A bill to provide for improvements in the National Cemetery System administered under title 38, United States Code, and for other purposes.
Amends Federal provisions relating to cemeteries and memorials to remove the per-State limitation on the receipt of grant funds used for the establishment, expansion, and improvement of veterans' cemeteries. Authorizes the Administrator of Veterans Affairs (the Administrator) to make contributions to local authorities for the construction of traffic controls, road improvements, or other devices on land adjacent to a national cemetery if the Administrator determines that such a contribution is necessary for safe ingress and egress to or from such cemetery.
Authorizes the Administrator to provide an approved grave liner for the interment of remains in cemeteries within the National Cemetery System and in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
Authorizes the Administrator to provide for flat grave markers in the case of gravesites of cremated remains that are interred in the ground. Authorizes the Administrator to also provide for flat grave markers in the case of graves on land transferred to the Department of Memorial Affairs from the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the Veterans Administration for the expansion of a cemetery at the Clement A. Zablocki Veterans' Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Establishes in the Treasury the Foreign Currency Fluctuations, American Battle Monuments Commission, Account. States that account funds shall be used by the American Battle Monuments Commission (the Commission) to eliminate operating losses due to fluctuations in currency exchange rates of foreign countries which occur after a budget request for the Commission is submitted to the Congress. Requires any limits applicable to appropriations available to the Commission to be adjusted to take into account any such foreign currency fluctuations. Authorizes funds originally transferred from such Account to be transferred back to that Account if foreign currency fluctuations necessitate such action. Requires unobligated balances of funds appropriated to the Commission for a fiscal year to be transferred into the Account within a specified time and to be merged with and available for the same period and purposes as that Account. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to report to the Congress annually on funds made available under this provision. Authorizes appropriations to the Account.
Certain Provisions Included in H.R.2616.