A new bill introduced in the House would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make reports requested by Congress available online and easy to access.
The VA Reporting Transparency Act, introduced October 4 by Reps. Max Rose, D-N.Y., and Gil Cisneros, D-Calif., would require the department to make more information public and easily accessible when Congress conducts oversight on an issue.
“When the VA is required to study an issue and report back, what’s the use if it’s impossible to find?” said Rose. “This is a commonsense proposal that would ensure that veterans and the public would have easy access to these public documents”
The bill would require electronic copies of reports within three days of submitting to Congress, notice of any withheld reports, and make them available for free. The bill would include all reports dating back eight years.
“We should be working to make it easier for our veterans to access the information they need, not harder,” said Cisneros.
The bill is currently with the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.