What This Bill Does · Plain English
GovGreed Synthesis · AI extraction
This bill amends the U.S. Code to require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide financial relief to individuals who suffer a loss due to a VA administrative error. It changes the VA's authority to provide such relief from discretionary ('may') to a mandatory duty ('shall') that must be completed within 120 days of determining an error occurred. It also requires the VA to promptly cancel contracts with third-party debt collectors if the underlying debt was determined in error.
Action Timeline
2025-06-11
Subcommittee Hearings Held
2025-03-07
Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
2025-02-05
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
2025-02-05
Introduced in House
2025-02-05
Introduced in House
Frequently Asked Questions
Did HR.984 pass?
HR.984 is still alive. Current stage: COMMITTEE. Pass likelihood: 49%.
What does HR.984 do?
This bill amends the U.S. Code to require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide financial relief to individuals who suffer a loss due to a VA administrative error. It changes the VA's authority to provide such relief from discretionary ('may') to a mandatory duty ('shall') that must be completed within 120 days of determining an error occurred. It also requires the VA to promptly cancel contracts with third-party debt collectors if the underlying debt was determined in error.
Who sponsored HR.984?
HR.984 was sponsored by Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin).
Full Bill Text
119 HR 984 IH: 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. U.S. House of Representatives 2025-02-05 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 984 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 5, 2025 Mr. Van Orden 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) 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. .
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