119-s2264

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2264 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2264

 To improve the emergency management capabilities of the Department of 
 Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 July 14, 2025

 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
 Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To improve the emergency management capabilities of the Department of 
 Veterans Affairs, 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 ``Advancing VA's Emergency Response to

    (AVERT) Crises Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. REPORT ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ROLES FOR DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
 AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit 
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report outlining 
the roles and responsibilities of all offices of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs involved with emergency management.

    (b) Consultation.--In preparing the report required by subsection

    (a) , the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall consult with the 
Comptroller General of the United States, the Inspector General of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and 
such other Federal agencies as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
considers relevant, to obtain insights from their experience and trends 
that they have found, and such recommendations as they may have with 
respect to the management by the Department of Veterans Affairs of 
emergency management functions.
            (c) Contents.--The report submitted pursuant to subsection

    (a) shall include the following:

    (1) A description of the organizational structure of each 
 office, both during normal operations and during emergency or 
 disaster operations.

    (2) The roles and responsibilities of each office.

    (3) A detailed description of roles and responsibilities 
 that are shared by both the Office of Emergency Management of 
 the Department and the Office of Operations, Security, and 
 Preparedness of the Department, including an analysis of how 
 each office plays a part in emergency management functions.

    (4) Recommendations for improving the structure and 
 alignment of relevant offices to better prepare the Department 
 for emergencies, remove redundancies, and improve 
 accountability.

    (5) An analysis of the feasibility and advisability of 
 consolidating relevant offices into one centralized emergency 
 management office to improve communication and streamline 
 emergency preparedness and response efforts of the Department.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON REGIONAL READINESS CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
 AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit 
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on the 
Regional Readiness Centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

    (b) Contents.--The report submitted pursuant to subsection

    (a) shall include the following:

    (1) The number of requests made by facilities of the 
 Department to obtain supplies from a Regional Readiness Center 
 since the inception of the Regional Readiness Center program, 
 disaggregated by Regional Readiness Center.

    (2) Information on types and amounts of material 
 distributed since the inception of the Regional Readiness 
 Center program, disaggregated by Regional Readiness Center.

    (3) Current inventory, disaggregated by Regional Readiness 
 Center.

    (4) An overview of the change in inventory in each Regional 
 Readiness Center during the two-year period ending on the date 
 of the enactment of this Act.

    (5) The percentage of inventory that is expired or that 
 will expire in the next month, disaggregated by Regional 
 Readiness Center.

    (6) Operational costs since the inception of the Regional 
 Readiness Center program, disaggregated by Regional Readiness 
 Center.

    (7) An analysis of the types and sizes of emergencies, 
 including natural disasters, public health emergencies, or 
 Fourth Mission activations of the Department, with respect to 
 which each Regional Readiness Center would be able to provide 
 sufficient resources to respond to, based on the current 
 capacity of the Regional Readiness Center.

    (8) Any plans of the Secretary to realign or change the 
 number of Regional Readiness Centers.

SEC. 4. PLAN TO ALLOW FUEL SHARING AND INCREASED COORDINATION BETWEEN 
 THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY AND THE 
 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, after consulting with the 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, submit to the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Government Affairs of the Senate, and the 
Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives a report 
regarding--

    (1) the current limitations preventing the Federal 
 Emergency Management Agency from providing fuel or other 
 resources to the Department of Veterans Affairs during 
 emergencies;

    (2) whether the Department requires action by Congress to 
 allow such resource provision to occur;

    (3) whether the Secretary has been unable to coordinate 
 with the Administrator during prior emergencies or Fourth 
 Mission activations due to a lack of authority for such 
 coordination; and

    (4) whether the Secretary requires action by Congress to 
 address any of the issues mentioned under paragraph

    (3) .
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