[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8381 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8381

    To direct the Comptroller General of the United States and the 
  Secretary of Veterans Affairs to each report on certain disparities 
    that affect the receipt of certain benefits administered by the 
                   Secretary, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 14, 2024

 Mr. Horsford introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To direct the Comptroller General of the United States and the 
  Secretary of Veterans Affairs to each report on certain disparities 
    that affect the receipt of certain benefits administered by the 
                   Secretary, 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 ``Strengthening Transparent Reporting 
to Improve Veteran Equality Act of 2024'' or the ``STRIVE Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to an internal report of the Department of 
        Defense, Black members of the Armed Forces are more likely than 
        White members to be the subject of--
                    (A) an administrative action, including an 
                investigation into alleged misconduct;
                    (B) a nonjudicial punishment; or
                    (C) a trial by court-martial.
            (2) Certain administrative actions, nonjudicial 
        punishments, and court-martial sentences may adversely affect 
        the eligibility of a former member of the Armed Forces to 
        receive disability benefits administered by the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs.
            (3) According to the report titled ``VA Disability 
        Benefits: Actions Needed to Further Examine Racial and Ethnic 
        Disparities in Compensation'' (GAO-23-106097), published on 
        July 26, 2023--
                    (A) Black, non-Hispanic applicants for such 
                benefits experience the lowest rate of approval for 
                such benefits compared to applicants of other races or 
                ethnicities;
                    (B) a Black, non-Hispanic applicant is 14 percent 
                less likely to be approved for such benefits than a 
                White, non-Hispanic applicant; and
                    (C) the rates of approval for such benefits for 
                Black, male applicants are between 3 and 22 percent 
                lower than the rates of approval for applicants of 
                other races or genders.
            (4) Female former members of the Armed Forces are less 
        likely to apply for such benefits than male former members.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) each former member of the Armed Forces made heroic 
        sacrifices while serving in the Armed Forces, such as risking 
        the life of the former member, to preserve the freedom of the 
        United States; and
            (2) the collection and publication by the Secretary of 
        accurate data regarding the race, ethnicity, and gender of all 
        applicants for, and recipients of, disability benefits 
        administered by the Secretary would enable the Secretary and 
        Congress to identify and address any disparity based on the 
        race, ethnicity, or gender of a former member of the Armed 
        Forces, with respect to the receipt of such benefits.

SEC. 3. REPORTS ON RACIAL, ETHNIC, AND GENDER DISPARITIES WITH RESPECT 
              TO DISABILITY BENEFITS ADMINISTERED BY THE SECRETARY OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Government Accountability Office Report.--Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report that includes the following elements:
            (1) Statistics for the 15-year period immediately prior to 
        the date of the enactment of this Act that describe--
                    (A) the characterization of discharge or dismissal 
                of each former member of the Armed Forces who separated 
                from the Armed Forces during such period, disaggregated 
                by the race, ethnicity, and gender of the former 
                member; and
                    (B) the number of such former members, 
                disaggregated by the race, ethnicity, and gender of 
                each such former member, who--
                            (i) requested review of the 
                        characterization of discharge or dismissal by 
                        an appropriate board;
                            (ii) received review of the 
                        characterization of discharge or dismissal by 
                        an appropriate board;
                            (iii) received a change to the 
                        characterization of discharge or dismissal as a 
                        result of a decision by an appropriate board;
                            (iv) applied for disability benefits 
                        administered by the Secretary of Veterans 
                        Affairs;
                            (v) applied for and received such benefits; 
                        and
                            (vi) applied for and were denied such 
                        benefits for reason of characterization of 
                        discharge or dismissal.
            (2) The determination of the Comptroller General whether 
        there is a disparity based on the race, ethnicity, or gender of 
        a former member, with respect to the receipt of--
                    (A) review of the characterization of discharge or 
                dismissal by an appropriate board; or
                    (B) a change to the characterization of discharge 
                or dismissal as a result of a decision by an 
                appropriate board.
            (3) The assessment of the Comptroller General whether there 
        is a relationship between--
                    (A) any disparity determined under paragraph (2); 
                and
                    (B) any disparity determined by the Comptroller 
                General in the covered report, with respect to 
                disability benefits administered by the Secretary.
    (b) Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Reports; Plan; Implementation.--
            (1) Initial report.--Not later than 365 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 
        Senate and the House of Representatives, and make available on 
        a publicly accessible website of the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs, a report that includes the following elements:
                    (A) A description of any specific actions taken or 
                processes implemented by the Secretary to address the 
                limitations identified by the Comptroller General in 
                the covered report, with respect to the collection and 
                availability of data regarding each racial and ethnic 
                group to which a former member of the Armed Forces 
                belongs.
                    (B) An identification by the Secretary, based on 
                information in the covered report, of every significant 
                cause of a racial, ethnic, or gender disparity with 
                respect to disability benefits administered by the 
                Secretary.
                    (C) The three-year plan of the Secretary to address 
                each significant cause identified under subparagraph 
                (B).
            (2) Implementation of plan; annual report.--The Secretary 
        shall--
                    (A) implement the plan under paragraph (1)(C) not 
                later than one day after the submission of the report 
                under paragraph (1); and
                    (B) annually for each year during which the 
                Secretary is carrying out such plan, make available on 
                a publicly accessible website of the Department a 
                report summarizing, for the period covered by the 
                report, the actions of the Secretary pursuant to such 
                plan.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``appropriate board'' means--
                    (A) a board for the correction of military records 
                under section 1552 of title 10, United States Code; or
                    (B) a board of review under section 1553 of such 
                title.
            (2) The term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on Armed Services of the House of 
                Representatives;
                    (C) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the 
                Senate; and
                    (D) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House 
                of Representatives.
            (3) The term ``covered report'' means the report titled 
        ``VA Disability Benefits: Actions Needed to Further Examine 
        Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Compensation'' (GAO-23-
        106097), published on July 26, 2023.
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