[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 698 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 698

     To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand and enhance 
    educational assistance for survivors and dependents of veterans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 27, 2007

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand and enhance 
    educational assistance for survivors and dependents of veterans.

    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 ``Veterans' Survivors Education 
Enhancement Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION AND ENHANCEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR 
              SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS OF VETERANS.

    (a) Termination of Durational Limitation on Use of Educational 
Assistance and Restatement of Continuing Requirements.--
            (1) In general.--Subsection (a) of section 3511 of title 
        38, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or 
chapter 36 of this title, any payment of educational assistance 
described in paragraph (2) shall not be charged against the entitlement 
of any individual under this chapter.
    ``(2) The payment of educational assistance referred to in 
paragraph (1) is the payment of such assistance to an individual for 
pursuit of a course or courses under this chapter if the Secretary 
finds that the individual--
            ``(A) had to discontinue such course pursuit as a result of 
        being ordered to serve on active duty under section 688, 
        12301(a), 12301(d), 12301(g), 12302, or 12304 of title 10 or of 
        being involuntarily ordered to full-time National Guard duty 
        under section 502(f) of title 32; and
            ``(B) failed to receive credit or training time toward 
        completion of the individual's approved educational, 
        professional, or vocational objective as a result of having to 
        discontinue, as described in subparagraph (A), the course 
        pursuit.''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Such title 38 is further 
        amended as follows:
                    (A) In section 3511, by amending the heading to 
                read as follows:
``Sec. 3511. Treatment of certain interruptions in pursuit of programs 
              of education''.
                    (B) In section 3532(g)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1), by striking 
                        ``paragraph (3)'' and inserting ``paragraph 
                        (2)'';
                            (ii) by striking paragraph (2); and
                            (iii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 
                        paragraph (2).
                    (C) By striking section 3541 and inserting the 
                following new section:
``Sec. 3541. Special restorative training
    ``(a) The Secretary may, at the request of an eligible person--
            ``(1) determine whether such person is in need of special 
        restorative training; and
            ``(2) if such need is found to exist, prescribe a course 
        that is suitable to accomplish the purposes of this chapter.
    ``(b) A course of special restorative training under subsection (a) 
may, at the discretion of the Secretary, contain elements that would 
contribute toward an ultimate objective of a program of education.''.
                    (D) In section 3695(a)(4), by striking ``35,''.
    (b) Extension of Delimiting Age of Eligibility for Dependents.--
Section 3512(a) of such title, is amended by striking ``twenty-sixth 
birthday'' each place it appears and inserting ``thirtieth birthday''.
    (c) Amount of Educational Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--Section 3532 of such title is amended to 
        read as follows:
``Sec. 3532. Amount of educational assistance
    ``(a) The aggregate amount of educational assistance to which an 
eligible person is entitled under this chapter is $80,000, as increased 
from time to time under section 3564 of this title.
    ``(b) Within the aggregate amount provided for in subsection (a), 
educational assistance under this chapter may be paid for any purpose, 
and in any amount, as follows:
            ``(1) A program of education consisting of institutional 
        courses.
            ``(2) A full-time program of education that consists of 
        institutional courses and alternate phases of training in a 
        business or industrial establishment with the training in the 
        business or industrial establishment being strictly 
        supplemental to the institutional portion.
            ``(3) A farm cooperative program consisting of 
        institutional agricultural courses prescheduled to fall within 
        44 weeks of any period of 12 consecutive months that is pursued 
        by an eligible person who is concurrently engaged in 
        agricultural employment that is relevant to such institutional 
        agricultural courses as determined under standards prescribed 
        by the Secretary.
            ``(4) A course or courses or other program of special 
        educational assistance as provided in section 3491(a) of this 
        title.
            ``(5) A program of apprenticeship or other on-job training 
        pursued in a State as provided in section 3687(a) of this 
        title.
            ``(6) In the case of an eligible spouse or surviving 
        spouse, a program of education exclusively by correspondence as 
        provided in section 3686 of this title.
            ``(7) Special restorative training as provided in section 
        3542 of this title.
    ``(c) If a program of education is pursued by an eligible person at 
an institution located in the Republic of the Philippines, any 
