CUBA Act of 2023

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2638 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2638

     To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to treat certain 
individuals who participated in the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, 
    in April, 1961, as veterans for the purposes of eligibility for 
           benefits under laws administered by the Secretary.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 2023

Mr. Gimenez (for himself, Ms. Salazar, and Ms. Malliotakis) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to treat certain 
individuals who participated in the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, 
    in April, 1961, as veterans for the purposes of eligibility for 
           benefits under laws administered by the Secretary.

    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 ``Cuban-American Unrecognized Bravery 
Act of 2023'' or the ``CUBA Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On April 16, 1961, Cubans who had been trained and 
        equipped by the United States landed in the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, 
        with the mission to topple the Castro regime and free Cuba from 
        communist tyranny.
            (2) Lack of adequate support, and poor planning and 
        execution of the invasion led to the deaths of several hundred 
        members of the invasion force and subsequent capture and 
        imprisonment of the survivors.
            (3) Many of these survivors faced harsh conditions 
        accompanied by torture and threats of execution while they 
        waited for their release.
            (4) After 20 months of negotiations for their release, 
        President John F. Kennedy welcomed back the last survivors in 
        Miami, Florida, upon their return to the United States on 
        December 29, 1962.
            (5) Many survivors became productive United States citizens 
        and contributed greatly to their new home that gave them back 
        the freedom they lost in Cuba.
            (6) Currently, it is estimated that there are approximately 
        300 survivors still living from the Bay of Pigs invasion. These 
        survivors still struggle with the emotional effects of the 
        invasion, along with financial hardships and healthcare 
        challenges.
            (7) These survivors fought on behalf of the United States 
        in a cause of freedom in the face of global communist tyranny. 
        They were trained and sent to Cuba by the United States 
        Government yet do not receive the benefits of veterans that 
        they deserve and to which they ought to be entitled.
            (8) Granting these survivors eligibility for benefits under 
        the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
        would help them and their families with financial and 
        healthcare burdens, allow for them to receive a military 
        funeral, and aid in healing the lingering psychological wounds 
        left from the Bay of Pigs invasion 62 years ago.

SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR VETERANS BENEFITS TO CERTAIN 
              INDIVIDUALS WHO SERVED IN BAY OF PIGS, CUBA, IN APRIL, 
              1961.

    (a) In General.--For the purposes of determining eligibility for 
benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs, the Secretary shall treat a covered individual as a veteran.
    (b) Applicability Date.--Beginning on the date that is 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, a covered individual may 
file a claim for a benefit described in subsection (a), and the 
Secretary shall consider and make a determination regarding such claim, 
without regard to any time limit applicable to such filing or claim.
    (c) Covered Individual Defined.--In this section, the term 
``covered individual'' means an individual whom the Secretary 
determines--
            (1) was a member of the military group that invaded the Bay 
        of Pigs, Cuba, in April, 1961;
            (2) is a citizen of the United States; and
            (3) is not in receipt of the benefit for which the covered 
        individual applied.
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