I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 464 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve dependency and indemnity compensation for survivors of certain totally disabled veterans. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 10, 2019 Mr. JONES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve depend- ency and indemnity compensation for survivors of certain totally disabled veterans. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT FOR DEPENDENCY 3 AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SUR- 4 VIVORS OF CERTAIN TOTALLY DISABLED 5 VETERANS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1318(a) of title 38, 7 United States Code, is amended— 8 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting 9 ‘‘(1) The Secretary’’; and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H464.IH H464 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 464 IH (2) by adding at the end the following new 1 paragraph: 2 ‘‘(2) In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary 3 shall treat a notification of the death of a veteran de- 4 scribed in subsection (b) as a claim by the surviving 5 spouse and children of the deceased veteran for benefits 6 under this chapter. The Secretary may not require that 7 such spouse and children file a claim for such benefits.’’. 8 (b) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by this 9 section shall apply with respect to deaths of veterans oc- 10 curring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H464.IH H464 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS