II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1245
To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand health care and benefits
from the Department of Veterans Affairs for military sexual trauma,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Ms. HIRONO, Mr.
F
ETTERMAN, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and
Mrs. S
HAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand health
care and benefits from the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs for military sexual trauma, 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
‘‘Servicemembers and Veterans Empowerment and Sup-5
port Act of 2025’’. 6
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7
this Act is as follows: 8
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I—DEFINING MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA
Sec. 101. Report on military sexual trauma in the digital age.
TITLE II—DISABILITY COMPENSATION AND CLAIMS PROCESSING
Sec. 201. Definition of military sexual trauma.
Sec. 202. Conforming changes relating to specialized teams to evaluate claims
involving military sexual trauma.
Sec. 203. Evaluation of claims involving military sexual trauma.
Sec. 204. Choice of location of Department of Veterans Affairs medical exam-
ination for assessment of claims for compensation relating to
disability resulting from military sexual trauma.
Sec. 205. Communications from the Department of Veterans Affairs to individ-
uals who have experienced military sexual trauma.
Sec. 206. Study on training and processing relating to claims for disability
compensation relating to military sexual trauma.
Sec. 207. Annual special focus review of claims for disability compensation for
disabilities relating to military sexual trauma.
Sec. 208. Workgroup on medical examinations for claims for disability com-
pensation for disabilities relating to military sexual trauma.
TITLE III—ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
Sec. 301. Expansion of eligibility for counseling and treatment for military sex-
ual trauma to include all former members of the reserve com-
ponents of the armed forces.
Sec. 302. Connection to veterans health administration when a disability claim
related to military sexual trauma is submitted to veterans ben-
efits administration.
Sec. 303. Care relating to military sexual trauma for individuals who withdraw
from or otherwise do not complete service at service academies.
TITLE I—DEFINING MILITARY 1
SEXUAL TRAUMA 2
SEC. 101. REPORT ON MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA IN THE 3
DIGITAL AGE. 4
(a) R
EPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than one year 5
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 6
of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Vet-7
erans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Vet-8
erans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 9
on military sexual trauma in the digital age. 10
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(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The report required under 1
subsection (a) shall include the following: 2
(1) A comprehensive evaluation and assessment 3
of current Department of Veterans Affairs statutes, 4
regulations, and agency guidance relating to military 5
sexual trauma for the purposes of access to health 6
care under chapter 17 of title 38, United States 7
Code, and compensation under chapter 11 of such 8
title to identify— 9
(A) gaps in coverage for health care and 10
compensation eligibility relating to military sex-11
ual trauma involving online or other techno-12
logical communications; and 13
(B) the feasibility and advisability of ex-14
panding health care and compensation for trau-15
ma that is nonsexual in nature involving online 16
or other technological communications. 17
(2) Recommendations for revising statutes, reg-18
ulations, and agency guidance in response to the 19
evaluation and assessment under paragraph (1). 20
(c) C
ONSULTATION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection 22
(a), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall consult 23
veterans service organizations and such other stake-24
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holders as the Secretary considers relevant and ap-1
propriate. 2
(2) R
ELATION TO FACA.—Chapter 10 of title 5, 3
United States Code, shall not apply to paragraph 4
(1). 5
(d) M
ILITARYSEXUALTRAUMADEFINED.—In this 6
section, the term ‘‘military sexual trauma’’— 7
(1) with respect to eligibility for health care, 8
has the meaning given such term in section 9
1720D(f) of title 38, United States Code, as added 10
by section 301; and 11
(2) with respect to eligibility for compensation, 12
has the meaning given such term in section 1166A(i) 13
of title 38, United States Code, as added by section 14
203(a). 15
TITLE II—DISABILITY COM-16
PENSATION AND CLAIMS 17
PROCESSING 18
SEC. 201. DEFINITION OF MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA. 19
In this title, the term ‘‘military sexual trauma’’ has 20
the meaning given such term in section 1166A(i) of title 21
38, United States Code, as added by section 203(a). 22
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SEC. 202. CONFORMING CHANGES RELATING TO SPECIAL-1
