POW Accountability Act - Requires: (1) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to review the list maintained by the Secretary of veterans the Secretary determines are former prisoners of war (VA POW list) and the list maintained by the Secretary of Defense (DOD), acting through the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, of members of the Armed Forces who were prisoners of war (DOD POW list) to identify any discrepancies in such lists; and (2) the VA's Inspector General to review the process by which the Secretary determines that a veteran is a former prisoner of war.
Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the VA POW list, including information on such discrepancies and the results of the Inspector General's review.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5172 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5172
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to review the list of
veterans designated as former prisoners of war, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 23, 2014
Mr. Johnson of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Stivers, and Mr. Tiberi)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to review the list of
veterans designated as former prisoners of war, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``POW Accountability Act''.
SEC. 2. REVIEW OF LISTS OF FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR.
(a) Review of Lists of Prisoners of War.--The Secretary of Veterans
Affairs shall review the VA POW list and the DOD POW list to identify
any discrepancies in such lists.
(b) Inspector General Review of Process.--The Inspector General of
the Department of Veterans Affairs shall review the process by which
the Secretary determines that a veteran is a former prisoner of war,
including whether the Secretary is following guidelines established by
the Secretary to determine that a veteran is a former prisoner of war.
(c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit
to Congress a report on the VA POW list, including the following:
(1) Any discrepancies, by period of conflict, in the number
of prisoners of war included on the VA POW list and the DOD POW
list.
(2) With respect to veterans included on the VA POW list
who are not included on the DOD POW list, information regarding
how such determinations were made, including what types of
evidence were used, in a manner that does not personally
identify such veterans.
(3) The results of the review of the Inspector General
under subsection (b), without change.
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``DOD POW list'' means the list maintained by
the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Defense Prisoner
of War/Missing Personnel Office, of members of the Armed Forces
who were prisoners of war.
(2) The term ``VA POW list'' means the list maintained by
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of veterans whom the
Secretary determines are former prisoners of war.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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