S.Amdt. 416

SA 416. Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. Rounds) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 2226, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:

SEC. 10__. IMPROVING PROCESSING BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS OF DISABILITY CLAIMS FOR POST-TRAUMATIC
STRESS DISORDER THROUGH IMPROVED TRAINING.

(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
``Department of Veterans Affairs Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder Processing Claims Improvement Act of 2023''.
(b) Formal Process for Conduct of Annual Analysis of
Training Needs Based on Trends.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs, acting through the Under Secretary for
Benefits, shall establish a formal process to analyze, on an
annual basis, training needs of employees of the Department
who review claims for disability compensation for service-
connected post-traumatic stress disorder, based on identified
processing error trends.
(c) Formal Process for Conduct of Annual Studies to Support
Annual Analysis.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the
Under Secretary, shall establish a formal process to conduct,
on an annual basis, studies to help guide the process
established under subsection (b).
(2) Elements.--Each study conducted under paragraph (1)
shall cover the following:
(A) Military post-traumatic stress disorder stressors.
(B) Decision-making claims for claims processors.
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