[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 181 (Tuesday, November 7, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8561-H8562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VETERANS FAIR DEBT NOTICE ACT OF 2017
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3705) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to require
the use of certified mail and plain language in certain debt collection
activities, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3705
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 ``Veterans Fair Debt Notice
Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS NOTICE RELATING TO
DEBT COLLECTION ACTIVITIES.
(a) Debt Notification Letters.--The Secretary of Veterans
Affairs shall collaborate with veterans service organizations
to write a standard letter to be provided to individuals who
the Secretary determines owe debts to the Department of
Veterans Affairs. Such letter shall be written in plain
language and shall include a notice of the debt and a clear
explanation of--
(1) why the individual owes money to the Department of
Veterans Affairs; and
(2) the options available to the individual.
(b) Delivery of Letters.--The Secretary shall develop a
method by which individuals may elect to receive debt
notification letters by electronic means and shall ensure, to
the extent practicable, that the letter developed under
subsection (a) is delivered to intended recipients who have
made such an election by both standard mail and by electronic
means and to intended recipients who have not made such an
election only by standard mail.
(c) Notice to Congress.--
(1) Notice of completion.--Upon completion of the letter
required under subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to
Congress notice of the completion of the letter.
(2) Progress reports.--If the Secretary has not submitted
the notice required by paragraph (1) by the date that is 90
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall--
(A) submit to Congress a report describing the progress of
the Secretary toward implementing subsection (a) and an
explanation for why the letter has not been completed; and
(B) every 30 days thereafter until the submittal of the
notice required by paragraph (1), submit to Congress an
update to the report under subparagraph (A) that includes an
additional explanation for the failure to complete the
letter.
(d) Study; Report.--
(1) Study.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct
a study on the process by which the Department of Veterans
Affairs notifies veterans of debt collection efforts. Such
study shall include--
(A) an analysis of the scope of the problem of veterans not
receiving debt collection notices;
(B) a description of any non-legislative actions the
Secretary could take to reduce the number of incorrect or
unknown addresses of veterans in the databases of the
Department and a timeline for adopting such actions; and
(C) an estimate of the costs associated with sending debt
collection notices by certified mail.
(2) Report.--Not later than 12 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress
a report on the study conducted under paragraph (1).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.
General Leave
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
to include extraneous material on H.R. 3705, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3705, as amended, the
Veterans Fair Debt Notice Act of 2017, introduced by Congresswoman
Pingree from Maine.
This bill would help ensure that beneficiaries who have received an
overpayment from VA clearly understand why the Department believes the
veteran owes the money.
Under VA's current practice, when the Department determines that a
beneficiary may have received an overpayment, it sends a letter to the
beneficiary that explains why the debt was created and how the veteran
can dispute or mitigate the debt. But if VA doesn't have the veteran's
current address, the veteran may miss important deadlines. For example,
if the beneficiary intends to request a full waiver of the debt but
does not request that waiver within 30 days of the date of the letter,
VA may take action to withhold benefits until the waiver request is
adjudicated.
Sound confusing?
It certainly is. We can't have that for our veterans.
Another issue is that some veterans find the language used in the
letters to be unclear and confusing. I am sure that is true, too. It is
only fair that the veteran understands why the Department believes he
or she owes the money. It is the least we can do.
H.R. 3705, as amended, would require VA to develop a new notification
letter that explains in plain language how the alleged debt was created
and what actions the veteran can take to dispute or mitigate the debt.
In addition, the bill would direct VA to study and report to Congress
on its current debt collection process, including how many veterans are
not receiving debt collection notices because of incorrect addresses.
The report would also describe the steps VA will take to reduce the
number of incorrect addresses in the Department's databases.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I feel like we are on a roll, Mr. Speaker. We should stay here all
day. Bipartisan, commonsense legislation improving the lives of
veterans, it kind of feels like what we came here for.
I rise in strong support of another one of those, H.R. 3705, as
amended, the Veterans Fair Debt Notice Act introduced by the
gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree).