IZED TEAMS TO EVALUATE CLAIMS INVOLV-2
ING MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA. 3
Section 1166 of title 38, United States Code, is 4
amended— 5
(1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘for com-6
pensation for a covered mental health condition’’ 7
and inserting ‘‘for compensation for a condition, 8
which may include a covered mental health condi-9
tion,’’; and 10
(2) by amending subsection (d) to read as fol-11
lows: 12
‘‘(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘cov-13
ered mental health condition’ and ‘military sexual trauma’ 14
have the meanings given those terms in section 1166A(i) 15
of this title.’’. 16
SEC. 203. EVALUATION OF CLAIMS INVOLVING MILITARY 17
SEXUAL TRAUMA. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subchapter VI of chapter 11 of 19
such title is amended by inserting after section 1166 the 20
following new section: 21
‘‘§ 1166A. Evaluation of claims involving military sex-22
ual trauma 23
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—(1) In the case of any veteran 24
who claims that a covered mental health condition based 25
on military sexual trauma was incurred in or aggravated 26
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by active military, naval, air, or space service, the Sec-1
retary shall consider the following: 2
‘‘(A) A diagnosis of such mental health condi-3
tion by a mental health professional. 4
‘‘(B) A link, established by medical evidence, 5
between current symptoms and a military sexual 6
trauma. 7
‘‘(C) Credible corroborating evidence, in accord-8
ance with subsections (b) and (c), that the claimed 9
military sexual trauma occurred. 10
‘‘(2) The reasons for granting or denying service-con-11
nection in each case described in paragraph (1) shall be 12
recorded in full. 13
‘‘(b) N
ONMILITARYSOURCES OF EVIDENCE.—(1) 14
For purposes of subsection (a), evidence from sources 15
other than official records of the Department of Defense 16
regarding the veteran’s active military, naval, air, or space 17
service may corroborate the veteran’s account of the trau-18
ma. 19
‘‘(2) Examples of evidence described in paragraph (1) 20
include the following: 21
‘‘(A) Records from law enforcement authorities, 22
rape crisis centers, mental health counseling centers, 23
hospitals, and physicians. 24
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‘‘(B) Pregnancy tests and tests for sexually 1
transmitted diseases. 2
‘‘(C) Statements from family members, room-3
mates, other members of the Armed Forces or vet-4
erans, and clergy. 5
‘‘(c) E
VIDENCE OFBEHAVIORCHANGES.—(1) For 6
purposes of subsection (a), evidence of a behavior change 7
following military sexual trauma is one type of relevant 8
evidence that may be found in sources described in such 9
subsection. 10
‘‘(2) Examples of behavior changes that may be rel-11
evant evidence of military sexual trauma include the fol-12
lowing: 13
‘‘(A) A request for a transfer to another mili-14
tary duty assignment. 15
‘‘(B) Deterioration in work performance. 16
‘‘(C) Substance abuse or substance use dis-17
order. 18
‘‘(D) Episodes of depression, panic attacks, or 19
anxiety without an identifiable cause. 20
‘‘(E) Unexplained economic or social behavior 21
changes. 22
‘‘(d) N
OTICE ANDOPPORTUNITYTOSUPPLYEVI-23
DENCE.—The Secretary may not deny a claim of a veteran 24
for compensation under this chapter for a covered mental 25
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health condition that is based on military sexual trauma 1
without first— 2
‘‘(1) advising the veteran that evidence de-3
scribed in subsections (b) and (c) may constitute 4
credible corroborating evidence of the military sexual 5
trauma; and 6
‘‘(2) allowing the veteran an opportunity to fur-7
nish such corroborating evidence or advise the Sec-8
retary of potential sources of such evidence. 9
‘‘(e) R
EVIEW OFEVIDENCE.—In reviewing a claim 10
for compensation described in subsection (a)(1), for any 11
evidence identified as part of such claim that is described 12
in subsection (b) or (c), the Secretary shall submit such 13
evidence to such medical or mental health professional as 14
the Secretary considers appropriate, including clinical and 15
counseling experts employed by the Department, to obtain 16
an opinion as to whether the evidence indicates that a mili-17
tary sexual trauma occurred. 18
‘‘(f) P
OINT OFCONTACT.—The Secretary shall en-19
sure that each document provided to a veteran relating 20
to a claim for compensation described in subsection (a)(1) 21
includes contact information for an appropriate point of 22
contact with the Department. 23
‘‘(g) S
PECIALIZEDTEAMS.—The Secretary shall en-24
sure that all claims for compensation described in sub-25
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section (a)(1) are reviewed and processed by a specialized 1
team established under section 1166 of this title. 2
‘‘(h) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTIONREGARDINGAPPLICA-3
TION TONONSEXUALPERSONALASSAULT.—The Sec-4
retary shall not construe this section as supplanting the 5
standard of proof or evidence required for claims for post- 6
