[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 170 (Tuesday, November 29, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H6338-H6340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WORKING TO INTEGRATE NETWORKS GUARANTEEING MEMBER ACCESS NOW ACT
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 5166) to amend title 38, United States Code, to
provide certain employees of Members of Congress and certain employees
of State or local governmental agencies with access to case-tracking
information of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 5166
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 ``Working to Integrate
Networks Guaranteeing Member Access Now Act'' or the
``WINGMAN Act''.
SEC. 2. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO CASE-TRACKING INFORMATION.
(a) In General.--Chapter 59 of title 38, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
[[Page H6339]]
``Sec. 5906. Access of certain congressional employees to
veteran records
``(a) In General.--(1) The Secretary shall provide to each
veteran who submits a claim for benefits under the laws
administered by the Secretary an opportunity to permit a
covered congressional employee employed in the office of the
Member of Congress representing the district where the
veteran resides to have access to all of the records of the
veteran in the databases of the Veterans Benefits
Administration.
``(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon
receipt of permission from the veteran under paragraph (1),
the Secretary shall provide read-only access to such records
to such a covered congressional employee in a manner that
does not allow such employee to modify the data contained in
such records or in any part of a database of the Veterans
Benefits Administration.
``(3) A Member of Congress may designate not more than two
employees of the Member as covered congressional employees.
``(b) Covered Congressional Employees.--(1) In this
section, a covered congressional employee is a permanent,
full-time employee of a Member of Congress--
``(A) whose responsibilities include assisting the
constituents of the Member with issues regarding departments
or agencies of the Federal Government;
``(B) who satisfies the criteria required by the Secretary
for recognition as an agent or attorney under this chapter;
and
``(C) who is designated by a Member of Congress as a
covered congressional employee for purposes of this section.
``(2) The Secretary may not impose any requirement other
than the requirements under paragraph (1) before treating an
employee as a covered congressional employee for purposes of
this section.
``(c) Nonrecognition.--A covered congressional employee may
not be recognized as an agent or attorney under this chapter.
``(d) Limitation on Use of Funds.--None of the amounts made
available to carry out this section may be used to design,
develop, or administer any training for purposes of providing
training to covered congressional employees.
``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--(1) No additional
funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this
section. This section may only be carried out using amounts
otherwise authorized to be appropriated.
``(2) For the period of fiscal years 2017 through 2020, not
more than $10,000,000 may be made available to carry out this
section.
``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `database of the Veterans Benefits
Administration' means any database of the Veterans Benefits
Administration in which the records of veterans relating to
claims for benefits under the laws administered by the
Secretary are retained, including information regarding
medical records, compensation and pension exams records,
rating decisions, statements of the case, supplementary
statements of the case, notices of disagreement, Form-9, and
any successor form.
``(2) The term `Member of Congress' means a Representative,
a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, or the Resident
Commissioner of Puerto Rico.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the
beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the
following new item:
``5906. Access of certain congressional employees to veteran
records.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Miller) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.
General Leave
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks and add extraneous material on H.R. 5166, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge all of my colleagues to support
H.R. 5166, as amended, the WINGMAN Act. I thank our colleagues, the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Rodney Davis), for introducing the WINGMAN Act, which will help Members
better serve our constituents.
H.R. 5166 would allow our offices to assist veterans who are seeking
information about the status of their claims for disability
compensation. Unfortunately, when a congressional staff member contacts
the VA for more information about a claim, it can take often weeks or
months for the Department of Veterans Affairs to respond. VA's delay in
answering congressional inquiries only adds to the veteran's
frustration. The veteran simply wants to know the status of his or her
claim.
H.R. 5166, as amended, would require VA to give designated permanent,
full-time congressional employees access to VA databases so that our
staff can tell a veteran the current status of their application for
benefits. Moreover, to protect veterans' privacy, the WINGMAN Act
mandates that congressional employees first obtain permission before
viewing a veteran's information. At the same time, the congressional
employee would not be able to alter the electronic file in any way.
Passing this bill will help veterans who simply want to understand
where their claim is in the process. I urge my colleagues to support
H.R. 5166, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 5166, sponsored by Representative Yoho,
which would give certified congressional office caseworkers access to
veterans' electronic disability claims records at the Veterans Benefits
Administration.
The purpose of the bill is to provide faster answers to our veteran
constituents who call our offices to help with their VA claims. By the
time veterans contact us, many have already faced delays or frustrating
experiences trying to get answers themselves. This bill will allow our
congressional caseworkers read-only access to disability claims
records. This means they will not be able to add or remove anything
from a veteran's record.
The bill also includes privacy safeguards, which reinforce the
necessity for getting prior consent from a veteran before a caseworker
can access a veteran's files. Additionally, the bill requires that
congressional employees certified for this access must be full-time
employees who provide constituent services.
I am hopeful that as this program is developed, VA will put in place
a tracking system to ensure these employees are only assisting
constituents from their congressional districts and that congressional
staff are held accountable if found to have abused any aspect of this
new and unprecedented authority.
In short, Mr. Speaker, there is broad, bipartisan support among our
colleagues for helping veterans get timely answers to their claims
questions. Allowing full-time congressional staff members access to
electronic disability claims records on a read-only basis is a step in
the direction of putting the veteran's interest first and foremost.
