[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2337 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2337

 To extend benefits for qualified service to certain merchant mariners 
        who served during World War II, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                July 29 (legislative day, July 20), 1994

   Mr. Lott introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To extend benefits for qualified service to certain merchant mariners 
        who served during World War II, 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. MERCHANT MARINER BENEFITS.

    (a) Part G of subtitle II, title 46, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following new chapter:

                ``CHAPTER 112--MERCHANT MARINER BENEFITS

``Sec.
``11201. Qualified service.
``11202. Benefits for qualified service.
``11203. Processing fees to correct records.
``Sec. 11201. Qualified service
    ``An individual who served as a member of the United States 
merchant marine, including the Army Transport Service and the Naval 
Transportation Service, between August 16, 1945, and December 31, 1946, 
is deemed to have been engaged in qualified service for purposes of 
this chapter if during that period such individual was--
            ``(1) licensed or otherwise documented by an officer or 
        employee of the United States authorized to license or document 
        such individual; and
            ``(2) a crewmember of a vessel that at the time of the 
        service was--
                    ``(A) operated by the War Shipping Administration 
                or the Office of Defense Transportation (or an agent of 
                the Administration or Office);
                    ``(B) operated in waters other than inland waters, 
                the Great Lakes, other lakes, bays, and harbors of the 
                United States;
                    ``(C) under contract, charter to, or property of, 
                the Government of the United States; and
                    ``(D) serving the Armed Forces.
``Sec. 11202. Benefits for qualified service
    ``(a) An individual who believes to have performed qualified 
service under section 11201 of this title may apply to the Secretary 
for a determination under this section and for a correction of the 
service records of such applicant under section 11203 of this title. 
Not later than 1 year after the Secretary receives an application under 
this section, the Secretary shall determine whether the individual 
performed qualified service.
    ``(b) The Secretary shall issue an honorable discharge to an 
individual who performed qualified service, as determined by the 
Secretary under subsection (a). The Secretary shall issue the discharge 
subject to the same standards relating to the nature and duration of 
service that apply to the honorable discharges issued under section 
401(a)(1)(B) of the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977 (38 U.S.C. 106 
note).
    ``(c) Qualified service of an individual who--
            ``(1) receives an honorable discharge under subsection (b), 
        and
            ``(2) is not eligible under any other provision of law for 
        benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
is deemed to be active duty in the Armed Forces during a period of war 
for purposes of eligibility for benefits under chapters 23 and 24 of 
title 38, United States Code.
    ``(d) The Secretary shall reimburse the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs for the value of benefits that the Department of Veterans 
Affairs provides to an individual by reason of eligibility under this 
chapter.
    ``(e) An individual is not entitled to, and may not receive, 
benefits under this chapter for any period before the date of enactment 
of this chapter.
``Sec. 11203. Processing fees to correct records
    ``(a) The Secretary shall ensure that the service records of an 
individual who performed qualified service, as determined by the 
Secretary under section 11202(a) of this title, are corrected to 
reflect the qualified service.
    ``(b) The Secretary shall collect a fee of $30 from each applicant 
for processing an application submitted under section 11202(a) of this 
title.
    ``(c) Amounts received by the Secretary under this section shall be 
credited to the amounts made available to the Secretary by 
appropriations for the purpose of carrying out this chapter.''.
    (b) The analysis at the beginning of subtitle II of title 46, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
chapter 111 the following:

``112. Merchant Mariner Benefits............................   11201''.
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