Again, you heard it from the vice chairman, if a veteran incurs an
overpayment in benefits, VA sends out a series of letters notifying him
or her of
[[Page H8562]]
this debt and the steps that can be taken to address the issue. The
letter is time stamped when mailed and, if what VA is asking for is not
received within a specific timeline, the veteran loses the ability to
take certain actions toward addressing or disputing the debt.
Many veterans come to every one of our offices reporting never
receiving these letters. I know all of us have heard that story. These
are people who I know and trust. It got sent to the wrong address,
something happened, and they never got it.
Further, the letter VA is sending is full of complicated legal terms
and citations of public laws. We know these letters alarm and confuse
veterans unnecessarily. I have personally had them come in, show them
to me, and as the ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee--
and it is a VA letter--I don't understand what they are asking for in
this from a veteran who receives it out of nowhere.
The bill before us today represents a real bipartisan effort to
ensure that veterans get timely notices of overpayments or debt, and
that these notices are respectful, informative, helpful, and
collaborative.
It does it in three ways. First, H.R. 3705, as amended, directs the
Secretary to develop a way veterans may elect to receive debt
notification letters by email in addition to receiving standard mail
notices. Imagine that in 2017.
Second, it directs VA to conduct a study of the problem of veterans
not receiving debt letters and to provide a description of the
nonlegislative actions the Secretary could take to reduce the number of
incorrect addresses, particularly by using the other VHA databases.
At this point in time, I would also note we are taking steps in our
committee to make sure now, when you leave the service, that we are
able to capture emails, we are able to capture alternate addresses to
make sure because a lot of times veterans are in transition, they are
moving, those types of things are happening.
Third and most importantly, the bill requires that, in the future,
debt notices provide a clear explanation in understandable language for
why the debt is owed and what due process options a veteran has
available to her or him.
The CBO has estimated the cost of this measure to be insignificant.
The approaches in the bill are the first steps to remedying a
longstanding problem and will make a positive change for the thousands
of veterans who receive overpayment notices.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Disability Assistance and Memorial
Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Mike Bost and Ranking Member Elizabeth
Esty for working together on this legislation, in addition to Dr. Roe.
We are also going to hear from the author of this piece of legislation.
Certainly I encourage support of H.R. 3705.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maine (Ms.
Pingree), who is the author of this good, smart, overdue piece of
legislation.
Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me
the time and for all those wonderful compliments. I don't know that I
have ever had that said about a bill that I have submitted, so I am
very happy to be here today and to be able to support the Veterans Fair
Debt Notice Act.
Mr. Speaker, as you heard, this bill offers a commonsense fix to
frustrations that veterans in my district and across the country have
experienced with VA's debt management system.
Veterans in Maine have called my office shocked to find out that they
owe VA money. Some are confused by the letters they receive. Others are
told by VA that they have missed important deadlines to dispute, to
seek forgiveness, or to create a payment plan for the alleged debt.
Regardless of whether the debt is real or a mistake by VA, we
shouldn't make it so hard for veterans to know their rights and
obligations.
We have seen single mom veterans who can't get a home loan and newly
transitioned servicemembers who struggle to reintegrate with garnished
pay, recouped tax returns, and reduced disability payments, all because
of assigned debts they knew nothing about after notifications got sent
to the wrong place or ``lost in the mail.''
In response, H.R. 3705 directs VA to work with veterans service
organizations to develop standard notification letters that are written
in plain language. It also directs VA to explore how to inform veterans
of debts more quickly by sending notifications electronically, like an
email, in addition to standard mail.
It requires VA to study why so many veterans have not received
notifications in the mail, as well as steps VA can take to improve its
address database and the costs using certified mail.
I thank Chairmen Roe and Bost and Ranking Members Walz and Esty for
bringing this legislation to the House floor, and I urge its passage.
Mr. WALZ. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Maine
for her remarks. This is a good piece of legislation. As I have said,
everybody who serves in this House has received veterans in their
office either carrying this letter or talking about a letter they never
received. This makes it much better. It gives the benefit of the doubt
back to the veteran and makes it easier for them to get this solved in
the right manner.
Mr. Speaker, please join me in support of H.R. 3705, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, let's pass this good bill, and 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. Bilirakis) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3705, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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