Protecting Veterans Credit Act of 2017
Latest action. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-132.
Protecting Veterans Credit Act of 2017
This bill amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to exclude from consumer report information: (1) a veteran's medical debt if the hospital care or medical services relating to the debt antedates the credit report by less than one year; and (2) a fully paid or settled veteran's medical debt that had been characterized as delinquent, charged off, or in collection.
The bill defines a "veteran's medical debt" as debt from health care provided in a non-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility under the laws administered by the VA, including medical debt that the VA has wrongfully charged a veteran.
A dispute process for veterans medical debt is established whereby:
a veteran may submit a notice along with proof of VA liability for the debt or documentation that the VA is in the process of paying for authorized medical services to a consumer reporting agency or a reseller in order to dispute such debt's inclusion in the consumer report;
the VA shall submit to a veteran a notice it has assumed liability for part or all of the veteran's medical debt; and
if such notice and proof of liability or documentation is received, the consumer reporting agency shall delete all information relating to the veteran's medical debt from the file of the consumer and notify the furnisher and the consumer of such deletion.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 28, 2017. 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 17, 2017: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-132.
- 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 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 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?
Joe Donnelly (D-IN) introduced it on March 28, 2017, and 5 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 3 Republicans, 1 independent.
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 March 28, 2017, 3453 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3250 days ago, on October 17, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 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