I 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7971 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 12, 2024 Mr. Van Orden (for himself, Mr. Pappas , Mr. Edwards , and Mr. Ciscomani ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide timely equitable relief to an individual who suffers a loss based on an administrative error by the Secretary, and for other purposes.

1. Improvements to equitable relief in the case of an administrative error by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (a) Affirmative duty To provide timely equitable relief Section 503 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking may both places it appears and inserting shall, not later than 120 days after such determination, . (b) Elimination of expired report Such section is further amended by striking subsection (c). (c) Cancellation of debt collection Section 5314 of such title is amended, in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following new paragraph: (3) The Secretary shall promptly cancel any agreement, entered into by the Secretary with a debt collector (as defined in section 803 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1692a )) to collect an amount of indebtedness described in paragraph (1), if the Secretary determines that the determination of such indebtedness was in error. .