A bill to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a plan for obligating and expending Coronavirus pandemic funding made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1446 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a plan for obligating and expending Coronavirus pandemic funding made avail- able to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 29, 2021 Mr. MORAN (for himself and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a plan for obligating and expending Coronavirus pandemic funding made available to the De- partment of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF 3 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC FUNDING MADE 4 AVAILABLE TO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 5 AFFAIRS. 6 (a) PLAN AND EXPENDITURES BY SECRETARY.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1446.IS S1446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1446 IS (1) PLAN.—Not later than 30 days after the 1 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 2 Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on 3 Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 4 on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 5 a detailed plan for obligating and expending covered 6 funds, including a detailed justification for each type 7 of obligation of such funds. 8 (2) BIWEEKLY REPORTS.—Not less frequently 9 than once every 14 days during the period beginning 10 on the date on which the plan under paragraph (1) 11 is submitted and ending seven days after the date on 12 which the Secretary has expended all covered funds, 13 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Vet- 14 erans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 15 Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a 16 report detailing the obligation and expenditure of, 17 and the planned use for, such funds during the pe- 18 riod covered by the report, including a written jus- 19 tification for any deviation in such obligations, ex- 20 penditures, or planned uses from such plan. 21 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL AUDITS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 24 semiannually thereafter for three years or until the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1446.IS S1446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1446 IS Secretary has expended all covered funds, whichever 1 occurs first, the Inspector General of the Depart- 2 ment of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Com- 3 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the 4 Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 5 Representatives a report examining the obligations 6 and expenditures made using covered funds during 7 the period covered by the report. 8 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under 9 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 10 (A) A comparison of how the funds are 11 being obligated and expended to how the funds 12 were planned to be obligated and expended in 13 the plan under subsection (a)(1). 14 (B) Areas of waste, fraud, and abuse, if 15 any. 16 (C) Such other matters as the Inspector 17 General considers appropriate. 18 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEWS.— 19 (1) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than Sep- 20 tember 30, 2022, the Comptroller General of the 21 United States shall submit to the Committee on Vet- 22 erans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 23 Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1446.IS S1446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1446 IS report containing a review of obligations and expend- 1 itures made using covered funds. 2 (2) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under 3 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 4 (A) A review of the process of the Depart- 5 ment of Veterans Affairs for preparing the re- 6 quest for funds. 7 (B) An explanation of how the expenditure 8 of such funds met the goals of the Department 9 during the public health emergency for which 10 the funds were made available. 11 (C) Any recommendations to improve the 12 process of identifying needs and expending 13 funds during similar situations in the future. 14 (D) A review of the plans of the Depart- 15 ment to continue programs or investments that 16 were begun with such funds but will continue 17 after such funds are expended. 18 (3) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than September 19 30, 2024, the Comptroller General shall submit to 20 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate 21 and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 22 House of Representatives a final report on the mat- 23 ters specified under paragraph (2). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1446.IS S1446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1446 IS (d) COVERED FUNDS DEFINED.—In this section, the 1 term ‘‘covered funds’’ means funds that are made avail- 2 able to the Department of Veterans Affairs pursuant to— 3 (1) the Families First Coronavirus Response 4 Act (Public Law 116–127); 5 (2) the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic 6 Security Act (Public Law 116–136); or 7 (3) the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 8 (Public Law 117–2). 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1446.IS S1446 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS