
paid by the Department to the contractor 9
to mitigate the temporary cancellation, in-10
cluding legal fees. 11
(iv) For each contract that was can-12
celled, an estimated cost for the work to be 13
performed by government personnel and an 14
identification of the part of the Depart-15
ment those personnel will come from con-16
sidering the ongoing partial hiring freeze 17
and reduction in force efforts of the De-18
partment, including those outlined in the 19
Departmental memorandum dated March 20
4, 2025, and entitled ‘‘Department of Vet-21
erans Affairs Agency Reduction in Force 22
(RIF) and Reorganization Plan (ARRP)’’. 23
(b) I
NSPECTORGENERALREVIEW.—Not later than 24
one year after the date on which the reports required by 25
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subsection (a) are submitted to Congress, the Inspector 1
General of the Department shall— 2
(1) review the reports for accuracy and com-3
pleteness; and 4
(2) submit to Congress and make publicly avail-5
able a report that includes— 6
(A) findings regarding whether the process 7
for mass contract cancellations was consistent 8
with public statements of Department officials; 9
(B) recommendations for areas for im-10
provement for future contract management and 11
oversight; and 12
(C) such other matters as the Inspector 13
General considers appropriate, including actions 14
the Department may take to improve oversight 15
and use of Federal resources in order to im-16
prove efficiency in contracting by the Depart-17
ment and prevent and detect waste, fraud, and 18
abuse. 19
SEC. 704. LIMITATIONS ON MASS CONTRACT CANCELLA-20
TIONS. 21
(a) S
UBMISSIONREQUIRED.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—After the conditions de-23
scribed in section 703(a)(2) are met, if the Secretary 24
of Veterans Affairs decides to carry out a mass con-25
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tract cancellation, the Secretary shall, before car-1
rying out such cancellation, submit to the Committee 2
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com-3
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-4
resentatives the following: 5
(A) A list of contracts proposed for can-6
cellation. 7
(B) For each contract included in the list 8
described in subparagraph (A), a certification 9
described in section 703(a)(2)(B). 10
(C) The number of contracts included in 11
such list that are held by a service-disabled vet-12
eran-owned small business or a veteran-owned 13
small business. 14
(D) A description of how the work pro-15
posed to be cancelled would be absorbed by the 16
existing workforce of the Department or wheth-17
er hiring of additional staff will be needed to 18
perform that work, and a cost benefit analysis 19
comparing the contracting and staffing ap-20
proaches. 21
(2) L
IMITATION.—The Secretary of Veterans 22
Affairs shall not commence a mass contract cancella-23
tion until the date that is 30 days after the date on 24
which the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 25
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Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 1
the House of Representatives receive the submission 2
for such cancellation under paragraph (1). 3
(b) R
EPORT.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 7 business 5
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 6
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Com-7
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the 8
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 9
Representatives a report that includes the following: 10
(A) A list of the contracts cancelled or pro-11
posed for cancellation developed by the Depart-12
ment and announced by the Secretary of Vet-13
erans Affairs on February 25, 2025, and, for 14
each contract included in such list— 15
(i) the justification for the need for 16
the contract, if submitted, as written by 17
career employees of the Department; and 18
(ii) an indication of whether the entity 19
holding the contract is a service-disabled 20
veteran-owned small business or a veteran- 21
owned small business. 22
(B) A list of contracts announced for can-23
cellation by the Department of Veterans Affairs 24
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on March 3, 2025, and, for each contract in-1
cluded in such list— 2
(i) the justification for the need for 3
the contract, if submitted, as written by 4
career employees of the Department; and 5
(ii) an indication of whether the entity 6
holding the contract is a service-disabled 7
veteran-owned small business or a veteran- 8
owned small business. 9
(2) D
ATA FIELDS.—Each list described in para-10
graph (1) shall contain, at a minimum, the following 11
fields: 12
(A) Contract/Order #/PIID. 13
(B) Vendor. 14
(C) Category of contract using relevant 15
North American Industry Classification System 16
(NAICS) terminology. 17
(D) Contract description. 18
(E) Date of termination or contract action. 19
(F) Contracting Unique Entity Identifier. 20
(G) The headquarters city and State of the 21
vendor. 22
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SEC. 705. CHARGE CARD PROGRAM OF THE DEPARTMENT 1
OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 60 days before 3
making any change to the charge card program of the De-4
partment of Veterans Affairs, including any change reduc-5
ing the total number of charge cards authorized for use, 6
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall notify the Com-7
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com-8
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa-9
tives in writing of the proposed change. 10
(b) E
LEMENTS.—Any notification required by sub-11
section (a) shall include the following: 12
(1) The justification for the change concerned. 13
(2) The timeline for the change to occur. 14
(3) A description of how the Secretary of Vet-15
erans Affairs intends to monitor for any negative ef-16
fects on health care or benefits delivery. 17
(c) S
UNSET.—This section shall terminate on the 18
date on which President Trump is no longer President. 19
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TITLE VIII—REPORTING 1
REQUIREMENTS 2
SEC. 801. REQUIREMENT FOR VETERANS BENEFITS ADMIN-3
ISTRATION MONDAY MORNING WORKLOAD 4
REPORT. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 53 of title 38, United 6
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
lowing new section: 8
‘‘§ 5322. Monday Morning Workload Report 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not less frequently than once 10
each week, the Under Secretary for Benefits shall publish 11
on a publicly available website of the Department, a report 12
providing a snapshot of the workload of the Veterans Ben-13
efits Administration. 14
‘‘(b) C
ONTENTS.—Each report published pursuant to 15
subsection (a) shall include the following: 16
‘‘(1) National totals for pending and backlogged 17
compensation, pension, appeals, and education work-18
