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Us Congress Senate Bill SB342

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB342 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 342
55 To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize an individual who
66 is awarded the Purple Heart for service in the Armed Forces to transfer
77 unused Post-9/11 Educational Assistance to a family member, and for
88 other purposes.
99 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
1010 JANUARY30, 2025
1111 Mrs. M
1212 URRAY(for herself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mr. KING, Mr.
1313 B
1414 OOZMAN, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. DAINES, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. CORNYN, Mr.
1515 K
1616 ELLY, Mr. CRAMER, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill;
1717 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
1818 A BILL
1919 To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize an
2020 individual who is awarded the Purple Heart for service
2121 in the Armed Forces to transfer unused Post-9/11 Edu-
2222 cational Assistance to a family member, and for other
2323 purposes.
2424 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2525 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2626 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2727 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Purple Heart Veterans 4
2828 Education Act of 2025’’. 5
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3232 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY FOR INDIVIDUALS AWARDED PURPLE 1
3333 HEART TO TRANSFER UNUSED POST-9/11 2
3434 EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO A FAMILY 3
3535 MEMBER. 4
3636 (a) I
3737 NGENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 33 of 5
3838 title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 6
3939 section 3319 the following new section: 7
4040 ‘‘§ 3319A. Authority for recipients of Purple Heart to 8
4141 transfer unused Post-9/11 Educational As-9
4242 sistance to a family member 10
4343 ‘‘(a) I
4444 NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall permit an 11
4545 individual described in subsection (b) who is entitled to 12
4646 educational assistance under this chapter to elect to trans-13
4747 fer to one or more of the dependents specified in sub-14
4848 section (c) a portion of such individual’s entitlement to 15
4949 such assistance, subject to the limitation under subsection 16
5050 (d). 17
5151 ‘‘(b) E
5252 LIGIBLEINDIVIDUALS.—An individual re-18
5353 ferred to in subsection (a) is any veteran who is awarded, 19
5454 after being discharged or released from service in the ac-20
5555 tive military, naval, air, or space service, the Purple Heart 21
5656 for service in the Armed Forces occurring on or after Sep-22
5757 tember 11, 2001. 23
5858 ‘‘(c) E
5959 LIGIBLEDEPENDENTS.— 24
6060 ‘‘(1) T
6161 RANSFER.—An individual approved to 25
6262 transfer an entitlement to educational assistance 26
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6666 under this section may transfer the individual’s enti-1
6767 tlement to an eligible dependent or a combination of 2
6868 eligible dependents. 3
6969 ‘‘(2) D
7070 EFINITION OF ELIGIBLE DEPENDENT .— 4
7171 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘eligible 5
7272 dependent’ has the meaning given the term ‘depend-6
7373 ent’ under subparagraphs (A), (D), and (I) of sec-7
7474 tion 1072(2) of title 10. 8
7575 ‘‘(d) L
7676 IMITATION ONMONTHS OFTRANSFER.—The 9
7777 total number of months of entitlement transferred by an 10
7878 individual under this section may not exceed 36 months. 11
7979 ‘‘(e) D
8080 ESIGNATION OFTRANSFEREE.—An individual 12
8181 transferring an entitlement to educational assistance 13
8282 under this section shall— 14
8383 ‘‘(1) designate the dependent or dependents to 15
8484 whom such entitlement is being transferred; and 16
8585 ‘‘(2) designate the number of months of such 17
8686 entitlement to be transferred to each such depend-18
8787 ent. 19
8888 ‘‘(f) R
8989 EVOCATION ANDMODIFICATION.— 20
9090 ‘‘(1) M
9191 ODIFICATION OR REVOCATION .— 21
9292 ‘‘(A) I
9393 N GENERAL.—An individual trans-22
9494 ferring entitlement under this section may mod-23
9595 ify or revoke at any time the transfer of any 24
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9999 unused portion of the entitlement so trans-1
100100 ferred. 2
101101 ‘‘(B) N
102102 OTICE.—The modification or rev-3
103103 ocation of the transfer of entitlement under this 4
104104 paragraph shall be made by the submittal of 5
105105 written notice of the action to the Secretary. 6
106106 ‘‘(2) P
107107 ROHIBITION ON TREATMENT OF TRANS -7
108108 FERRED ENTITLEMENT AS MARITAL PROPERTY .— 8
109109 Entitlement transferred under this section may not 9
110110 be treated as marital property, or the asset of a 10
111111 marital estate, subject to division in a divorce or 11
112112 other civil proceeding. 12
113113 ‘‘(g) C
114114 OMMENCEMENT OF USE.—A dependent to 13
115115 whom entitlement to educational assistance is transferred 14
116116 under this section may not commence the use of the trans-15
117117 ferred entitlement, in the case of entitlement transferred 16
118118 to a child, until either— 17
119119 ‘‘(1) the completion by the child of the require-18
