WINGMAN Act

Working to Integrate Networks Guaranteeing Member Access Now Act or the WINGMAN Act

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide veterans with the option to grant read-only access to their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits Administration to covered congressional employees. The covered congressional employees must be employed in the office of the Member of Congress who represents the district where the veteran resides.

Under the bill, a covered congressional employee is (1) a permanent, full-time employee of a Member of Congress who is responsible for assisting constituents with federal agencies and departments; (2) designated by the Member; and (3) someone who satisfies the criteria required by the VA for recognition as an agent or attorney. However, the bill specifies that a covered congressional employee may not be recognized as an agent or attorney with respect to veterans' benefit claims.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2800 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2800

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant 
   access to their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits 
 Administration to certain designated congressional employees, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 22, 2021

  Mr. Perry (for himself, Mr. Joyce of Ohio, Mr. Peters, Mr. Rice of 
South Carolina, Mr. Steube, Mr. Waltz, Mr. Hice of Georgia, Mr. Mooney, 
Mr. Massie, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Bilirakis, Ms. Stefanik, 
Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Ms. Mace, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Gaetz, 
 Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Rose, Mr. Rutherford, Ms. Herrell, Mr. 
 Cloud, Mrs. Radewagen, Mrs. Rodgers of Washington, Mr. Garbarino, Mr. 
  Budd, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Kinzinger, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. 
Guthrie, Mrs. Greene of Georgia, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Cawthorn, Mr. Harris, 
Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Dunn) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant 
   access to their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits 
 Administration to certain designated congressional employees, 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 ``Working to Integrate Networks 
Guaranteeing Member Access Now Act'' or the ``WINGMAN Act''.

SEC. 2. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO CASE-TRACKING INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 59 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 5906. Access of certain congressional employees to veteran 
              records
    ``(a) In General.--(1) The Secretary shall provide to each veteran 
who submits a claim for benefits under the laws administered by the 
Secretary an opportunity to permit a covered congressional employee 
employed in the office of the Member of Congress representing the 
district where the veteran resides to have access to all of the records 
of the veteran in the databases of the Veterans Benefits 
Administration.
    ``(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon receipt of 
permission from the veteran under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
provide read-only access to such records to such a covered 
congressional employee in a manner that does not allow such employee to 
modify the data contained in such records or in any part of a database 
of the Veterans Benefits Administration.
    ``(3) A Member of Congress may designate not more than two 
employees of the Member as covered congressional employees.
    ``(b) Covered Congressional Employees.--(1) In this section, a 
covered congressional employee is a permanent, full-time employee of a 
Member of Congress--
            ``(A) whose responsibilities include assisting the 
        constituents of the Member with issues regarding departments or 
        agencies of the Federal Government;
            ``(B) who satisfies the criteria required by the Secretary 
        for recognition as an agent or attorney under this chapter; and
            ``(C) who is designated by a Member of Congress as a 
        covered congressional employee for purposes of this section.
    ``(2) The Secretary may not impose any requirement other than the 
requirements under paragraph (1) before treating an employee as a 
covered congressional employee for purposes of this section.
    ``(c) Nonrecognition.--A covered congressional employee may not be 
recognized as an agent or attorney under this chapter.
    ``(d) Limitation on Use of Funds.--None of the amounts made 
available to carry out this section may be used to design, develop, or 
administer any training for purposes of providing training to covered 
congressional employees.
    ``(e) No Authorization of Appropriations.--No additional funds are 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section. This section 
may only be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized to be 
appropriated, of which, during the period of fiscal years 2021 through 
2024, not more than $10,000,000 may be obligated or expended for such 
purpose.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `database of the Veterans Benefits 
        Administration' means any database of the Veterans Benefits 
        Administration in which the records of veterans relating to 
        claims for benefits under the laws administered by the 
        Secretary are retained, including information regarding medical 
        records, compensation and pension exams records, rating 
        decisions, statements of the case, supplementary statements of 
        the case, notices of disagreement, Form-9, and any successor 
        form.
            ``(2) The term `Member of Congress' means a Representative, 
        a Senator, a Delegate to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner 
        of Puerto Rico.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``5906. Access of certain congressional employees to veteran 
                            records.''.
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