[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2911 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.2911

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
         the fourth day of January, two thousand and twenty-one


                                 An Act


 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a plan 
for obligating and expending Coronavirus pandemic funding made available 
     to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ``VA Transparency & Trust Act of 
2021''.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC FUNDING MADE 
AVAILABLE TO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
    (a) Plan and Reports by Secretary.--
        (1) Plan.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
    enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
    submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the House of 
    Representatives and the Senate a detailed plan for obligating and 
    expending covered funds, including a detailed justification for 
    each type of obligation of such funds.
        (2) Biweekly reports.--Every 14 days during the period 
    beginning on the date on which the plan under paragraph (1) is 
    submitted and ending seven days after the date on which the 
    Secretary has expended all covered funds, the Secretary shall 
    submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the House of 
    Representatives and the Senate a report detailing the obligation 
    and expenditure of, and the planned uses for, such funds during the 
    period covered by the report, including a written justification for 
    any deviation in such obligations, expenditures, or planned uses 
    from such plan.
    (b) Inspector General Audits.--Not later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and semiannually thereafter for 
three years or until the Secretary has expended all covered funds, 
whichever occurs first, the Inspector General of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of 
the House of Representatives and the Senate a report examining the 
obligations and expenditures made using covered funds during the period 
covered by the report. Each such report shall include--
        (1) a comparison of how the funds are being obligated and 
    expended to how the funds were planned to be obligated and expended 
    in the plan under subsection (a)(1);
        (2) areas of waste, fraud, and abuse, if any; and
        (3) any other matter the Inspector General determines relevant.
    (c) Comptroller General Reviews.--
        (1) Interim report.--Not later than September 30, 2022, the 
    Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the 
    Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives and 
    the Senate an interim report containing a review of obligations and 
    expenditures made using covered funds. The report shall include--
            (A) a review of the process of the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs for preparing the request for funds;
            (B) an explanation of how the expenditure of such funds met 
        the goals of the Department during the public health emergency 
        for which the funds were made available;
            (C) any recommendations to improve the process of 
        identifying needs and expending funds during similar situations 
        in the future; and
            (D) a review of the plans of the Department to continue 
        programs or investments that were begun with such funds but 
        will continue after such funds are expended.
        (2) Final report.--Not later than September 30, 2024, the 
    Comptroller General shall submit to the Committees on Veterans' 
    Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a final 
    report on the matters specified under paragraph (1).
    (d) Covered Funds Defined.--In this section, the term ``covered 
funds'' means funds that are made available to the Department of 
Veterans Affairs pursuant to--
        (1) the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 
    116-127);
        (2) the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act 
    (Public Law 116-136); or
        (3) the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.