traumatic stress disorder based on nonsexual personal as-7
sault, which the Secretary shall continue to define in regu-8
lation. 9
‘‘(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 10
‘‘(1) The term ‘covered mental health condition’ 11
means post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, de-12
pression, or other mental health diagnosis that the 13
Secretary determines to be related to military sexual 14
trauma and which may be service-connected under 15
section 1110 of this title. 16
‘‘(2) The term ‘mental health professional’ 17
means a provider in the field of mental health who 18
meets the credential, licensure, education, and train-19
ing requirements established by the Secretary. 20
‘‘(3) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ means, 21
with respect to a veteran, a physical assault of a sex-22
ual nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual har-23
assment that occurred while the veteran was serving 24
in the active military, naval, air, or space service.’’. 25
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(b) OUTREACH.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 2
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-3
retary of Veterans Affairs shall implement, with 4
input from the veteran community, an informative 5
outreach program for veterans regarding the stand-6
ard of proof for evaluation of claims relating to mili-7
tary sexual trauma, including requirements for a 8
medical examination and opinion. 9
(2) T
ARGETED OUTREACH .—In implementing 10
the program under paragraph (1), the Secretary 11
shall, to the extent practicable, target outreach to 12
veterans who submitted a claim relating to military 13
sexual trauma that was denied. 14
(c) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 15
at the beginning of chapter 11 of such title is amended 16
by inserting after the item relating to section 1166 the 17
following new item: 18
‘‘1166A. Evaluation of claims involving military sexual trauma.’’.
SEC. 204. CHOICE OF LOCATION OF DEPARTMENT OF VET-
19
ERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL EXAMINATION FOR 20
ASSESSMENT OF CLAIMS FOR COMPENSA-21
TION RELATING TO DISABILITY RESULTING 22
FROM MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1165 of title 38, United 24
States Code, is amended— 25
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(1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘and 1
location of medical examination’’ after ‘‘ex-2
aminer’’; 3
(2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a physical as-4
sault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, 5
or sexual harassment’’ and inserting ‘‘military sexual 6
trauma (as defined in section 1166A(i) of this 7
title)’’; 8
(3) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-9
section (d); and 10
(4) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-11
lowing new subsection (c): 12
‘‘(c) C
HOICE OF EXAMINATIONLOCATION.—The 13
Secretary shall ensure that a veteran who requires a med-14
ical examination in support of a claim described in sub-15
section (a) may request that the medical examination take 16
place at a medical facility of the Department by a qualified 17
employee of the Department rather than at a location des-18
ignated by a contractor of the Department that performs 19
such examinations on behalf of the Department.’’. 20
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 21
at the beginning of chapter 11 of such title is amended 22
by striking the item relating to section 1165 and inserting 23
the following new item: 24
‘‘1165. Choice of sex of medical examiner and location of medical examination
for certain disabilities.’’.
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SEC. 205. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF 1
VETERANS AFFAIRS TO INDIVIDUALS WHO 2
HAVE EXPERIENCED MILITARY SEXUAL 3
TRAUMA. 4
(a) R
EVIEWWORKGROUP.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 6
Affairs shall establish a workgroup to review cor-7
respondence relating to military sexual trauma. 8
(2) M
EMBERSHIP.—The workgroup established 9
under paragraph (1) shall be composed of members 10
who shall be appointed by the Secretary from among 11
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs 12
who are experts in military sexual trauma and men-13
tal health, of whom— 14
(A) one or more shall be appointed from 15
among mental health providers of the Veterans 16
Health Administration; 17
(B) one or more shall be appointed from 18
among experts on sexual assault and sexual 19
harassment of the Veterans Benefits Adminis-20
tration; and 21
(C) one or more shall be appointed from 22
among experts on sexual assault and sexual 23
harassment of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 24
(3) D
UTIES.—The workgroup established under 25
paragraph (1) shall— 26
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(A) review standard correspondence, which 1
may include templates for notices under sec-2
tions 5103, 5104, 5104B, and 7104 of title 38, 3
United States Code, from the Department to 4
individuals who have experienced military sex-5
ual trauma for sensitivity; and 6
(B) ensure that the correspondence— 7
(i) treats such individuals with dignity 8
