VET Extension Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3279 To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide additional entitlement to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance to certain veterans and members of the Armed Forces who require extra time to complete remedial and deficiency courses, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 12, 2020 Mr. BOOKER 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 provide additional entitlement to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance to cer- tain veterans and members of the Armed Forces who require extra time to complete remedial and deficiency courses, 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. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Education 4 and Transfer Extension Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘VET Exten- 5 sion Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3279.IS S3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3279 IS SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress makes the following findings: 2 (1) Individuals who are entitled to Post-9/11 3 Educational Assistance who require remedial and de- 4 ficiency courses exhaust their entitlement before 5 completing a program of education with such assist- 6 ance. 7 (2) Members of the Armed Forces who are enti- 8 tled to Post-9/11 Educational Assistance and who do 9 not have dependents while serving as members of the 10 Armed Forces are not able to transfer their entitle- 11 ment to such assistance when they come to have de- 12 pendents. 13 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL ENTITLEMENT TO POST-9/11 EDU- 14 CATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR CERTAIN VET- 15 ERANS AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 16 FORCES WHO REQUIRE EXTRA TIME TO COM- 17 PLETE REMEDIAL COURSES. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 33 of 19 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 20 end the following new section: 21 ‘‘§ 3320A. Additional assistance 22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The number of months of edu- 23 cational assistance under section 3313 of this title an eligi- 24 ble individual is entitled to under section 3312 of this title 25 is hereby increased by the lesser of— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3279.IS S3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3279 IS ‘‘(1) 15 months; or 1 ‘‘(2) in the case of an eligible individual who at- 2 tempted or completed remedial and deficiency 3 courses as described in subsection (b)(4), the full- 4 time equivalent number of months of educational as- 5 sistance used under this chapter to complete such 6 remedial and deficiency courses. 7 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—For purposes of this section, an 8 eligible individual is an individual— 9 ‘‘(1) who is or was entitled to educational as- 10 sistance under section 3311 of this title; 11 ‘‘(2) has received educational assistance under 12 this chapter at any time during the most recent six 13 month period; 14 ‘‘(3) who has used all of the educational assist- 15 ance to which the individual is entitled under this 16 chapter; and 17 ‘‘(4) who has attempted or completed remedial 18 and deficiency courses in pursuit of completing a 19 program of education at an institution of higher 20 learning and in doing so requires more than the 21 standard 120 semester (or 180 quarter) credit hours 22 for completion of a program of education at an insti- 23 tution of higher learning. 24 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3279.IS S3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3279 IS ‘‘(1) The term ‘institution of higher learning’ 1 has the meaning given such term in section 3452 of 2 this title. 3 ‘‘(2) The term ‘remedial and deficiency course’ 4 means a course offered by an institution of higher 5 learning that is designed to overcome a deficiency.’’. 6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 7 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 8 after the item relating to section 3320 the following new 9 item: 10 ‘‘3320A. Additional assistance.’’. (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3695 of 11 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 12 end the following new subsection: 13 ‘‘(d) In the case of an individual who receives addi- 14 tional educational assistance under section 3320A of this 15 title, the number of months specified in subsection (a) 16 shall instead be construed to specify the number of months 17 that is equal to the sum of— 18 ‘‘(1) such number of months; and 19 ‘‘(2) the amount of the increase in number of 20 months of educational assistance to which the indi- 21 vidual is entitled pursuant to section 3320A(a) of 22 such title.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3279.IS S3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3279 IS SEC. 4. INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN TRANSFERRING ENTI- 1 TLEMENT TO POST-9/11 EDUCATIONAL AS- 2 SISTANCE. 3 Section 3319 of title 38, United States Code, is 4 amended— 5 (1) in subsection (e)— 6 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 7 through (3) as subparagraphs (A) through (C), 8 respectively, and indenting such subparagraphs 9 appropriately; 10 (B) in the matter before subparagraph 11 (A), as redesignated by subparagraph (A), by 12 striking ‘‘An’’ and inserting the following: 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An’’; and 14 (C) by adding at the end the following new 15 paragraph (2): 16 ‘‘(2) TIMING OF DESIGNATION.—In the case of 17 an individual who elects to transfer entitlement 18 under subsection (a) but who at the time of the elec- 19 tion does not have any eligible dependents, the indi- 20 vidual may carry out the designations required by 21 paragraph (1) when the individual comes to have an 22 eligible dependent to whom the individual would like 23 to transfer entitlement under this section.’’; and 24 (2) in subsection (f)— 25 (A) by striking paragraph (1); 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3279.IS S3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3279 IS (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and 1 (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively; and 2 (C) in paragraph (1)(A), as redesignated 3 by subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, including 4 by designating a new dependent or dependents 5 to receive the unused entitlement’’ before the 6 semicolon. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3279.IS S3279 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS