[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.

                          ____________________