Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Education Relief and Restoration Act of 2015
Latest action · Dec 3, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.
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.
- IntroducedNov 5, 2015
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Education Relief and Restoration Act of 2015
This bill declares that, if a veteran is forced to discontinue a course as a result of a a permanent school closure and did not receive credit or lost training time toward completion of the education program, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) educational assistance payments shall not, for a specified period of time, be:
- charged against the individual's entitlement to educational assistance, or
- counted against the aggregate period for which such assistance may be provided.
The bill applies to courses and programs of education discontinued beginning with FY2015.
The VA may continue to pay educational assistance and subsistence allowances to eligible veterans and eligible persons enrolled in specified courses for up to 4 weeks in any 12-month period when schools are temporarily closed under an established policy based on an executive order of the President or due to an emergency situation.
The VA may also continue to pay a monthly housing stipend following a permanent school closure, but only until the earlier of: (1) the date of the end of the term, quarter, or semester during which the school closure occurred; and (2) the date that is four months after the school closure.
Cosponsors 45
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Nov 5, 2015 to Nov 16, 2016; 3 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-NY | Christopher P. Gibson | Original | Nov 5, 2015 |
| D-HI | Mark Takai | Original | Nov 5, 2015 |
| R-CO | Mike Coffman | Original | Nov 5, 2015 |
| D-CA | Jackie Speier | Nov 17, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Michael M. Honda | Nov 17, 2015 | |
| D-NV | Dina Titus | Nov 19, 2015 | |
| D-OR | Earl Blumenauer | Nov 30, 2015 | |
| D-AZ | Raúl M. Grijalva | Dec 11, 2015 | |
| D-GU | Madeleine Z. Bordallo | Dec 17, 2015 | |
| D-NY | Charles B. Rangel | Dec 18, 2015 | |
| R-AZ | Martha McSally | Feb 3, 2016 | |
| D-WA | Derek Kilmer | Apr 26, 2016 | |
| D-IL | Bobby L. Rush | Sep 7, 2016 | |
| R-FL | David W. Jolly | Sep 7, 2016 | |
| D-FL | Kathy Castor | Sep 7, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Zoe Lofgren | Sep 7, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Anna G. Eshoo | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| D-TX | Gene Green | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| I-AZ | Kyrsten Sinema | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Mark DeSaulnier | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Mike Thompson | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Norma J. Torres | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| D-FL | Patrick Murphy | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| D-VA | Robert C. "Bobby" Scott | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| D-TX | Sheila Jackson Lee | Sep 8, 2016 | |
| R-IN | Susan W. Brooks | Sep 9, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Alan S. Lowenthal | Sep 13, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Judy Chu | Sep 13, 2016 | |
| D-AZ | Ruben Gallego | Sep 13, 2016 | |
| D-OH | Tim Ryan | Sep 13, 2016 | |
| D-IN | André Carson | Sep 14, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Julia Brownley | Sep 14, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Scott H. Peters | Sep 14, 2016 | |
| D-IL | Tammy Duckworth | Sep 14, 2016 | |
| D-NM | Ben Ray Luján | Sep 19, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Pete Aguilar | Sep 20, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Raul Ruiz | Sep 20, 2016 | |
| D-NY | Louise McIntosh Slaughter | Sep 26, 2016 | |
| D-NY | Jose E. Serrano | Sep 28, 2016 | |
| D-OR | Suzanne Bonamici | Sep 28, 2016 | |
| D-CA | Barbara Lee | Nov 14, 2016 | |
| D-CA | John Garamendi | Nov 14, 2016 | |
| D-OH | Joyce Beatty | Nov 14, 2016 | |
| D-WA | Suzan K. DelBene | Nov 14, 2016 | |
| R-NY | Lee M. Zeldin | Nov 16, 2016 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Veterans' Affairs Committee | Referred Nov 5, 2015 |
| Economic Opportunity Subcommittee | Referred Dec 3, 2015 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Dec 3, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.
- Nov 5, 2015Introduced in House
- Nov 5, 2015Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 165, November 5, 2015, page H8154.
Related bills 4
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 425 | Veterans Homeless Programs, Caregiver Services, and Other Improvements Act of 2015 | Related bill | Dec 7, 2016 |
| HR 2068 | Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Education Relief and Restoration Act of 2017 | Reintroduced Bill | Apr 6, 2017 |
| S 2253 | Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Education Relief and Restoration Act of 2015 | Related bill | Nov 18, 2015 |
| S 2921 | Veterans First Act | Related bill | May 16, 2016 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide veterans affected by school closures certain relief and restoration of educational benefits, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Education Relief and Restoration Act of 2015
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Nov 5, 2015Introduced in House
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.
