[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5074 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5074

  To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide to Congress 
   quarterly briefings on budgetary shortfalls of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs and to prohibit the provision of bonuses to Department 
of Veterans Affairs employees in Senior Executive Service positions in 
    fiscal years with budgetary shortfalls, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 17, 2024

Mr. Sullivan (for himself, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Daines, Mr. Tuberville, Mrs. 
 Blackburn, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Budd, Mr. Braun, Mr. Cassidy, 
 Mr. Rubio, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Tillis, and Mrs. Fischer) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide to Congress 
   quarterly briefings on budgetary shortfalls of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs and to prohibit the provision of bonuses to Department 
of Veterans Affairs employees in Senior Executive Service positions in 
    fiscal years with budgetary shortfalls, 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 ``Protecting Regular Order for 
Veterans Act of 2024'' or the ``PRO Veterans Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. MATTERS ADDRESSING DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS BUDGETARY 
              SHORTFALLS.

    (a) Quarterly Briefings.--
            (1) Quarterly briefings required.--During the first quarter 
        beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act and in 
        each quarter thereafter until the date that is three years 
        after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs shall provide to the appropriate committees of 
        Congress a quarterly briefing, in person, on the budget of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs and any shortfall the Department 
        may be experiencing.
            (2) Plans.--In any case in which the Secretary informs 
        Congress during a briefing under paragraph (1) that the 
        Department is experiencing a shortfall, the Secretary shall, 
        during such briefing, present the plans of the Secretary to 
        address or mitigate the shortfall.
    (b) Prohibition on Provision of Bonuses to Certain Department of 
Veterans Affairs Employees in Senior Executive Service Positions in 
Calendar Years With Certain Budgetary Shortfalls.--
            (1) Prohibition.--
                    (A) Department of veterans affairs.--Subject to 
                paragraph (2), during a period described in 
                subparagraph (C), the Secretary may not provide any 
                bonus or cash award to any employee or officer of the 
                Department who works in the central office of the 
                Department in a Senior Executive Service position, or a 
                position in another comparable system for senior-level 
                Government employees, if the Secretary submits to the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate or the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives a request for an appropriation for the 
                Department for that fiscal year and the request is not 
                submitted in the course of a proceeding relating to--
                            (i) the preparation, submittal, or 
                        presentation of the budget of the President 
                        submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 
                        31, United States Code, for the applicable 
                        fiscal year; or
                            (ii) a midsession review by either of such 
                        committees.
                    (B) Office of management and budget.--Subject to 
                paragraph (2), during a period described in 
                subparagraph (C), the Director of the Office of 
                Management and Budget may not provide any bonus or cash 
                award to any employee or officer of the Office of 
                Management and Budget who serves in a Senior Executive 
                Service position, or a position in another comparable 
                system for senior-level Government employees, if the 
                Secretary submits to the Committee on Appropriations of 
                the Senate or the Committee on Appropriations of the 
                House of Representatives a request for an appropriation 
                for the Department for that fiscal year and the request 
                is not submitted in the course of a proceeding relating 
                to--
                            (i) the preparation, submittal, or 
                        presentation of the budget of the President 
                        submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 
                        31, United States Code, for the applicable 
                        fiscal year; or
                            (ii) a midsession review by either of such 
                        committees.
                    (C) Period.--A period described in this 
                subparagraph is any period--
                            (i) beginning on the date on which the 
                        Secretary submits a request described in 
                        subparagraph (A); and
                            (ii) ending on the last day of the fiscal 
                        year during which the Secretary submits such 
                        request.
            (2) Sunset.--The prohibitions in paragraph (1) shall 
        terminate on the date that is three years after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) Senior executive service position.--The term ``Senior 
        Executive Service position'' has the meaning given such term in 
        section 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code.
            (3) Shortfall.--The term ``shortfall'', with respect to a 
        fiscal year, means that the amount of appropriations required 
        by the Department of Veterans Affairs for such fiscal year to 
        meet all of the statutory obligations of the Department during 
        that fiscal year exceeds the amount of appropriations requested 
        for the Department for that fiscal in the budget of the 
        President submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, 
        United States Code, for that fiscal year.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS POSITIONS CREATED 
              SINCE OCTOBER 1, 2022.

    (a) Report Required.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit 
to Congress a report on positions of employment created within the 
Department of Veterans Affairs during the period beginning on October 
1, 2022, and ending on the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Contents.--The report submitted pursuant to subsection (a) 
shall include the following:
            (1) A description for each position of employment described 
        in subsection (a).
            (2) For each position described pursuant to paragraph (1), 
        the following:
                    (A) The job description.
                    (B) The compensation.
                    (C) Bonuses provided.
                    (D) Remote work status.
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