and respect; and 9
(ii) does not re-traumatize such indi-10
viduals. 11
(4) I
NDIVIDUAL WHO HAS EXPERIENCED MILI -12
TARY SEXUAL TRAUMA DEFINED .—In this sub-13
section, the term ‘‘individual who has experienced 14
military sexual trauma’’ means— 15
(A) an individual who has filed a claim for 16
compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, 17
United States Code, relating to military sexual 18
trauma; 19
(B) a veteran who has been awarded com-20
pensation under such chapter relating to mili-21
tary sexual trauma; or 22
(C) a member of the Armed Forces (in-23
cluding a member of the National Guard or Re-24
serves), a former member of the Armed Forces, 25
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or a veteran who is receiving care from the De-1
partment relating to military sexual trauma. 2
(b) C
ONTENTS OFCERTAINWRITTENCOMMUNICA-3
TIONS TOINDIVIDUALSWHOHAVEEXPERIENCEDMILI-4
TARYSEXUALTRAUMA.— 5
(1) N
OTICE TO CLAIMANTS OF REQUIRED IN -6
FORMATION AND EVIDENCE .—Section 5103 of title 7
38, United States Code, is amended by adding at 8
the end the following new subsection: 9
‘‘(c) W
RITTENCOMMUNICATIONS TO INDIVIDUALS 10
W
HOHAVEEXPERIENCED MILITARYSEXUALTRAU-11
MA.—(1) The Secretary shall ensure that any written com-12
munication under this section from the Department to an 13
individual who has experienced military sexual trauma in-14
cludes each of the following: 15
‘‘(A) Contact information for each of the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(i) The military sexual trauma coordi-18
nator of the Veterans Benefits Administration. 19
‘‘(ii) The military sexual trauma coordi-20
nator of the Veterans Health Administration. 21
‘‘(iii) The Veterans Crisis Line. 22
‘‘(iv) The facility of the Veterans Health 23
Administration closest to where the individual 24
resides. 25
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‘‘(v) The Vet Center closest to where the 1
individual resides. 2
‘‘(B) Information on the eligibility of the indi-3
vidual for services provided through the Vet Center 4
described in subparagraph (A)(v). 5
‘‘(2) In this subsection: 6
‘‘(A) The term ‘individual who has experienced 7
military sexual trauma’ means— 8
‘‘(i) an individual who has filed a claim for 9
compensation under chapter 11 of this title re-10
lating to military sexual trauma; 11
‘‘(ii) a veteran who has been awarded com-12
pensation under such chapter relating to mili-13
tary sexual trauma; or 14
‘‘(iii) a member of the Armed Forces (in-15
cluding a member of the National Guard or Re-16
serves), a former member of the Armed Forces, 17
or a veteran who is receiving care from the De-18
partment relating to military sexual trauma. 19
‘‘(B) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ has the 20
meaning given that term in section 1166A(i) of this 21
title. 22
‘‘(C) The term ‘Vet Center’ has the meaning 23
given that term in section 1712A(h) of this title. 24
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‘‘(D) The term ‘Veterans Crisis Line’ means 1
the toll-free hotline for veterans established under 2
section 1720F(h) of this title.’’. 3
(2) D
ECISIONS AND NOTICES OF DECISIONS .— 4
Section 5104 of title 38, United States Code, is 5
amended by adding at the end the following new 6
subsection: 7
‘‘(e)(1) The Secretary shall ensure that any written 8
communication under this section from the Department 9
to an individual who has experienced military sexual trau-10
ma includes each of the following: 11
‘‘(A) Contact information for each of the fol-12
lowing: 13
‘‘(i) The military sexual trauma coordi-14
nator of the Veterans Health Administration. 15
‘‘(ii) The Veterans Crisis Line. 16
‘‘(iii) The facility of the Veterans Health 17
Administration closest to where the individual 18
resides. 19
‘‘(iv) The Vet Center closest to where the 20
individual resides. 21
‘‘(B) Information on the eligibility of the indi-22
vidual for services provided through the Vet Center 23
described in subparagraph (A)(iv). 24
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‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that any written 1
communication under this section from the Department 2
to an individual who has experienced military sexual trau-3
ma that includes notification of an award of compensation 4
under chapter 11 of this title relating to military sexual 5
trauma includes— 6
‘‘(A) the contact information described in para-7
graph (1); and 8
‘‘(B) the contact information for the military 9
sexual trauma coordinator of the Veterans Benefits 10
Administration. 11
‘‘(3) In this subsection: 12
‘‘(A) The term ‘individual who has experienced 13
military sexual trauma’ means— 14
‘‘(i) an individual who has filed a claim for 15
compensation under chapter 11 of this title re-16
lating to military sexual trauma; 17
‘‘(ii) a veteran who has been awarded com-18
pensation under such chapter relating to mili-19
tary sexual trauma; or 20
‘‘(iii) a member of the Armed Forces (in-21
cluding a member of the National Guard or Re-22
serves), a former member of the Armed Forces, 23
or a veteran who is receiving care from the De-24
partment relating to military sexual trauma. 25
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‘‘(B) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ has the 1
