WASHINGTON––U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) and fellow Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee members Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced bipartisan legislation that permits the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) to remove burdensome red tape that can cause bureaucratic delays when reimbursing benefits to veterans who are victims of fraud.

The Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act would expedite benefits access for defrauded former servicemembers by waiving the requirement that the VBA completes a full internal negligence investigation and determination before restoration can occur.

“Disabled veterans who are victims of benefit fraud should not have to endure bureaucratic delays in order to receive reimbursement,” said Boozman. “Ensuring the VA has established protocols to reinstate the hard-earned benefits of those who have served is not only commonsense, but a critical part of strengthening the services veterans deserve, expect and rely on.”

“Our veterans have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country and if they are defrauded of the benefits they have earned, they should not have to deal with unnecessary hurdles in order to be made financially whole again,” said Hirono. “Due to the oversight in the VBA fiduciary program, some veterans are dying before they ever receive their reimbursements—that is unacceptable. That is why I am glad to join my colleagues in this bipartisan, bicameral push to support defrauded veterans and help ensure they get the benefits they deserve in a timely fashion.”

“We’d like to believe we live in a country where no one would take advantage of our veterans, but sadly it does happen,” said Tuberville. “This bill attempts to help right that wrong by ensuring veterans with disabilities are made financially whole if they are defrauded of their benefits. It’s my priority to find ways to make the government work better for our veterans, and this bill is a small step toward doing just that.”

“It’s unacceptable that the veterans who put their lives on the line for this country could be defrauded out of the benefits they earned. To make matters worse, right now, defrauded veterans often have to wait years before they get their money back. We owe it to them to cut the red tape and make sure they’re repaid quickly without having to jump through unnecessary bureaucratic hoops,” said Gallego.

In a July 2021 report, the VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) highlighted the significant wait times defrauded veterans in the VA fiduciary program face due to the universal negligence determination requirement. The Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act will right this wrong by allowing the VBA to conduct a statistically valid analysis of the misuse cases to determine the rate and nature of negligence on the part of the VBA. The negligence determination would ultimately become part of a quality assurance measure without delaying reimbursement to affected veterans.

Companion legislation was introduced in the House by U.S. Representatives by Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) and Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06).

The full text of the legislation is available here.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Committee on Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) led 27 of their colleagues in filing a bicameral amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit opposing a final rule from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) that requires state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on the highway system and set declining targets for those GHG emissions. The brief requests that the Court uphold the April 2024, U.S. District Court decision finding that Congress did not grant the FHWA the authority to issue the rule.

The brief argues Congress explicitly debated providing the FHWA the necessary authority to issue this rule, but decided against doing so in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The FHWA then intentionally misconstrued congressional intent and used unrelated statutory authorities to attempt to justify issuing its GHG performance measure rule. The lawmakers also contend the rulemaking is inconsistent with recent Supreme Court decisions paring back executive branch overreach, and that FHWA is ignoring principles of federalism at the expense of state governments to further its own policy agenda.

“Congress considered, and ultimately rejected, providing [FHWA] with the authority to issue a GHG performance measure regulation, but [FHWA] contorted ancillary existing authorities to impose one anyway,” the members argued. “In doing so, [FHWA] impermissibly usurped the Legislative Branch’s authority and promulgated the GHG performance measure without statutory authority delegated by Congress.”

“Put simply, when [FHWA] established a GHG performance measure regulation, it exceeded the powers Congress authorized. And it did so both at the expense of separation of powers and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act,” the members continued.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) – as well as U.S. Representatives Sam Graves (R-MO-06), Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rick Crawford (R-AR-01), Chairman of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee – also cosigned the brief.

Full text of the amicus brief is available here.

Background:

Shortly after the rule was finalized, 21 state attorneys general, including Arkansas, filed litigation challenging the regulation. The U.S. District Court found the Biden administration rule to be illegal, but FHWA appealed the decision to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and it remains under further consideration.

In April of this year, the U.S. Senate approved a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval overturning the rule by a vote of 53-47. The bipartisan measure was led by Cramer and cosponsored by Boozman, Ranking Member Capito and dozens of their colleagues.

Boozman, Hirono, Tuberville, Gallego introduce legislation protecting defrauded veterans

Boozman, Cramer, Capito and colleagues file bicameral amicus brief to overturn FHWA’s unlawful rmissions rule