Honoring All Veterans Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1313 To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a mission statement of the Department of Veterans Affairs. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 22, 2021 Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Ms. SMITH) 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 establish a mission statement of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honoring All Veterans 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. MISSION STATEMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF VET- 6 ERANS AFFAIRS. 7 (a) REQUIRED MISSION STATEMENT.—Section 301 8 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at 9 the end the following new subsection: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:51 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1313.IS S1313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1313 IS ‘‘(d) The mission statement of the Department shall 1 be as follows: ‘To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to 2 care for those ‘‘who shall have borne the battle’’ and for 3 their families, caregivers, and survivors.’.’’. 4 (b) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days after the 5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet- 6 erans Affairs shall— 7 (1) publish in the Federal Register and on the 8 internet website of the Department of Veterans Af- 9 fairs a notification explaining the mission statement 10 of the Department as specified in subsection (d) of 11 section 301 of title 38, United States Code, as added 12 by subsection (a) of this section; and 13 (2) update each internet website of the Depart- 14 ment of Veterans Affairs and other electronic ref- 15 erences that use a previous mission statement. 16 (c) GUIDANCE.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 18 the date of the enactment of the this Act, the Sec- 19 retary shall develop and issue guidance to all ele- 20 ments of the Department regarding the mission 21 statement of the Department as specified in sub- 22 section (d) of section 301 of title 38, United States 23 Code, as added by subsection (a) of this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:51 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1313.IS S1313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1313 IS (2) CONTENTS.—The guidance required by 1 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 2 (A) A notification explaining the mission 3 statement. 4 (B) Instructions and a timeline for updat- 5 ing all previous mission statement references at 6 each such element. 7 (C) A method to monitor and evaluate the 8 compliance by facilities of the Department with 9 the guidance, including a reporting mechanism 10 for such facilities to report back to the Sec- 11 retary on the progress made in updating all 12 non-electronic mission statement references. 13 (D) Any other information that the Sec- 14 retary determines necessary to ensure timely 15 compliance with the guidance. 16 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 17 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 18 to Congress a report containing a review and assessment 19 of the progress of each element of the Department in com- 20 plying with the guidance under subsection (c), including— 21 (1) any reasons explaining why an element of 22 the Department has failed to implement the guid- 23 ance; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:51 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1313.IS S1313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1313 IS (2) a plan to address any such failure to imple- 1 ment the guidance and ensure that each element of 2 the Department fully implements and complies with 3 the guidance. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:51 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1313.IS S1313 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS