Description:
H.R. 5392 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop a quality assurance document that would identify performance metrics and objectives to improve the effectiveness of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). The VCL is a toll-free number that provides confidential support to veterans and their family members 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. VA also would be required to develop a plan to ensure that each call to the VCL is answered in a timely fashion. VA would be required to submit both the document and the plan to the Congress within 180 days of the bill’s enactment. Based on an analysis of information from VA regarding the resources necessary to prepare such documents, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would have insignificant costs over the 2017-2021 period; that spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5392 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
H.R. 5392 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
