Veterans Benefits Claims Faster Filing Act
Latest action. Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-280.
Veterans Benefits Claims Faster Filing Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to post in a conspicuous place in each VA regional office and claims intake facility and on the VA website information on: (1) the average processing time for fully developed and not fully developed VA benefits claims submitted in specified forms, and (2) the percentage of such claims filed by specified methods for which benefits are awarded.
Requires the Secretary to notify each person submitting a claim for a VA benefit of such information and of the person's eligibility to receive up to an extra year of benefit payments if the person files a claim that is fully developed.
Requires the notice information to be updated at least quarterly.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on June 12, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on October 30, 2013: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-280.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced it on June 12, 2013, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 12, 2013, 4838 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4698 days ago, on October 30, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers