S.Amdt. 763

SA 763. Mr. BROWN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him 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__. VETERANS AFFAIRS HISTORY OFFICE AND DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS HISTORY PROGRAM.

(a) Veterans Affairs History Office.--
(1) Establishment.--There is established within the
Department of Veterans Affairs a Veterans Affairs History
Office (in this section the ``History Office'') comprising a
Veterans Affairs History Program and a Veterans Affairs
History Center, as the principal Department-wide management
office for centralized historical initiatives of the
Department.
(2) Mission.--The mission of the History Office is to
establish an overarching program to collect, preserve, and
provide access to relevant historical records, artifacts, and
cultural resources of the Department (including those of
predecessor agencies) and to document and tell a
comprehensive story of the Department and its predecessor
organizations' service to veterans to the people of the
United States, and shall include activities enumerated in
Department of Veterans Affairs Directive 7777, dated February
9, 2021.
(3) Chief historian and staff.--The History Office shall be
led by the Chief Historian of the Department of Veterans
Affairs (``Chief Historian'') who may be assisted by such
professional and administrative staff as the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs considers necessary to meet the mission set
forth in paragraph (2).
(4) Authority.--The History Office may carry out the
following operations, including through the use of
cooperative agreements, donations, and other such
arrangements available under authorities of the Department:
(A) Assist with planning appropriate history-related events
leading up to the centennial of the Department in 2030
(``Centennial'').
(B) Carry out public activities, including print and web-
based publications and exhibits, that increase awareness of
the role and contributions of the Department in providing
benefits, care, memorial affairs, and others services to
supporting veterans.
(C) Construct, renovate, repair, operate, preserve, and
maintain new or existing Department facilities used for
preservation, restoration, and public access to Department
historic materials (archives and artifacts), and for
facilities intended for the purpose of education relating to
history of support of veterans through the Department and its
predecessor entities and for training on the preservation of
these historic materials and facilities.
(D) Maintain facilities for access to, and storage of,
historic materials (artifacts and archives), compliant with
recognized specifications for such facilities.
(E) Conduct education and training on preservation of
historical materials, archival management, digitization,
restoration, historical research, and related subjects to
assist the Department.
(F) Accept donations of historic properties associated with
veterans or the history of the Department and its predecessor
entities.
(G) Such other operations as the Secretary designates as
necessary and appropriate.
(b) Reports.--
(1) Long-range planning.--Not later than March 1, 2024, the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a
report on current and proposed activities of the History
Program established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection
(a) leading up to the centennial described in paragraph
(4)(A) of such subsection.
(2) Contents.--The report submitted pursuant to paragraph
(1) shall include plans for the following:
(A) Additional staffing and a budget.
(B) Organization charts pertaining to the current staff and
location of the Veterans Affairs History Office within the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
(C) Any relevant construction, preservation, and renovation
activities of facilities, including those used to store or
display historic materials.
(D) Public activities to mark the centennial described in
paragraph (1).
(E) Such recommendations for legislative or administrative
action as the Secretary may have with respect to the History
Program and the centennial described in paragraph (1).

[[Page S2870]]

(3) Annual reports.--Subsequent to submittal of the report
pursuant to paragraph (1), the Chief Historian of the
Department of Veterans Affairs shall, not less frequently
than once each year through 2030, submit to the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on
the progress of the Veterans Affairs History Office.
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