[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2951 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2951

To require reports on the progress of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
    in addressing causes for variances in compensation payments for 
              veterans for service-connected disabilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2008

  Mr. Baucus (for himself, Mr. Tester, and Mr. Lugar) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require reports on the progress of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
    in addressing causes for variances in compensation payments for 
              veterans for service-connected disabilities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REPORTS ON PROGRESS OF THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS IN 
              ADDRESSING CAUSES FOR VARIANCES IN COMPENSATION PAYMENTS 
              FOR VETERANS FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITIES.

    (a) Reports Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter through 2012, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the congressional 
veterans affairs committees a report describing the progress of the 
Secretary in addressing the causes of variances in compensation 
payments for veterans for service-connected disabilities.
    (b) Elements.--Each report under subsection (a) shall include the 
following:
            (1) A description of the efforts of the Veterans Benefits 
        Administration to coordinate with the Veterans Health 
        Administration to improve the quality of examinations of 
        veterans with service-connected disabilities that are performed 
        by the Veterans Health Administration and contract clinicians, 
        including efforts relating to the use of approved templates for 
        such examinations and of reports on such examinations that are 
        based on such templates prepared in an easily-readable format.
            (2) An assessment of the current personnel requirements of 
        the Veterans Benefits Administration, including an assessment 
        of the adequacy of the number of personnel assigned to each 
        regional office of the Administration for each type of claim 
        adjudication position.
            (3) A description of the differences, if any, in current 
        patterns of submittal rate of claims to the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs regarding service-connected disabilities among 
        various populations of veterans, including veterans living in 
        rural and highly rural areas, minority veterans, veterans who 
        served in the National Guard or Reserve, and veterans who are 
        retired from the Armed Forces military retirees, and a 
        description and assessment of efforts undertaken to eliminate 
        such differences.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``congressional veterans affairs committees'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the 
                Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House 
                of Representatives.
            (2) Highly rural.--The term ``highly rural'', in the case 
        of an area, means that the area consists of a county or 
        counties having a population of less than seven persons per 
        square mile.
                                 <all>