[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8202 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8202

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of 
  service-connection under the laws administered by the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs for certain diseases associated with the COVID-19 
 vaccine that become manifest during the one-year period following the 
            receipt of the vaccine, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 1, 2024

Mr. Davidson (for himself, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Crane, Mr. Weber of Texas, 
  Mr. Bishop of North Carolina, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Posey, Mr. 
Nehls, Mr. Massie, Mrs. Harshbarger, Mr. Biggs, Ms. Greene of Georgia, 
   Mr. Rosendale, Mr. Steube, Mr. Mast, Mr. Burlison, Mrs. Miller of 
Illinois, Mr. Dunn of Florida, Ms. Boebert, Mr. Carey, Mr. Fallon, Mrs. 
Luna, and Mr. Gosar) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee 
 on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of 
  service-connection under the laws administered by the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs for certain diseases associated with the COVID-19 
 vaccine that become manifest during the one-year period following the 
            receipt of the vaccine, 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 ``Justice for Vaccine Injured Veterans 
Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) On August 24, 2021, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin 
        issued a memorandum titled, ``Mandatory Coronavirus Disease 
        2019 Vaccination of Department of Defense Service Members''.
            (2) This memorandum stated, ``I therefore direct the 
        Secretaries of the Military Departments to immediately begin 
        full vaccination of all members of the Armed Forces under DoD 
        authority on active duty or in the Ready Reserve, including the 
        National Guard, who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-
        19''.
            (3) In December 2022, the Department of Defense reported 
        that ``98 percent of active duty service members and 96 percent 
        of the total force have been vaccinated'' from COVID-19.
            (4) As a result of this memorandum, more than 8,400 members 
        of the Armed Forces were forced out of the military for 
        refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
            (5) On January 10, 2023, Secretary Austin was forced to 
        rescind this memorandum as a requirement of section 525 of the 
        James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
        Year 2023 (Public Law 117-263).
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
actions referred to in subsection (a) that were taken by the Department 
of Defense under the Biden administration caused irreparable harm to 
the health and readiness of the United States Armed Forces.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PRESUMPTION OF SERVICE-
              CONNECTION FOR CERTAIN DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH COVID-19 
              VACCINE.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 11 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 1120A. Presumption of service-connection for certain diseases 
              associated with COVID-19 vaccine
    ``(a) In General.--For the purposes of section 1110 of this title, 
and subject to section 1113 of this title, a disease specified in 
subsection (b) becoming manifest in a member of the Armed Forces who, 
during the period beginning on August 24, 2021, and ending on January 
10, 2023, received a COVID-19 vaccine under orders shall be considered 
to have been incurred in or aggravated during active military, naval, 
air, or space service, notwithstanding that there is no record of 
evidence of such disease during the period of such service.
    ``(b) Covered Diseases.--The diseases specified in this subsection 
are the following:
            ``(1) Myocarditis.
            ``(2) Pericarditis.
            ``(3) Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome.
            ``(4) Guillian-Barre Syndrome.
            ``(5) Any other disease for which the Secretary determines 
        that a presumption of service connection is warranted based on 
        a positive association with the COVID-19 vaccine.
    ``(c) Congressional Notice Requirement.--If the Secretary 
determines that an additional disease should be specified pursuant to 
subsection (b)(4), the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on 
Veterans Affairs' of the Senate and the House of Representatives notice 
of such determination.
    ``(d) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
of the Justice for Vaccine Injured Veterans Act of 2024, and every 60 
days thereafter for the subsequent four year-period, the Secretary 
shall submit to the Committees of Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and 
the House of Representatives a report that contains each of the 
following:
            ``(1) The total number of claims for compensation under 
        this chapter related to a disease associated with the COVID-19 
        vaccine.
            ``(2) The status of each such claim, disaggregated by--
                    ``(A) the number of claims that were approved;
                    ``(B) the number of claims that were denied and for 
                which the claimant took no further action;
                    ``(C) the number of claims that were denied and for 
                which the claimant filed a supplemental claim;
                    ``(D) the number of claims that were denied and for 
                which the claimant requested a higher level review; and
                    ``(E) the number of claims that were denied and for 
                which the claimant filed an appeal to the Board of 
                Veterans' Appeals.
            ``(3) The total number of such claims that, as of the date 
        of the submission of the report, had been submitted but were 
        pending a decision.
    ``(e) Public Access to Reports.--The Secretary shall make each 
report required by subsection (d) publicly available, including by 
making publicly available on an appropriate website of the Department 
each such report together with such additional information or comments 
as the Secretary considers appropriate to provide context for the 
report.
    ``(f) COVID-19 Vaccine Defined.--In this section, the term `COVID-
19 vaccine' means vaccine licensed under section 351 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262) or authorized for emergency use 
under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 
U.S.C. 360bbb-3) for immunization against the virus responsible for 
COVID-19.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
1120 the following new item:

``3320A. Presumption of service-connection for certain diseases 
                            associated with COVID-19 vaccine.''.
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