loads of the Veterans Benefits Administration. 19
‘‘(2) National, district, and regional office-level 20
data, disaggregated by the following: 21
‘‘(A) Station of jurisdiction. 22
‘‘(B) Station of origination. 23
‘‘(C) State. 24
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‘‘(D) National Work Queue, or successor 1
queue, including— 2
‘‘(i) the number of claims pending at 3
stage of the claims life cycle; and 4
‘‘(ii) average time claims are pending 5
at each stage of a life cycle. 6
‘‘(3) Data for groups of claims, disaggregated 7
by national, district, and regional office or State 8
level, including non-rating bundle, entitlement bun-9
dle, award adjustments bundle, program review bun-10
dle, other bundle, burial claims, accrued claims, ap-11
peals, number of claims and appeals with duty to as-12
sist errors, and such other groups as the Secretary 13
considers appropriate. 14
‘‘(4) National level data on claim and appeal in-15
ventories, disaggregated by end product code. 16
‘‘(5) Regional office level data on claim and ap-17
peal inventories, disaggregated by traditional aggre-18
gate groups. 19
‘‘(6) National level data on the future volume of 20
work of which the Under Secretary is aware. 21
‘‘(7) Average age of claims that have main-22
tained continuous pursuit. 23
‘‘(8) Factors contributing to the increase or de-24
crease in workload and the claims backlog. 25
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‘‘(9) Such additional data as the Under Sec-1
retary considers appropriate. 2
‘‘(c) P
UBLICATIONREQUIREMENT.—Each report 3
published pursuant to subsection (a) in a week shall be 4
published on the Monday of that week, except as follows: 5
‘‘(1) In a case in which the Monday of the week 6
of publication is a Federally recognized holiday, the 7
report shall be published on the Tuesday of that 8
week. 9
‘‘(2) In a case in which the Secretary is pub-10
lishing the report required by subsection (a) more 11
than once in a single week, any publication after the 12
first publication may be made on any day of the 13
week at the discretion of the Under Secretary.’’. 14
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 15
at the beginning of chapter 53 of such title is amended 16
by adding after the item relating to section 5321 the fol-17
lowing new item: 18
‘‘5322. Monday Morning Workload Report.’’.
SEC. 802. IMPROVEMENTS REGARDING PERIODIC PUBLICA-
19
TION OF METRICS RELATING TO PROC-20
ESSING OF APPEALS. 21
Section 5 of the Veterans Appeals Improvement and 22
Modernization Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–55) is 23
amended by adding at the end the following new para-24
graph: 25
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‘‘(4) A summary of the outcome of appeals 1
under the new appeals system, including appeals re-2
viewed by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, 3
disaggregated by— 4
‘‘(A) the type of review; 5
‘‘(B) station of origination; 6
‘‘(C) type of appeal; and 7
‘‘(D) diagnostic codes.’’. 8
SEC. 803. PUBLICATION OF WAIT TIMES FOR COMMUNITY 9
CARE FROM DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-10
FAIRS. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 12
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-13
erans Affairs shall publish on a publicly accessible website 14
of each medical center of the Department of Veterans Af-15
fairs the wait times for scheduling an appointment for a 16
veteran to receive care from a non-Department provider 17
in the community for that medical center and each of the 18
clinics of the Department in the catchment area of that 19
medical center. 20
(b) D
ATATOBEINCLUDED.—The Secretary shall 21
include in the publication under subsection (a) wait times 22
for the following care: 23
(1) Primary care. 24
(2) Specialty care. 25
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(3) Inpatient care. 1
(4) Mental health care. 2
(5) Such other types of care as the Secretary 3
considers appropriate. 4
(c) U
PDATE.—The Secretary shall update the wait 5
times published under subsection (a) not less frequently 6
than weekly. 7
(d) M
ETRICSUSED.—The Secretary shall calculate 8
the wait times published under subsection (a) based on 9
similar metrics as the metrics used to calculate wait times 10
for care at facilities of the Department. 11
SEC. 804. PERIOD FOR SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 12
TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY 13
MEMBERS OF CERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL 14
COMMITTEES. 15
(a) R
EQUIREMENT.—To the maximum extent prac-16
ticable, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall provide— 17
(1) an answer to a question submitted for the 18
record to the Department of Veterans Affairs by a 19
member of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 20
the Senate or the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 21
the House of Representatives, on or before the date 22
that is 45 business days after the date on which the 23
Department receives the question; 24
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(2) an answer to a request for information sub-1
mitted by a member of the staff of the Committee 2
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate or the Committee 3
on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 4
or a member of either committee, on or before the 5
date that is 15 business days after the date on 6
which the Department receives the request from the 7
member of the staff or the member of the com-8
mittee, as the case may be; and 9
(3) an answer to a letter sent by a member of 10
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate or 11
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 12
Representatives, on or before the date that is 15 13
business days after the date on which the Depart-14
ment receives the letter. 15
(b) D
ELAYEDRESPONSES.— 16
(1) N
OTICE REQUIRED.—If the Secretary an-17
ticipates being unable to provide an answer to a 18
question, request for information, or letter described 19
in subsection (a) that was submitted to the Depart-20
ment by the date specified in such subsection, the 21
Secretary shall, before such date, submit to the 22
member and the relevant Committee a notice that 23
the Secretary anticipates being unable to provide the 24
answer by such date. 25
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(2) CONTENTS.—Notice submitted under para-1
graph (1) shall include the following: 2
(A) A justification for the inability of the 3
Secretary to meet the deadline set forth in sub-4
section (a). 5
(B) An estimate of when an answer will be 6
provided by the Secretary to the question, re-7
quest for information, or letter submitted. 8
(C) A description of the steps the Sec-9
retary needs to take in order to provide the re-10
sponse, including steps required to obtain any 11
information required of another Federal agency. 12
Æ
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