On January 22, 2008, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), introduced legislation to change Title 38 of the U.S. Code to forgive the debt owed to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of men and women who have lost their lives in combat.
Current law states that if a member of our Armed Forces is killed and owes the VA any outstanding indebtedness, the Secretary of VA is required to contact the family for collection. Current law allows the VA Secretary some discretion for waiving certain cases. Senator Hutchison’s bill would remove that discretion and forgive all debts that fall into this category.
S. 2536, the Combat Veterans Debt Elimination Act, would relieve grieving families from paying such debt and remove the provision in law which requires the VA to seek the collection of such debt. It is retroactive to September 11, 2001.