120120 ments of a secondary school diploma (or equivalency 19
121121 certificate); or 20
122122 ‘‘(2) the attainment by the child of 18 years of 21
123123 age. 22
124124 ‘‘(h) A
125125 DDITIONALADMINISTRATIVEMATTERS.— 23
126126 ‘‘(1) U
127127 SE.—The use of any entitlement to edu-24
128128 cational assistance transferred under this section 25
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132132 shall be charged against the entitlement of the indi-1
133133 vidual making the transfer at the rate of one month 2
134134 for each month of transferred entitlement that is 3
135135 used. 4
136136 ‘‘(2) N
137137 ATURE OF TRANSFERRED ENTITLE -5
138138 MENT.—Except as provided under subsection (e)(2) 6
139139 and subject to paragraphs (5) and (6), the recipient 7
140140 of entitlement transferred under this section is enti-8
141141 tled to educational assistance under this chapter in 9
142142 the same manner as the individual from whom the 10
143143 entitlement was transferred. 11
144144 ‘‘(3) R
145145 ATE OF PAYMENT.—The monthly rate of 12
146146 educational assistance payable to a dependent to 13
147147 whom entitlement referred to in paragraph (2) is 14
148148 transferred under this section shall be payable at the 15
149149 same rate as such entitlement would otherwise be 16
150150 payable under this chapter to the individual making 17
151151 the transfer. 18
152152 ‘‘(4) D
153153 EATH OF TRANSFEROR .— 19
154154 ‘‘(A) I
155155 N GENERAL.—The death of an indi-20
156156 vidual transferring an entitlement under this 21
157157 section shall not affect the use of the entitle-22
158158 ment by the dependent to whom the entitlement 23
159159 is transferred. 24
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163163 ‘‘(B) DEATH PRIOR TO TRANSFER TO DES -1
164164 IGNATED TRANSFEREES .—(i) In the case of an 2
165165 eligible individual whom the Secretary, in con-3
166166 sultation with the Secretary of Defense, has ap-4
167167 proved to transfer the individual’s entitlement 5
168168 under this section who, at the time of death, is 6
169169 entitled to educational assistance under this 7
170170 chapter and has designated a transferee or 8
171171 transferees under subsection (e) but has not 9
172172 transferred all of such entitlement to such 10
173173 transferee or transferees, the Secretary shall 11
174174 transfer the entitlement of the individual under 12
175175 this section by evenly distributing the amount 13
176176 of such entitlement between all such transferees 14
177177 who would not be precluded from using some or 15
178178 all of the transferred benefits due to the expira-16
179179 tion of time limitations found in paragraph (5) 17
180180 of this subsection or section 3321 of this title, 18
181181 notwithstanding the limitations under sub-19
182182 section (f). 20
183183 ‘‘(ii) If a transferee cannot use all of the 21
184184 transferred benefits under clause (i) because of 22
185185 expiration of a time limitation, the unused ben-23
186186 efits will be distributed among the other des-24
187187 ignated transferees who would not be precluded 25
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191191 from using some or all of the transferred bene-1
192192 fits due to expiration of time limitations found 2
193193 in paragraph (5) of this subsection or section 3
194194 3321 of this title, unless or until there are no 4
195195 transferees who would not be precluded from 5
196196 using the transferred benefits because of expira-6
197197 tion of a time limitation. 7
198198 ‘‘(5) L
199199 IMITATION ON AGE OF USE BY CHILD 8
200200 TRANSFEREES.— 9
201201 ‘‘(A) I
202202 N GENERAL.—A child to whom enti-10
203203 tlement is transferred under this section may 11
204204 use the benefits transferred without regard to 12
205205 the 15-year delimiting date specified in section 13
206206 3321 of this title, but may not, except as pro-14
207207 vided in subparagraph (B) or (C), use any ben-15
208208 efits so transferred after attaining the age of 26 16
209209 years. 17
210210 ‘‘(B) P
211211 RIMARY CAREGIVERS OF SERIOUSLY 18
212212 INJURED MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 19
213213 AND VETERANS.— 20
214214 ‘‘(i) I
215215 N GENERAL.—Subject to clause 21
216216 (ii), in the case of a child who, before at-22
217217 taining the age of 26 years, is prevented 23
218218 from pursuing a chosen program of edu-24
219219 cation by reason of acting as the primary 25
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223223 provider of personal care services for a vet-1
224224 eran or member of the Armed Forces 2
225225 under section 1720G(a) of this title, the 3
226226 child may use the benefits beginning on 4
227227 the date specified in clause (iii) for a pe-5
228228 riod whose length is specified in clause 6
229229 (iv). 7
230230 ‘‘(ii) I
231231 NAPPLICABILITY FOR REVOCA -8
232232 TION.—Clause (i) shall not apply with re-9
233233 spect to the period of an individual as a 10
234234 primary provider of personal care services 11
235235 if the period concludes with the revocation 12
236236 of the individual’s designation as such a 13
237237 primary provider under section 14
238238 1720G(a)(7)(D) of this title. 15
239239 ‘‘(iii) D
240240 ATE FOR COMMENCEMENT OF 16
241241 USE.—The date specified in this clause for 17
242242 the beginning of the use of benefits by a 18
