POW Accountability Act

POW Accountability Act

Requires: (1) the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to review the VA POW list and the Department of Defense POW list to identify any discrepancies in them, and (2) the VA Inspector General to review the process by which the VA determines that a veteran is a former prisoner of war.

Requires the VA 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 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3101 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3101

   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 16, 2015

    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.
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