{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-committee-approves-pingree-initiative-help-veterans-debt-va", "House Committee Approves Pingree Initiative to Help Veterans in Debt to VA", "2017-11-02", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Chellie Pingree", "P000597", "pingree.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014The House Committee on Veterans Affairs today passed an amended version of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree\u2019s legislation\u2014H.R. 3705, the Veterans Fair Debt Notice Act\u2014to help veterans who have a debt with the Department of Veteran Affairs. The bill could come to the House floor as soon as next week.\n\u201cToo many veterans don\u2019t learn about their possible debts with the VA until it\u2019s too late for them to take action. That\u2019s simply unacceptable, especially in light of the commonsense changes that can be made to make sure veterans are properly notified,\u201d Pingree said. \u201cToday\u2019s vote is an important first step in addressing this problem, giving clear and timely information to veterans about their rights and steps they can take to resolve their debt. I\u2019m pleased that this bipartisan effort will move forward.\u201d\u00a0\nCongresswoman Pingree testified at a September 13 Veterans Committee hearing in support of her bill. Video of her testimony can be seen here.The Committee held an oversight hearing on October 25 on the underlying issue of VA overpayments.\u00a0\u00a0\nPingree\u2019s bill originated from assisting veteran constituents who only learned about their debt with the VA once their benefits had been withheld or loans rejected. Having never received notifications about their debt with the VA, they missed deadlines to appeal the debt, apply for a waiver, or set up a payment plan.\u00a0 Sent by standard mail, notifications had gone to outdated addresses or ones where veterans had never lived at all.\nThe Veterans Fair Debt Notice Act Pingree introduced would require the VA to send these notifications by certified mail\u2014ensuring that their receipt is confirmed\u2014as well as to use plain language.\u00a0\nAs amended by the committee, the bill wouldn\u2019t require the VA to use certified mail, but it does take several other steps to ensure more timely and understandable notifications:\u00a0\n Directs the VA to work with veterans service organizations to come up with a standard letter with plain language to explain why the veteran owes the debt and what his/or her options are to challenge or seek forgiveness or a payment plan.\u00a0\n\tDirects the VA to develop a method of informing veterans of the option of receiving such notices by electronic means in addition to standard mail.\n\tRequires the VA to perform a study on (a) the scope of the problem of veterans not receiving notices in the mail, (b) steps the VA can take to improve its address database, and (c) the cost estimate of sending notifications by certified mail.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-committee-approves-pingree-initiative-help-veterans-debt-va"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.93286600895226, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}