meaning given that term in section 1166A(i) of this 2
title. 3
‘‘(C) The term ‘Vet Center’ has the meaning 4
given that term in section 1712A(h) of this title. 5
‘‘(D) The term ‘Veterans Crisis Line’ means 6
the toll-free hotline for veterans established under 7
section 1720F(h) of this title.’’. 8
(3) H
IGHER-LEVEL REVIEW BY THE AGENCY OF 9
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION .—Section 5104B of title 10
38, United States Code, is amended by adding at 11
the end the following new subsection: 12
‘‘(f) W
RITTENCOMMUNICATIONS TO INDIVIDUALS 13
W
HOHAVEEXPERIENCED MILITARYSEXUALTRAU-14
MA.—(1) The Secretary shall ensure that any written com-15
munication under this section from the Department to an 16
individual who has experienced military sexual trauma in-17
cludes each of the following: 18
‘‘(A) Contact information for each of the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(i) The military sexual trauma coordi-21
nator of the Veterans Health Administration. 22
‘‘(ii) The Veterans Crisis Line. 23
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‘‘(iii) The facility of the Veterans Health 1
Administration closest to where the individual 2
resides. 3
‘‘(iv) The Vet Center closest to where the 4
individual resides. 5
‘‘(B) Information on the eligibility of the indi-6
vidual for services provided through the Vet Center 7
described in subparagraph (A)(iv). 8
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that any written 9
communication under this section from the Department 10
to an individual who has experienced military sexual trau-11
ma that includes notification of an award of compensation 12
under chapter 11 of this title relating to military sexual 13
trauma includes— 14
‘‘(A) the contact information described in para-15
graph (1); and 16
‘‘(B) the contact information for the military 17
sexual trauma coordinator of the Veterans Benefits 18
Administration. 19
‘‘(3) In this subsection: 20
‘‘(A) The term ‘individual who has experienced 21
military sexual trauma’ means— 22
‘‘(i) an individual who has filed a claim for 23
compensation under chapter 11 of this title re-24
lating to military sexual trauma; 25
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‘‘(ii) a veteran who has been awarded com-1
pensation under such chapter relating to mili-2
tary sexual trauma; or 3
‘‘(iii) a member of the Armed Forces (in-4
cluding a member of the National Guard or Re-5
serves), a former member of the Armed Forces, 6
or a veteran who is receiving care from the De-7
partment relating to military sexual trauma. 8
‘‘(B) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ has the 9
meaning given that term in section 1166A(i) of this 10
title. 11
‘‘(C) The term ‘Vet Center’ has the meaning 12
given that term in section 1712A(h) of this title. 13
‘‘(D) The term ‘Veterans Crisis Line’ means 14
the toll-free hotline for veterans established under 15
section 1720F(h) of this title.’’. 16
(4) B
OARD OF VETERANS ’ APPEALS.—Section 17
7104 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 18
adding at the end the following new subsection: 19
‘‘(g)(1) The Secretary shall ensure that any written 20
communication under this section from the Department 21
to an individual who has experienced military sexual trau-22
ma include each of the following: 23
‘‘(A) Contact information for each of the fol-24
lowing: 25
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‘‘(i) The military sexual trauma coordi-1
nator of the Veterans Health Administration. 2
‘‘(ii) The Veterans Crisis Line. 3
‘‘(iii) The facility of the Veterans Health 4
Administration closest to where the individual 5
resides. 6
‘‘(iv) The Vet Center closest to where the 7
individual resides. 8
‘‘(B) Information on the eligibility of the indi-9
vidual for services provided through the Vet Center 10
described in subparagraph (A)(iv). 11
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that any written 12
communication under this section from the Department 13
to an individual who has experienced military sexual trau-14
ma that includes notification of an award of compensation 15
under chapter 11 of this title relating to military sexual 16
trauma includes— 17
‘‘(A) the contact information described in para-18
graph (1); and 19
‘‘(B) the contact information for the military 20
sexual trauma coordinator of the Veterans Benefits 21
Administration. 22
‘‘(3) In this subsection: 23
‘‘(A) The term ‘individual who has experienced 24
military sexual trauma’ means— 25
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‘‘(i) an individual who has filed a claim for 1
compensation under chapter 11 of this title re-2
lating to military sexual trauma; 3
‘‘(ii) a veteran who has been awarded com-4
pensation under such chapter relating to mili-5
tary sexual trauma; or 6
‘‘(iii) a member of the Armed Forces (in-7
cluding a member of the National Guard or Re-8
serves), a former member of the Armed Forces, 9
or a veteran who is receiving care from the De-10
partment relating to military sexual trauma. 11
‘‘(B) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ has the 12
meaning given that term in section 1166A(i) of this 13
title. 14