I support H.R. 5166, as amended, and urge my colleagues to do the
same.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from the Third District of the State of Florida (Mr. Yoho), a
primary sponsor of this legislation.
Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Miller, a fellow Floridian,
for his support of this measure. Without his help and the help of his
team--Maria and Cecilia in particular--we would not be here today.
This is a monumental bill for our veterans. This comes down to
customer service for our veterans. I feel we are in the customer
service business. They are not constituents. These are people who have
paid the price to defend this country, and it is time that we give them
the service that they need.
What this does is it gives us read-only access to a veteran's claim.
We have already got a privacy form. We are on a secure system, and this
just moves the claim through the process that much quicker so that we
can find out why it is hung up. So many times, as the chairman said,
the average time it takes for an office to receive the records they
request from the VA is 6 months, and at times even over a year. What
this will do is, we can look into there, we can read only that
particular case, and we can say, You forgot to sign it, you forgot to
date it, you forgot to check this box; and we can report immediately
back to the veteran. It should free up the VA system.
No single man or woman who has served and protected our freedoms
should have to wait to receive the care and benefits that they have
more than earned. Unfortunately, they have become statistics, nothing
more than numbers on the page, so many times with the VA system. This
ends with the
[[Page H6340]]
passage of the WINGMAN bill. The WINGMAN removes the middleman and
allows the staff to access these records directly without waiting on
the VA.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues in the House to support this
measure and be a good wingman and let our Nation's veterans know that
we have their six. Again, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Rodney Davis) for his help on this strong bipartisan bill.
{time} 1700
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman
from Georgia (Mr. Collins).
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor as a veteran
who is currently still serving in the United States Air Force Reserve.
I served in Iraq. What Mr. Yoho and Mr. Davis have done here is come
together to bring common sense to something that really is amazing: we
have veterans today who have to call their Congressman to get help, and
we are actually hamstrung in trying to help them.
That is not the way it should be. Our veterans deserve the best
service that they can have. They deserve it on time, they deserve it in
a prompt fashion, and they should not have to call their Congressman.
But when they do, we need to give our congressional offices all the
tools that they need to help with that.
I just want to compliment these Congressmen for bringing this bill
forward and encourage the House to support this. This is a great bill,
and it is really the reason why we are here.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), another prime sponsor of
this bill, who is from the 13th Congressional District.
Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about Carl,
an Army veteran from Springfield, Illinois, who couldn't get a response
from the VA to receive cancer treatment through the VA Choice program.
After multiple communications, my office was finally able to get the
authorization from the VA.
Bette, from Staunton, Illinois, the wife of a decorated Vietnam vet
who served his country for more than a decade, waited over a year for
an answer from the VA about benefits owed to her late husband. Finally,
my office was successful in getting Bette, who was experiencing
financial difficulty at the time, the accrued benefits owed to her
husband.
Kenneth, of Urbana, Illinois, a Bronze Star recipient while serving
in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan, was denied benefits due to a missing
doctor's examination because he was deployed at the time and the VA
never rescheduled the appointment. He contacted my office, and we
worked with the VA to ensure that the benefits were received.
Lawrence, of Palmer, Illinois, another Bronze Star and Purple Heart
recipient, simply wanted a copy of his medical records but never heard
back from the VA. After several months, he reached out to our office
and we were able to get them from the VA.
Another constituent of mine recently asked my office for help after
her husband, who was a veteran, passed away. She has been waiting for 6
months for an answer from the VA, and now my office continues to wait
for a response from the VA.
These examples not only show the sometimes incompetence and
unresponsiveness of certain personnel at the VA, but they also show how
important congressional offices are to getting the answers our veterans
need and deserve.
Many times when a veteran contacts their Member of Congress for help,
it is their last resort. It is not their first call. They don't know
where else to turn. Our caseworkers become the middleman between the
veteran and the VA.
VA casework in my office remains highest in volume. We currently have
over 96 open cases, and we have closed nearly 1,000 in the 4 years that
I have been in office. Ask almost any caseworker, and they will tell
you the VA is one of the most difficult agencies to get a response
from.
It is unacceptable that it takes this long. That is why the WINGMAN
Act, H.R. 5166, needs to be passed. It simply allows our certified
constituent caseworkers, our advocates, to access certain VA files in
order to check the status and progress of claims. This technology will
be used to help our veterans get the answers they deserve. It is not
going to solve the systemic problems we see at the VA, but it is going
to help us hold the VA accountable and get answers for veterans whom we
are honored to represent.
I want to thank my colleague, Representative Yoho, for working with
me and many others on this important piece of legislation; and, Mr.
Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Miller not only for his help on this,
but for his service to this great institution. He is somebody who has
put our veterans first as chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee
and somebody who has spent his career making sure that commonsense
proposals like this get enacted so that our veterans, those whom he
cares about the most and we care about the most, get the answers and
the responses they deserve.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting
H.R. 5166, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to
support H.R. 5166, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 5166, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill amend title
38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant access to their
records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits Administration to
certain designated congressional employees, and for other purposes.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________