educational assistance for such person under this chapter shall be paid 
at the rate of $0.50 for each dollar.
    ``(d)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the amount of educational 
assistance payable under this chapter for a licensing or certification 
test described in section 3501(a)(5) of this title is the lesser of 
$2,000 or the fee charged for the test.
    ``(2) In no event shall payment of educational assistance under 
this subsection for such a test exceed the amount of the available 
entitlement for the individual under this chapter.''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Title 38, United States Code, 
        is amended as follows:
                    (A) By striking section 3533 and inserting the 
                following new section:
``Sec. 3533. Tutorial assistance
    ``An eligible person shall, without any charge to any entitlement 
of such person to educational assistance under section 3532(a) of this 
title, be entitled to the benefits provided an eligible veteran under 
section 3492 of this title.''.
                    (B) Section 3534 is repealed.
                    (C) In section 3542--
                            (i) in subsection (a), by striking 
                        ``computed at the basic rate'' and all that 
                        follows through the end of the subsection and 
                        inserting a period; and
                            (ii) in subsection (b), by striking ``an 
                        educational assistance allowance'' and 
                        inserting ``educational assistance''.
                    (D) In section 3543(c)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1), by adding ``and'' at 
                        the end;
                            (ii) by striking paragraph (2); and
                            (iii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 
                        paragraph (2).
                    (E) In section 3564, by striking ``rates payable 
                under sections 3532, 3534(b), and 3542(a)'' and 
                inserting ``aggregate amount of educational assistance 
                payable under section 3532''.
                    (F) In section 3565(b), by striking paragraph (1) 
                and inserting the following new paragraph (1):
            ``(1) educational assistance payable under section 3532 of 
        this title, including the special training allowance referred 
        to in subsection (b)(7) of such section, shall be paid at the 
        rate of $0.50 for each dollar; and''.
                    (G) In section 3687--
                            (i) in subsection (a)--
                                    (I) in the matter preceding 
                                paragraph (1), by striking ``or an 
                                eligible person (as defined in section 
                                3501(a) of this title)''; and
                                    (II) in the flush matter following 
                                paragraph (2), by striking ``chapters 
                                34 and 35'' and inserting ``chapter 
                                34'';
                            (ii) in subsection (c), by striking 
                        ``chapters 34 and 35'' and inserting ``chapter 
                        34''; and
                            (iii) in subsection (e), by striking 
                        paragraph (3) and inserting the following new 
                        paragraph (3):
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `individual' means an eligible 
veteran who is entitled to monthly educational assistance allowances 
payable under section 3015(e) of this title.''.
    (d) Other Conforming Amendments.--Title 38, United States Code, is 
further amended as follows:
            (1) In section 3524, by striking ``the educational 
        assistance allowance'' each place it appears and inserting 
        ``educational assistance''.
            (2) In section 3531--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``allowance'';
                    (B) in subsection (a), by striking ``an educational 
                assistance allowance'' and inserting ``educational 
                assistance''; and
                    (C) in subsection (b), by striking ``allowance''.
            (3) In section 3537(a), by striking ``additional''.
    (e) Clerical Amendments.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 35 of such title is amended as follows:
            (1) By striking the item relating to section 3511 and 
        inserting the following new item:

``3511. Treatment of certain interruptions in pursuit of programs of 
                            education.''.
            (2) By striking the items relating to section 3531, 3532, 
        and 3533 and inserting the following new items:

``3531. Educational assistance.
``3532. Amount of educational assistance.
``3533. Tutorial assistance.''.
            (3) By striking the item relating to section 3534.
            (4) By striking the item relating to section 3541 and 
        inserting the following new item:

``3541. Special restorative training.''.
    (f) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Annual adjustments for fiscal year 2008.--
        Notwithstanding the effective date under paragraph (1) of the 
        amendment to section 3564 of title 38, United States Code, made 
        by subsection (c)(2)(E), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
        shall make the first increase in the aggregate amount of 
        educational assistance under section 3532 of such title as 
        required by such section 3564 (as so amended) for fiscal year 
        2008.
                                 <all>