‘‘(C) The term ‘Vet Center’ has the meaning 15
given that term in section 1712A(h) of this title. 16
‘‘(D) The term ‘Veterans Crisis Line’ means 17
the toll-free hotline for veterans established under 18
section 1720F(h) of this title.’’. 19
SEC. 206. STUDY ON TRAINING AND PROCESSING RELAT-20
ING TO CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY COMPENSA-21
TION RELATING TO MILITARY SEXUAL TRAU-22
MA. 23
(a) S
TUDYREQUIRED.—The Secretary of Veterans 24
Affairs shall conduct a study on— 25
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(1) the quality of training provided to personnel 1
of the Department of Veterans Affairs who review 2
claims for disability compensation under chapter 11 3
of title 38, United States Code, for disabilities relat-4
ing to military sexual trauma; and 5
(2) the quality of the procedures of the Depart-6
ment for reviewing the accuracy of the processing of 7
such claims. 8
(b) E
LEMENTS.—The study required by subsection 9
(a) shall include the following: 10
(1) With respect to the quality of training de-11
scribed in paragraph (1) of such subsection: 12
(A) Whether the Department ensures per-13
sonnel complete such training on time. 14
(B) Whether the training has resulted in 15
improvements to the processing of claims de-16
scribed in such subsection and issue-based accu-17
racy. 18
(C) Such recommendations as the Sec-19
retary may have for improving the training. 20
(2) With respect to the quality of procedures 21
described in paragraph (2) of such subsection: 22
(A) Whether the procedures of the Depart-23
ment for reviewing the accuracy of the proc-24
essing of claims described in such subsection 25
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comport with generally accepted statistical 1
methodologies to ensure reasonable accuracy of 2
such reviews. 3
(B) Whether such procedures adequately 4
include mechanisms to correct errors found in 5
such reviews. 6
(C) A summary of quality assurance re-7
views and reports conducted as part of such 8
procedures. 9
(D) Such recommendations as the Sec-10
retary may have for improving such procedures. 11
(c) R
EPORTREQUIRED.—Not later than one year 12
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 13
shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 14
Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 15
House of Representatives a report detailing the findings 16
of the Secretary with respect to the study conducted under 17
subsection (a). 18
SEC. 207. ANNUAL SPECIAL FOCUS REVIEW OF CLAIMS FOR 19
DISABILITY COMPENSATION FOR DISABIL-20
ITIES RELATING TO MILITARY SEXUAL TRAU-21
MA. 22
(a) A
NNUALSPECIALFOCUSREVIEW.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each year, the Under Sec-24
retary for Benefits of the Department of Veterans 25
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Affairs shall conduct a special focus review on the 1
accuracy of the processing of claims for disability 2
compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United 3
States Code, for disabilities relating to military sex-4
ual trauma. 5
(2) E
LEMENTS.—Each review conducted under 6
paragraph (1) shall include a review of the following: 7
(A) A statistically significant, nationally 8
representative sample of all claims for benefits 9
under the laws administered by the Secretary of 10
Veterans Affairs relating to military sexual 11
trauma filed during the fiscal year preceding 12
the fiscal year in which the report is submitted. 13
(B) The accuracy of each decision made 14
with respect to each claim described in subpara-15
graph (A). 16
(C) The types of benefit entitlement errors 17
found, disaggregated by category. 18
(D) Trends from year to year. 19
(E) Training completion rates for per-20
sonnel of the Department who process claims 21
described in paragraph (1). 22
(b) R
EPROCESSING OF CLAIMS.—If the Under Sec-23
retary finds, pursuant to a special focus review conducted 24
under subsection (a)(1), that an error was made with re-25
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spect to the entitlement of a veteran to a benefit under 1
the laws administered by the Secretary, the Secretary shall 2
return the relevant claim of the veteran to the appropriate 3
office of the Department for reprocessing to ensure that 4
the veteran receives an accurate decision with respect to 5
the claim. 6
(c) R
EPORT.—Section 5501(b) of the Johnny Isakson 7
and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Bene-8
fits Improvement Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–315; 134 9
Stat. 5048) is amended— 10
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘through 11
2027’’ and inserting ‘‘until the date described in sec-12
tion 207(d) of the Servicemembers and Veterans 13
Empowerment and Support Act of 2025’’; and 14
(2) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the 15
following new subparagraph: 16
‘‘(I) The findings of the most recent spe-17
cial focus review conducted under subsection 18
(a)(1) of section 207 of the Servicemembers 19
and Veterans Empowerment and Support Act 20
of 2025, including— 21
‘‘(i) the elements under subsection 22
(a)(2) of such section; 23
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‘‘(ii) the number of claims returned 1
