HR 1399 · 114th Congress 2015–2017, ended

Veteran Education Empowerment Act

Introduced Mar 17, 2015 Originated House Sponsor Lois Frankel D-FL

Latest action · Nov 16, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedMar 17, 2015
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Veteran Education Empowerment Act

Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to award up to 30 four-year grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or consortia of IHEs to establish, maintain, and improve Veteran Student Centers.

Permits a grantee to use a portion of the grant to provide veteran students with supportive instruction services.

Requires a grantee to be an IHE or consortium that: (1) enrolls in undergraduate or graduate courses a significant number or percentage of veterans or members of the Armed Forces, and (2) presents a sustainability plan demonstrating that its Veteran Student Center will be maintained and will continue to operate after the grant ends.

Defines a "Veteran Student Center" as a dedicated space on a campus that provides students who are veterans or members of the Armed Forces with: (1) a lounge or meeting space for themselves, their spouses or partners, and veterans in the community; (2) a centralized office for veteran services that is staffed by trained employees and volunteers and serves as a single point of contact to coordinate veterans support services; and (3) comprehensive academic and tutoring services to veterans.

Requires that office to provide such students with assistance in:

transitioning from the military to student life,
transitioning from the military to the civilian workforce,
networking with other veteran students and veterans in the community,
understanding and obtaining benefits provided by the IHE and federal and state government for which they may be eligible,
understanding how to succeed in the IHE, and
understanding their disability-related rights and protections under specified federal laws.

Requires the Secretary to develop and implement a website for veteran student services at IHEs, which details best practices for serving veteran students at IHEs.