243243 child under clause (i) is the later of— 19
244244 ‘‘(I) the date on which the child 20
245245 ceases acting as the primary provider 21
246246 of personal care services for the vet-22
247247 eran or member concerned as de-23
248248 scribed in clause (i); 24
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252252 ‘‘(II) the date on which it is rea-1
253253 sonably feasible, as determined under 2
254254 regulations prescribed by the Sec-3
255255 retary, for the child to initiate or re-4
256256 sume the use of benefits; or 5
257257 ‘‘(III) the date on which the child 6
258258 attains the age of 26 years. 7
259259 ‘‘(iv) L
260260 ENGTH OF USE.—The length 8
261261 of the period specified in this clause for the 9
262262 use of benefits by a child under clause (i) 10
263263 is the length equal to the length of the pe-11
264264 riod that— 12
265265 ‘‘(I) begins on the date on which 13
266266 the child begins acting as the primary 14
267267 provider of personal care services for 15
268268 the veteran or member concerned as 16
269269 described in clause (i); and 17
270270 ‘‘(II) ends on the later of— 18
271271 ‘‘(aa) the date on which the 19
272272 child ceases acting as the pri-20
273273 mary provider of personal care 21
274274 services for the veteran or mem-22
275275 ber as described in clause (i); or 23
276276 ‘‘(bb) the date on which it is 24
277277 reasonably feasible, as so deter-25
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281281 mined, for the child to initiate or 1
282282 resume the use of benefits. 2
283283 ‘‘(C) E
284284 MERGENCY SITUATIONS .—In any 3
285285 case in which the Secretary determines that an 4
286286 individual to whom entitlement is transferred 5
287287 under this section has been prevented from pur-6
288288 suing the individual’s chosen program of edu-7
289289 cation before the individual attains the age of 8
290290 26 years because the educational institution or 9
291291 training establishment closed (temporarily or 10
292292 permanently) under an established policy based 11
293293 on an Executive order of the President or due 12
294294 to an emergency situation, the Secretary shall 13
295295 extend the period during which the individual 14
296296 may use such entitlement for a period equal to 15
297297 the number of months that the individual was 16
298298 so prevented from pursuing the program of 17
299299 education, as determined by the Secretary. 18
300300 ‘‘(6) S
301301 COPE OF USE BY TRANSFEREES .—The 19
302302 purposes for which a dependent to whom entitlement 20
303303 is transferred under this section may use such enti-21
304304 tlement shall include the pursuit and completion of 22
305305 the requirements of a secondary school diploma (or 23
306306 equivalency certificate). 24
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310310 ‘‘(7) ADDITIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROVI -1
311311 SIONS.—The administrative provisions of this chap-2
312312 ter shall apply to the use of entitlement transferred 3
313313 under this section, except that the dependent to 4
314314 whom the entitlement is transferred shall be treated 5
315315 as the eligible individual for purposes of such provi-6
316316 sions. 7
317317 ‘‘(i) O
318318 VERPAYMENT.—In the event of an overpayment 8
319319 of educational assistance with respect to a dependent to 9
320320 whom entitlement is transferred under this section, the de-10
321321 pendent and the individual making the transfer shall be 11
322322 jointly and severally liable to the United States for the 12
323323 amount of the overpayment for purposes of section 3685 13
324324 of this title. 14
325325 ‘‘(j) R
326326 EGULATIONS.—(1) The Secretary shall, in con-15
327327 sultation with the Secretary of Defense, prescribe regula-16
328328 tions for purposes of this section. 17
329329 ‘‘(2) Such regulations shall specify— 18
330330 ‘‘(A) the manner of authorizing the transfer of 19
331331 entitlements under this section; 20
332332 ‘‘(B) the eligibility criteria in accordance with 21
333333 subsection (b); and 22
334334 ‘‘(C) the manner and effect of an election to 23
335335 modify or revoke a transfer of entitlement under 24
336336 subsection (f)(1). 25
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340340 ‘‘(k) TRANSFER BYDEPENDENT.—In the case of an 1
341341 individual who transfers entitlement to educational assist-2
342342 ance under this section who dies before the dependent to 3
343343 whom entitlement to educational assistance is so trans-4
344344 ferred has used all of such entitlement, such dependent 5
345345 may transfer such entitlement to another eligible depend-6
346346 ent in accordance with the provisions of this section. 7
347347 ‘‘(l) C
348348 OORDINATION.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-8
349349 fairs and the Secretary of Defense shall coordinate with 9
350350 each other to facilitate the transfer of entitlement under 10
351351 this section.’’. 11
352352 (b) C
353353 LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 12
354354 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 13
355355 after the item relating to section 3319 the following new 14
356356 item: 15
357357 ‘‘3319A. Authority for recipients of Purple Heart to transfer unused Post-9/11
358358 Educational Assistance to a family member.’’.
359359 Æ
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