for reprocessing under subsection (b) of 2
such section; and 3
‘‘(iii) the number of claims described 4
in clause (ii) for which the decision relat-5
ing to service-connection or entitlement to 6
compensation changed as a result of re-7
processing the claim.’’. 8
(d) S
UNSET.—On the date that the Under Secretary 9
determines, pursuant to special focus reviews conducted 10
under paragraph (1) of subsection (a), that the accuracy 11
rates under paragraph (2)(B) of such subsection have 12
been 95 percent or greater for five consecutive years, sub-13
section (a)(1) shall cease to be in effect. 14
SEC. 208. WORKGROUP ON MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS FOR 15
CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY COMPENSATION 16
FOR DISABILITIES RELATING TO MILITARY 17
SEXUAL TRAUMA. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 19
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-20
erans Affairs shall establish a workgroup on medical ex-21
aminations for claims for disability compensation under 22
chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code, for disabilities 23
relating to military sexual trauma (in this section referred 24
to as the ‘‘workgroup’’). 25
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(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The workgroup shall be com-1
posed of the following: 2
(1) Staff of the operations center for military 3
sexual trauma of the Department of Veterans Af-4
fairs who have experience reviewing the quality of 5
medical examinations in support of claims for dis-6
ability compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, 7
United States Code. 8
(2) Staff of the Medical Disability Examination 9
Office of the Department. 10
(3) Veterans service officers who have experi-11
ence with claims described in subsection (a). 12
(4) Medical examiners who have experience with 13
such claims. 14
(5) Staff of the Veterans Experience Office of 15
the Department. 16
(6) Such other individuals as the Secretary con-17
siders appropriate. 18
(c) D
UTIES.—Not later than 180 days after the date 19
of the enactment of this Act, the Workgroup shall— 20
(1) review the quality of medical examinations 21
described in subsection (a); 22
(2) review the feasibility of minimizing re-ex-23
aminations for conditions relating to military sexual 24
trauma; and 25
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(3) submit to the Under Secretary for Benefits 1
of the Department and the Secretary recommenda-2
tions on how to— 3
(A) eliminate re-traumatization of individ-4
uals who file claims described in subsection (a); 5
and 6
(B) reduce the overdevelopment of such 7
claims. 8
(d) R
EPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 9
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 10
to Congress a report that includes the following: 11
(1) The views of the workgroup on efforts by 12
the Department to eliminate re-traumatization of in-13
dividuals who file claims described in subsection (a). 14
(2) Legislative proposals to improve the experi-15
ence of such individuals in pursuing such claims. 16
(3) The recommendations submitted under sub-17
section (c)(3). 18
(4) The plan of the Under Secretary for Bene-19
fits of the Department and the Secretary to imple-20
ment such recommendations. 21
(e) R
EVIEW ANDIMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 22
one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 23
Under Secretary for Benefits of the Department and the 24
Secretary shall— 25
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(1) review the recommendations submitted 1
under subsection (c)(3); and 2
(2) implement the recommendations that, as de-3
termined by the Under Secretary and the Secretary, 4
would improve the claims process for individuals who 5
file claims described in subsection (a). 6
TITLE III—ACCESS TO HEALTH 7
CARE 8
SEC. 301. EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR COUNSELING 9
AND TREATMENT FOR MILITARY SEXUAL 10
TRAUMA TO INCLUDE ALL FORMER MEM-11
BERS OF THE RESERVE COMPONENTS OF 12
THE ARMED FORCES. 13
Section 1720D of title 38, United States Code, is 14
amended— 15
(1) in subsection (a)— 16
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘a phys-17
ical assault’’ and all that follows through the 18
period at the end and inserting ‘‘military sexual 19
trauma.’’; and 20
(B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘was 21
suffered’’ and all that follows through the pe-22
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘resulted from 23
military sexual trauma.’’; and 24
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(2) by striking subsections (f) and (g) and in-1
serting the following new subsection (f): 2
‘‘(f) In this section: 3
‘‘(1) The term ‘former member of the Armed 4
Forces’ means a person who served on active duty, 5
active duty for training, or inactive duty training, 6
and who was discharged or released therefrom under 7
any condition that is not— 8
‘‘(A) a discharge by court-martial, unless 9
the Secretary determines an exception to the 10
bar to benefits applies; or 11
‘‘(B) a discharge subject to a bar to bene-12
