[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 37 (Thursday, March 1, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S1321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING CERTAIN BURIAL BENEFITS FOR SPOUSES AND CHILDREN OF VETERANS 
                  WHO ARE BURIED IN TRIBAL CEMETERIES

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration 
of S. 2248 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The assistant bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2248) to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
     authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide 
     certain burial benefits for spouses and children of veterans 
     who are buried in tribal cemeteries, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered 
read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 2248) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 2248

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ELIGIBILITY OF SPOUSES AND CHILDREN OF VETERANS 
                   BURIED IN TRIBAL CEMETERIES FOR CERTAIN 
                   DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS BURIAL BENEFITS.

       Section 2306 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(4), by inserting ``or a veterans' 
     cemetery owned by a tribal organization or on land owned by 
     or held in trust for a tribal organization'' after ``State'';
       (2) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ``, a veterans' 
     cemetery of a tribal organization or on land owned by or held 
     in trust for a tribal organization'' after ``owned by a 
     State'';
       (3) in subsection (f)--
       (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
     subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;
       (B) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting ``(1) The 
     Secretary'';
       (C) by striking ``a national cemetery or in a veterans 
     cemetery of a State or tribal organization for which the 
     Department has provided a grant under section 2408 of this 
     title'' and inserting ``a covered cemetery''; and
       (D) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) The term `covered cemetery' means any of the 
     following:
       ``(A) A national cemetery.
       ``(B) A veterans' cemetery of a State for which the 
     Department has provided a grant under section 2408 of this 
     title.
       ``(C) A veterans' cemetery of a tribal organization or on 
     land owned by or held in trust for a tribal organization for 
     which the Department has provided a grant under subsection 
     (f) of such section.''; and
       (4) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(i) In this section, the term `tribal organization' has 
     the meaning given such term in section 3765 of this title.''.

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