[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 628 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 628
To title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant access to
their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits Administration
to certain designated congressional employees, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 16, 2019
Mr. Yoho (for himself, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Bergman, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Bost,
Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Collins of
Georgia, Mr. Costa, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Duncan, Mr.
Engel, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Harris, Mr. Hice of
Georgia, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Himes, Mr. Jones, Mr. Joyce of
Ohio, Mr. King of Iowa, Mr. Kinzinger, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr.
Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. Marino, Mr. Massie, Mr. McCaul,
Mr. Meadows, Mr. Mooney of West Virginia, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Perry, Mr.
Peters, Mrs. Radewagen, Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr. Rice of South Carolina, Mr.
Rooney of Florida, Mr. Smith of Missouri, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Swalwell of
California, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Tipton, Mr. Walker, Mr.
Weber of Texas, Mr. Byrne, Mr. Sires, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Crist, Mr.
Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Emmer, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Gohmert, Mr.
Mitchell, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Sablan, Mr. Barr,
Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Flores, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. Olson,
Mrs. Luria, Mr. Waltz, and Mr. Griffith) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant access to
their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits Administration
to certain designated congressional employees, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Working to Integrate Networks
Guaranteeing Member Access Now Act'' or the ``WINGMAN Act''.
SEC. 2. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO CASE-TRACKING INFORMATION.
(a) In General.--Chapter 59 of title 38, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 5906. Access of certain congressional employees to veteran
records
``(a) In General.--(1) The Secretary shall provide to each veteran
who submits a claim for benefits under the laws administered by the
Secretary an opportunity to permit a covered congressional employee
employed in the office of the Member of Congress representing the
district where the veteran resides to have access to all of the records
of the veteran in the databases of the Veterans Benefits
Administration.
``(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon receipt of
permission from the veteran under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall
provide read-only access to such records to such a covered
congressional employee in a manner that does not allow such employee to
modify the data contained in such records or in any part of a database
of the Veterans Benefits Administration.
``(3) A Member of Congress may designate not more than two
employees of the Member as covered congressional employees.
``(b) Covered Congressional Employees.--(1) In this section, a
covered congressional employee is a permanent, full-time employee of a
Member of Congress--
``(A) whose responsibilities include assisting the
constituents of the Member with issues regarding departments or
agencies of the Federal Government;
``(B) who satisfies the criteria required by the Secretary
for recognition as an agent or attorney under this chapter; and
``(C) who is designated by a Member of Congress as a
covered congressional employee for purposes of this section.
``(2) The Secretary may not impose any requirement other than the
requirements under paragraph (1) before treating an employee as a
covered congressional employee for purposes of this section.
``(c) Nonrecognition.--A covered congressional employee may not be
recognized as an agent or attorney under this chapter.
``(d) Limitation on Use of Funds.--None of the amounts made
available to carry out this section may be used to design, develop, or
administer any training for purposes of providing training to covered
congressional employees.
``(e) No Authorization of Appropriations.--No additional funds are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section. This section
may only be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized to be
appropriated, of which, during the period of fiscal years 2019 through
2022, not more than $10,000,000 may be obligated or expended for such
purpose.
``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `database of the Veterans Benefits
Administration' means any database of the Veterans Benefits
Administration in which the records of veterans relating to
claims for benefits under the laws administered by the
Secretary are retained, including information regarding medical
records, compensation and pension exams records, rating
decisions, statements of the case, supplementary statements of
the case, notices of disagreement, Form-9, and any successor
form.
``(2) The term `Member of Congress' means a Representative,
a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner
of Puerto Rico.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of
such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
``5906. Access of certain congressional employees to veteran
records.''.
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