fits under section 5303 of this title. 13
‘‘(2) The term ‘military sexual trauma’ means, 14
with respect to a member of the Armed Forces or 15
former member of the Armed Forces, a physical as-16
sault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, 17
or sexual harassment which occurred while the mem-18
ber or former member was serving on duty, regard-19
less of duty status or line of duty determination (as 20
that term is used in section 12323 of title 10). 21
‘‘(3) The term ‘sexual harassment’ means unso-22
licited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature 23
which is threatening in character.’’. 24
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SEC. 302. CONNECTION TO VETERANS HEALTH ADMINIS-1
TRATION WHEN A DISABILITY CLAIM RE-2
LATED TO MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA IS SUB-3
MITTED TO VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINIS-4
TRATION. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 14 days after the 6
date on which a veteran submits a claim for disability com-7
pensation to the Veterans Benefits Administration for a 8
disability related to military sexual trauma, the Secretary 9
of Veterans Affairs shall send a communication to the vet-10
eran with the following information: 11
(1) The contact information for the nearest 12
military sexual trauma coordinator for the veteran 13
at the Veterans Benefits Administration and a de-14
scription of the assistance such coordinator can pro-15
vide. 16
(2) The contact information for the nearest 17
military sexual trauma coordinator for the veteran 18
at the Veterans Health Administration and a de-19
scription of the assistance such coordinator can pro-20
vide. 21
(3) The types of services that individuals who 22
have experienced military sexual trauma are eligible 23
to receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs, 24
including the nearest locations, including the nearest 25
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Vet Center, and the contact information for such 1
services. 2
(4) The contact information for the Veterans 3
Crisis Line established under section 1720F(h) of 4
title 38, United States Code. 5
(5) Such other information on services, care, or 6
resources for military sexual trauma as the Sec-7
retary determines appropriate. 8
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
(1) M
ILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA .—The term 10
‘‘military sexual trauma’’— 11
(A) with respect to eligibility for health 12
care, has the meaning given such term in sec-13
tion 1720D(f) of title 38, United States Code, 14
as added by section 301; and 15
(B) with respect to eligibility for com-16
pensation, has the meaning given such term in 17
section 1166A(i) of title 38, United States 18
Code, as added by section 203(a). 19
(2) V
ET CENTER.—The term ‘‘Vet Center’’ has 20
the meaning given that term in section 1712A(h) of 21
title 38, United States Code. 22
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SEC. 303. CARE RELATING TO MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA 1
FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO WITHDRAW FROM OR 2
OTHERWISE DO NOT COMPLETE SERVICE AT 3
SERVICE ACADEMIES. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-5
fairs, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the 6
Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of 7
Transportation, shall ensure that each individual who 8
withdraws from, or otherwise does not complete service at, 9
a service academy is provided— 10
(1) information on the potential eligibility of 11
such individual for care and counseling relating to 12
military sexual trauma provided through the Depart-13
ment of Veterans Affairs; and 14
(2) the option to receive copies of— 15
(A) the individual’s service treatment 16
records or military personnel records that docu-17
ment military sexual trauma; 18
(B) reporting forms of the Department of 19
Defense, the Department of Homeland Secu-20
rity, or the Department of Transportation on 21
sexual assault or sexual harassment for which 22
the individual was the victim; and 23
(C) any investigative reports into military 24
sexual trauma that occurred during the individ-25
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ual’s service in the Armed Forces and for which 1
the individual was the victim. 2
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) M
ILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA .—The term 4
‘‘military sexual trauma’’— 5
(A) with respect to eligibility for health 6
care, has the meaning given such term in sec-7
tion 1720D(f) of title 38, United States Code, 8
as added by section 301; and 9
(B) with respect to eligibility for com-10
pensation, has the meaning given such term in 11
section 1166A(i) of title 38, United States 12
Code, as added by section 203(a). 13
(2) S
ERVICE ACADEMY .—The term ‘‘service 14
academy’’ means any of the following: 15
(A) The United States Military Academy. 16
(B) The United States Naval Academy. 17
(C) The United States Air Force Academy. 18
(D) The United States Coast Guard Acad-19
emy. 20
(E) The United States Merchant Marine 21
Academy. 22
Æ
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