[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4012 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4012

 To establish a grant program to provide Native American veterans with 
language resources to facilitate access to medical services provided by 
                  the Department of Veterans Affairs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 30, 2007

  Mrs. Wilson of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a grant program to provide Native American veterans with 
language resources to facilitate access to medical services provided by 
                  the Department of Veterans Affairs.

    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 ``Native American Veterans Language 
Assistance Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. NATIVE AMERICAN VETERANS LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Grant Program.--The Secretary of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs shall carry out a program to make competitive grants to 
eligible entities in accordance with this section. The purpose of such 
grants is to improve access to, delivery of, and follow-up of medical 
services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs to Native 
American veterans who speak native languages by providing interpreters 
or other language resources.
    (b) Eligible Entity.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``eligible entity'' means any medical facility of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs.
    (c) Amount of Grant.--The amount of a grant under this section 
shall be determined by the Secretary, but may not exceed $100,000.
    (d) Use of Grant Funds.--An eligible entity receiving a grant under 
this section may use the grant to provide interpreters or other 
language tools to assist Native American veterans who speak native 
languages with access to, delivery of, and follow-up of medical 
services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
    (e) Competition for Grant.--An eligible entity seeking a grant 
under this section shall submit to the Secretary an application for the 
grant. The application shall be in such form and shall contain such 
information as the Secretary may require. From the applications 
submitted, the Secretary shall approve those applications that the 
Secretary determines to be the most promising in carrying out the 
purposes of the grant program. When considering such applications, the 
Secretary shall give priority to an eligible entity serving an area 
with a large population of Native American veterans. At the Secretary's 
discretion, an eligible entity may receive more than one grant during 
any fiscal year and may receive grants in more than one fiscal year.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act for 
each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
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