1.This Act may be cited as the
Veterans' Survivors Education
Enhancement Act of 2007
.
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)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)Such title 38 is further amended as follows:
(A)In section 3511,
by amending the heading to read as follows:
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:
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 DependentsSection 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)Section 3532 of such title is amended to read as
follows:
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)Title 38, United States Code, is amended as
follows:
(A)By striking
section 3533 and inserting the following new section:
3533.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 AmendmentsTitle 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)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)
(1)The amendments made by this section shall take effect on
the date of the enactment of this Act.
(2)Annual
adjustments for fiscal year 2008Notwithstanding 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.