119-s892

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 892 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 892

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the repayment by the 
 Secretary of Veterans Affairs of benefits misused by a fiduciary, and 
 for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 March 6, 2025

Ms. Hirono (for herself, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Gallego, and Mr. Tuberville) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
 Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the repayment by the 
 Secretary of Veterans Affairs of benefits misused by a fiduciary, 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 ``Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT TO REPAYMENT BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS OF 
 CERTAIN MISUSED BENEFITS.

 

Section 6107 of title 38, United States Code, is amended to read as 
follows:
``

Sec. 6107. Reissuance of benefits
 ``

    (a) Reissuance of Misused Benefits.--

    (1) In any case in which a 
fiduciary misuses all or part of an individual's benefit paid to such 
fiduciary, the Secretary shall pay to the beneficiary or the 
beneficiary's successor fiduciary an amount equal to the amount of such 
benefit so misused.
 ``

    (2) In any case in which the Secretary reissues a benefit payment 
(in whole or in part) under paragraph

    (1) , the Secretary shall make a 
good faith effort to obtain recoupment from the fiduciary to whom the 
payment was originally made.
 ``

    (3) In any case in which the Secretary obtains recoupment from a 
fiduciary who has misused benefits, the Secretary shall promptly remit 
payment of the recouped amounts to the beneficiary or the beneficiary's 
successor fiduciary, as the case may be, to the extent that such 
amounts have not been paid under paragraph

    (1) .
 ``

    (b) Reissuance of Amounts in the Case of a Deceased 
Beneficiary.--

    (1) If a beneficiary described in subsection

    (a)

    (1) predeceases a payment under such subsection, the Secretary shall pay 
such amount, subject to paragraph

    (2) , to an individual or entity in 
accordance with 

section 5121 of this title.
 ``

    (2) The Secretary may not make a payment under this subsection to 
a fiduciary who misused benefits of the beneficiary.
 ``
            (c) Limitation on Total Amount Paid.--The total of the amounts 
paid to a beneficiary or the beneficiary's successor fiduciary under 
this section may not exceed the total benefit amount misused by the 
fiduciary with respect to that beneficiary.
 ``
            (d) Oversight of Negligence.--

    (1) The Secretary shall establish 
methods and timing with respect to determining whether an instance of 
misuse by a fiduciary, of all or part of an individual's benefit paid 
to such fiduciary, is the result of negligence by the Secretary.
 ``

    (2) The Secretary may not withhold the reissuing of a benefit 
payment under subsection

    (a)

    (1) by reason of a pending determination 
under paragraph

    (1) .
 ``

    (3) The Secretary is not required to make a determination under 
paragraph

    (1) for each instance of misuse by a fiduciary, of all or 
part of an individual's benefit paid to such fiduciary.''.
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