HR7950-119

What This Bill Does

This bill creates a new Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs in the Department of Veterans Affairs. The office becomes VA's principal liaison with Congress and must coordinate legislative engagement, hearings, briefings, technical assistance, testimony, witness materials, responses for the record, congressional information requests, legislative proposals, and timely responses to the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees. It creates a Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary to lead the office, a noncareer Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Strategy responsible for VA legislative positions and policy communications, and a career Senior Executive Service Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Operations responsible for production and transmission of congressional materials. The bill separates policy control from operations so the legislative-strategy deputy cannot control timing or production, while the operations deputy cannot alter, delay, or substitute VA policy positions. It also requires committee-request tracking numbers within one business day, status updates every five business days until a final response, written records of contacts, notifications when deadlines are missed, reports to congressional committees after 30 and 60 days, and implementation within 90 days.

Who Benefits and How

House Veterans' Affairs Committee staff and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee staff benefit from formal request tracking, faster status updates, and written escalation when VA responses are delayed. Members of Congress benefit from a single VA liaison office for hearings, briefings, testimony, technical assistance, and legislative proposals. Veterans relying on congressional casework benefit indirectly if VA responds more reliably to congressional oversight and information requests. VA career congressional-operations staff benefit from statutory independence over production and transmission of materials. VA policy officials benefit from a defined role over legislative positions and policy communications. Congressional oversight watchdogs benefit from auditable records of requests, updates, missed deadlines, and final responses.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Veterans Affairs must stand up the office, appoint or assign leadership, designate staff as noncareer or career roles, write procedures, and implement the new system within 90 days. The Assistant Secretary must resolve impasses between strategy and operations deputies and oversee timely responses. VA congressional-operations staff must issue tracking numbers within one business day, provide five-business-day status updates, preserve written records, send delay notices, and report unresolved requests after 30 and 60 days. VA legislative-strategy officials must formulate and attribute policy positions without controlling production timing. VA records and IT staff must support request tracking and written-record preservation. The VA Secretary faces oversight if the office misses implementation or response deadlines.

Key Provisions

• Establishes a VA Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs as the department's principal liaison to Congress.
• Creates a Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary responsible for balancing legislative strategy and congressional operations.
• Separates noncareer legislative-strategy authority from career Senior Executive Service congressional-operations authority.
• Requires the office to coordinate hearings, briefings, testimony, witness materials, technical assistance, legislative proposals, and responses for the record.
• Requires written tracking numbers within one business day for committee requests and status updates every five business days.
• Requires committee notifications when responses cannot be completed, including reasons, expected completion dates, and responsible personnel.
• Requires 30-day and 60-day reports to the veterans committees for unresolved requests.
• Directs VA to implement the new office and procedures within 90 days after enactment.