Cosponsors 142

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 17, 2015 to Dec 8, 2016; 2 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
R-FL	Gus M. Bilirakis	Original	Mar 17, 2015
D-CA	Mark Takano	Original	Mar 17, 2015
R-MT	Ryan K. Zinke		Mar 24, 2015
D-PA	Matt Cartwright		Mar 25, 2015
R-LA	Charles W. Boustany, Jr.		Apr 13, 2015
R-FL	David W. Jolly		Apr 13, 2015
D-NY	Charles B. Rangel		Apr 15, 2015
D-CO	Jared Polis		Apr 15, 2015
R-NY	Peter T. King		Apr 15, 2015
D-FL	Alcee L. Hastings		Apr 21, 2015
D-AZ	Ann Kirkpatrick		Apr 21, 2015
R-UT	Chris Stewart		Apr 21, 2015
R-WV	David B. McKinley		Apr 21, 2015
D-MA	James P. McGovern		Apr 21, 2015
R-SC	Joe Wilson		Apr 21, 2015
D-MI	John Conyers, Jr.		Apr 21, 2015
R-FL	Mario Diaz-Balart		Apr 21, 2015
D-FL	Patrick Murphy		Apr 21, 2015
D-AZ	Raúl M. Grijalva		Apr 21, 2015
D-CA	Raul Ruiz		Apr 21, 2015
R-IL	Robert J. Dold		Apr 21, 2015
D-IL	Robin L. Kelly		Apr 21, 2015
D-FL	Theodore E. Deutch		Apr 21, 2015
R-FL	Thomas J. Rooney		Apr 21, 2015
D-IL	Bobby L. Rush		Apr 23, 2015
D-MI	Brenda L. Lawrence		Apr 23, 2015
D-NY	Brian Higgins		Apr 23, 2015
D-IL	Cheri Bustos		Apr 23, 2015
D-FL	Corrine Brown		Apr 28, 2015
R-FL	Richard B. Nugent		Apr 28, 2015
R-NC	Walter B. Jones		Apr 28, 2015
D-MA	William R. Keating		Apr 28, 2015
R-FL	Dennis A. Ross		Apr 29, 2015
D-CA	Eric Swalwell		Apr 29, 2015
R-FL	Daniel Webster		Apr 30, 2015
D-NY	Jose E. Serrano		Apr 30, 2015
D-TX	Marc A. Veasey		Apr 30, 2015
D-CA	Susan A. Davis		Apr 30, 2015
D-MN	Timothy J. Walz		Apr 30, 2015
D-CA	Grace F. Napolitano		May 12, 2015
D-NY	Steve Israel		May 12, 2015
D-CA	Alan S. Lowenthal		May 13, 2015
R-FL	Ander Crenshaw		May 13, 2015
D-IA	David Loebsack		May 15, 2015
D-NY	Grace Meng		May 15, 2015
D-RI	David N. Cicilline		May 18, 2015
D-FL	Frederica S. Wilson		May 18, 2015
R-FL	Ted S. Yoho		May 18, 2015
R-NJ	Frank A. LoBiondo		May 19, 2015
D-CA	Michael M. Honda		May 19, 2015
D-NY	Gregory W. Meeks		May 20, 2015
D-PA	Brendan F. Boyle		May 26, 2015
D-CA	Julia Brownley		May 26, 2015
D-MA	Katherine M. Clark		May 26, 2015
D-NY	Nita M. Lowey		May 26, 2015
D-TX	Sheila Jackson Lee		May 26, 2015
D-TX	Beto O'Rourke		Jun 2, 2015
R-AZ	Martha McSally		Jun 2, 2015
D-CA	Norma J. Torres		Jun 4, 2015
D-CA	Barbara Lee		Jun 9, 2015
R-OH	Bill Johnson		Jun 9, 2015
D-FL	Debbie Wasserman Schultz		Jun 9, 2015
D-GA	Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.		Jun 9, 2015
R-NM	Stevan Pearce		Jun 10, 2015
D-TN	Steve Cohen		Jun 15, 2015
R-CA	David G. Valadao		Jul 9, 2015
R-FL	Ileana Ros-Lehtinen		Jul 9, 2015
R-FL	John L. Mica		Jul 15, 2015
D-HI	Tulsi Gabbard		Jul 16, 2015
I-AZ	Kyrsten Sinema		Jul 29, 2015
R-TX	Lamar Smith		Sep 8, 2015
R-NC	David Rouzer		Sep 10, 2015
R-ND	Kevin Cramer		Sep 10, 2015
R-PA	Ryan A. Costello		Sep 10, 2015
R-KY	Andy Barr		Sep 16, 2015
R-NY	John Katko		Sep 17, 2015
R-OH	David P. Joyce		Sep 30, 2015
D-CA	Doris O. Matsui		Sep 30, 2015
R-LA	Garret Graves		Oct 9, 2015
R-VA	E. Scott Rigell		Oct 16, 2015
R-TX	Blake Farenthold		Oct 23, 2015
R-LA	Ralph Lee Abraham		Oct 23, 2015
D-MI	Sander M. Levin		Oct 23, 2015
D-OH	Tim Ryan		Oct 23, 2015
D-DC	Eleanor Holmes Norton		Nov 5, 2015
R-FL	Jeff Miller		Nov 5, 2015
D-CA	John Garamendi		Nov 5, 2015
D-OH	Marcy Kaptur		Nov 5, 2015
D-IL	Bill Foster		Nov 16, 2015
R-TN	Charles J. "Chuck" Fleischmann		Nov 16, 2015
D-NC	David E. Price		Nov 16, 2015
D-MO	Emanuel Cleaver		Nov 16, 2015
D-GA	John Lewis		Nov 16, 2015
D-GU	Madeleine Z. Bordallo		Nov 16, 2015
R-ID	Michael K. Simpson		Nov 16, 2015
R-NY	Richard L. Hanna		Nov 30, 2015
R-NY	Chris Collins		Dec 3, 2015
D-VT	Peter Welch		Dec 3, 2015
R-NY	Christopher P. Gibson		Dec 11, 2015
D-WI	Gwen Moore		Dec 11, 2015
R-NY	Elise M. Stefanik		Dec 15, 2015
D-NE	Brad Ashford		Dec 18, 2015
D-RI	James R. Langevin		Dec 18, 2015
D-KY	John A. Yarmuth		Dec 18, 2015
D-IL	Luis V. Gutierrez		Dec 18, 2015
R-NJ	Thomas MacArthur		Dec 18, 2015
R-CO	Doug Lamborn		Jan 6, 2016
D-NV	Dina Titus		Feb 2, 2016
D-CA	Sam Farr		Feb 11, 2016
D-MD	John K. Delaney		Feb 12, 2016
D-MD	C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger		Feb 26, 2016
D-NY	Carolyn B. Maloney		Feb 26, 2016
R-NY	Lee M. Zeldin		Feb 26, 2016
R-VA	J. Randy Forbes		Mar 3, 2016
D-CA	Lois Capps		Mar 3, 2016
R-FL	Carlos Curbelo		Mar 23, 2016
D-CA	Mark DeSaulnier		Mar 23, 2016
D-CA	Adam B. Schiff		Apr 12, 2016
D-NY	Eliot L. Engel		Apr 12, 2016
D-CA	Judy Chu		Apr 12, 2016
D-CA	Mike Thompson		Apr 18, 2016
D-MD	Donna F. Edwards		May 13, 2016
D-NY	Kathleen M. Rice		May 13, 2016
D-OH	Marcia L. Fudge		May 13, 2016
D-MI	Debbie Dingell		May 26, 2016
R-VA	Robert J. Wittman		May 26, 2016
R-NY	Tom Reed		Sep 6, 2016
D-WA	Jim McDermott		Sep 9, 2016
D-CA	Loretta Sanchez		Sep 9, 2016
D-WA	Denny Heck		Sep 22, 2016
D-NY	Louise McIntosh Slaughter		Sep 22, 2016
D-VA	Robert C. "Bobby" Scott		Sep 28, 2016
D-TX	Ruben Hinojosa		Sep 28, 2016
D-OR	Suzanne Bonamici		Sep 28, 2016
D-CT	James A. Himes		Nov 14, 2016
D-WA	Derek Kilmer		Nov 17, 2016
D-NC	Alma S. Adams		Dec 2, 2016
D-GA	David Scott		Dec 2, 2016
D-NC	G. K. Butterfield		Dec 2, 2016
D-CA	Jackie Speier		Dec 8, 2016
D-CT	John B. Larson		Dec 8, 2016
R-TX	Michael T. McCaul		Dec 8, 2016

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Education and Workforce Committee	Referred Mar 17, 2015
	Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee	Referred Nov 16, 2015

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

Nov 16, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
Mar 17, 2015Introduced in House
Mar 17, 2015Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article 1, Section 8 (Clauses 1, 12, 13, and 14) of the United States Constitution, which grants Congress the power to lay and collect taxes for the purpose of spending; to raise and support armies; to provide and maintain a navy; and to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 45, March 17, 2015, page H1722.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 604	Veteran Education Empowerment Act	Related bill	Feb 26, 2015

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To reauthorize and improve a grant program to assist institutions of higher education in establishing, maintaining, improving, and operating Veteran Student Centers.
Short Titles as Introduced: Veteran Education Empowerment Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Education.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Mar 17, 2015Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.