[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2068 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2068

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide veterans affected by 
school closures certain relief and restoration of educational benefits, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 2017

 Mr. Takano (for himself, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. DelBene, 
 Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Rush, Ms. Speier, Mr. Blumenauer, and Mr. Peters) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide veterans affected by 
school closures certain relief and restoration of educational benefits, 
                        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 ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Veterans Education Relief and Restoration Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. RESTORATION OF ENTITLEMENT TO EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE AND OTHER 
              RELIEF FOR VETERANS AFFECTED BY SCHOOL CLOSURE.

    (a) Educational Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--Section 3312 of title 38, United States 
        Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(d) Discontinuation of Education Due to School Closure.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any payment of educational assistance 
        described in paragraph (2) shall not--
                    ``(A) be charged against any entitlement to 
                educational assistance of the individual concerned 
                under this chapter; or
                    ``(B) be counted against the aggregate period for 
                which section 3695 of this title limits the 
                individual's receipt of educational assistance under 
                this chapter.
            ``(2) Description of payment of educational assistance.--
        Subject to paragraph (3), the payment of educational assistance 
        described in this paragraph 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) was forced to discontinue such course pursuit 
                as a result of a permanent school closure; and
                    ``(B) did not receive credit, or lost training 
                time, toward completion of the program of education 
                being pursued at the time of such closure.
            ``(3) Period for which payment not charged.--The period for 
        which, by reason of this subsection, educational assistance is 
        not charged against entitlement or counted toward the 
        applicable aggregate period under section 3695 of this title 
        shall not exceed the aggregate of--
                    ``(A) the portion of the period of enrollment in 
                the course or courses from which the individual failed 
                to receive credit or with respect to which the 
                individual lost training time, as determined under 
                paragraph (2)(B); and
                    ``(B) the period by which monthly stipend is 
                extended under section 3680(a)(2)(B) of this title.''.
            (2) Applicability.--Subsection (d) of such section, as 
        added by paragraph (1), shall apply with respect to courses and 
        programs of education discontinued as described in subparagraph 
        (A) or (B) of paragraph (2) of such subsection in fiscal year 
        2015 or any fiscal year thereafter.
    (b) Monthly Housing Stipend.--
            (1) In general.--Section 3680(a) of such title is amended--
                    (A) by striking the matter after paragraph (3)(B);
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by redesignating 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), 
                respectively;
                    (C) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (3) as 
                subparagraphs (A) through (C), respectively;
                    (D) in the matter before subparagraph (A), as 
                redesignated, in the first sentence, by striking 
                ``Payment of'' and inserting ``(1) Except as provided 
                in paragraph (2), payment of''; and
                    (E) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph (2):
    ``(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Secretary may, pursuant to 
such regulations as the Secretary shall prescribe, continue to pay 
allowances to eligible veterans and eligible persons enrolled in 
courses set forth in paragraph (1)(A)--
            ``(A) during periods when schools are temporarily closed 
        under an established policy based on an Executive order of the 
        President or due to an emergency situation, except that the 
        total number of weeks for which allowances may continue to be 
        so payable in any 12-month period may not exceed four weeks; or
            ``(B) solely for the purpose of awarding a monthly housing 
        stipend described in section 3313 of this title, during periods 
        following a permanent school closure, except that payment of 
        such a stipend may only be continued until the earlier of--
                    ``(i) the date of the end of the term, quarter, or 
                semester during which the school closure occurred; and
                    ``(ii) the date that is 4 months after the date of 
                the school closure.''.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Paragraph (1)(C)(ii) of such 
        section, as redesignated, is amended by striking ``described in 
        subclause (A) of this clause'' and inserting ``described in 
        clause (ii)''.
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