Bill > HR3218

Introduced Session

Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 This bill revises education and related benefits provided to veterans, service members, dependents, and survivors. The bill amends the Post-9/11 veterans' educational assistance program to: remove certain time restrictions on program use; increase assistance for reservists, guardsmen, dependents, and surviving spouses and dependents; provide full eligibility for Post-9/11 Purple Heart recipients and certain reservists and guardsmen; provide an extra academic years' worth of benefits for STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) degree candidates; establish a five-year pilot program for high technology courses; restore eligibility for service members whose school closes in the middle of a semester; authorize funding to improve claims processing; permit assistance to be used at certain institutions that are not institutions of higher education; and pro-rate the housing stipend for reservists called to active duty. The bill authorizes the Edith Nurse Rogers STEM Scholarship to help veterans complete STEM degrees. The Yellow Ribbon program is extended to Fry Scholarship recipients (surviving dependents of service members who died on active duty) and certain Purple Heart recipients. (The Yellow Ribbon program helps veterans pay for higher education tuition and fee costs not covered by the Post-9/11 program.) The bill: (1) extends the Advisory Committee on Education, (2) increases survivors' and dependents' educational assistance, and (3) extends funding for state educational program approving agencies. The bill provides statutory authority for the VetSuccess on Campus program, which provides veterans with on-campus educational and vocational counseling. The Department of Veterans Affairs shall make a new determination regarding each denied veteran's claim for disability compensation in connection with full-body exposure to mustard gas or Lewisite at specified locations during World War II and resolve reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran.

Committee Categories

David Roe (R)*,  Jodey Arrington (R),  Jim Banks (R),  Joyce Beatty (D),  Ami Bera (D),  Jack Bergman (R),  Don Beyer (D),  Gus Bilirakis (R),  Mike Bishop (R),  Sanford Bishop (D),  Madeleine Bordallo (D),  Mike Bost (R),  Brendan Boyle (D),  Robert Brady (D),  Susan Brooks (R),  Anthony Brown (D),  Julia Brownley (D),  Cheri Bustos (D),  G. Butterfield (D),  Ken Calvert (R),  Salud Carbajal (D),  André Carson (D),  Kathy Castor (D),  Joaquin Castro (D),  David Cicilline (D),  Mike Coffman (R),  Paul Cook (R),  Lou Correa (D),  Jim Costa (D),  Ryan Costello (R),  Joe Courtney (D),  Henry Cuellar (D),  Susan Davis (D),  Peter DeFazio (D),  Diana DeGette (D),  Val Demings (D),  Debbie Dingell (D),  Neal Dunn (R),  Keith Ellison (D),  Anna Eshoo (D),  Elizabeth Esty (D),  Brian Fitzpatrick (R),  Tulsi Gabbard (D),  Jenniffer González (R),  Josh Gottheimer (D),  Gene Green (D),  Raúl Grijalva (D),  Colleen Hanabusa (D),  Denny Heck (D),  Brian Higgins (D),  Clay Higgins (R),  Will Hurd (R),  Darrell Issa (R),  Pramila Jayapal (D),  Ro Khanna (D),  Dan Kildee (D),  Derek Kilmer (D),  Ron Kind (D),  Peter King (R),  Raja Krishnamoorthi (D),  Ann Kuster (D),  Raúl Labrador (R),  Daniel Lipinski (D),  Alan Lowenthal (D),  Michelle Lujan Grisham (D),  Doris Matsui (D),  Kevin McCarthy (R),  David McKinley (R),  Luke Messer (R),  Seth Moulton (D),  Markwayne Mullin (R),  Stephanie Murphy (D),  Jerry Nadler (D),  Grace Napolitano (D),  Eleanor Holmes Norton (D),  Tom O'Halleran (D),  Beto O'Rourke (D),  Steven Palazzo (R),  Jimmy Panetta (D),  Bill Pascrell (D),  Nancy Pelosi (D),  Ed Perlmutter (D),  Scott Peters (D),  Collin Peterson (D),  Bruce Poliquin (R),  Jared Polis (D),  Bill Posey (R),  Amata Radewagen (R),  Jamie Raskin (D),  Kathleen Rice (D),  Cedric Richmond (D),  Jacky Rosen (D),  Bobby Rush (D),  John Rutherford (R),  Tim Ryan (D),  Kilili Sablan (D),  Brad Schneider (D),  Kurt Schrader (D),  Bobby Scott (D),  Carol Shea-Porter (D),  Brad Sherman (D),  Kyrsten Sinema (I),  Louise Slaughter (D),  Chris Smith (R),  Lloyd Smucker (R),  Tom Suozzi (D),  Mark Takano (D),  Mike Thompson (D),  Dina Titus (D),  Niki Tsongas (D),  Juan Vargas (D),  Marc Veasey (D),  Nydia Velázquez (D),  Tim Walberg (R),  Jackie Walorski (R),  Timothy Walz (D),  Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D),  Brad Wenstrup (R),  Rob Wittman (R),  John Yarmuth (D),  David Young (R),  Lee Zeldin (R), 

Became Public Law No: 115-48. (TXT | PDF) (on 08/16/2017)

Official Document