[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1739 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1739

   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to pay provisional benefits for certain nonadjudicated 
                    claims, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 25, 2013

Mr. Enyart (for himself and Mr. Israel) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

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                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to pay provisional benefits for certain nonadjudicated 
                    claims, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Backlog Reduction Act''.

SEC. 2. PROVISIONAL PAYMENT OF CERTAIN NONADJUDICATED CLAIMS FOR 
              BENEFITS UNDER THE LAWS ADMINISTERED BY THE SECRETARY OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Authority To Make Payments.--
            (1) In general.--Subchapter III of chapter 51 of title 38, 
        United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
        following new section:
``Sec. 5127. Payment of provisional benefits for certain nonadjudicated 
              claims
    ``(a) In General.--In the case of any claim for disability 
compensation under chapter 11 of this title that is not adjudicated 
before the date that is 125 days after the date of the submittal of the 
claim, the Secretary shall pay to the claimant provisional benefits 
under this section for the period beginning on the date that is 125 
days after the date of the submittal of the claim and ending on the 
date on which a final decision is made with respect to the claim.
    ``(b) Amount of Benefits.--The amount of the provisional benefits 
payable to a claimant under this section is an amount equal to the 
lesser of the following:
            ``(1) The average amount payable to a person who receives 
        payments of compensation for the type of disability for which 
        the claimant submitted the claim.
            ``(2) The amount payable to a person who receives payments 
        of compensation for a disability rated at 40 percent under the 
        schedule for rating disabilities under section 1155 of this 
        title.
    ``(c) Adjudication.--(1) Upon the adjudication of a claim for which 
the claimant receives payments of provisional benefits under this 
section, the Secretary shall reduce the amount owed to the claimant for 
the period between the effective date of the award of the benefits and 
the date of the adjudication of the claim by the amount of provisional 
benefits paid to the claimant under this section.
    ``(2) If, upon the adjudication of such a claim, the claim is 
denied or the monthly amount of the disability compensation benefits 
awarded to the claimant is less than the monthly amount of provisional 
benefits paid to the claimant under this section, there shall be no 
recovery of the overpayments unless the Secretary determines that there 
exists in connection with the claim an indication of fraud, 
misrepresentation, or bad faith on the part of the claimant.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end of 
        the items relating to such subchapter the following new item:

``5127. Payment of provisional benefits for certain nonadjudicated 
                            claims.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Section 5127 of title 38, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a), shall apply with respect to a new claim for 
benefits submitted after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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