[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2719 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2719

To provide for the awarding of the Purple Heart to certain veterans who 
     experienced a traumatic brain injury, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 8, 2025

   Mr. Kennedy of New York introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the awarding of the Purple Heart to certain veterans who 
     experienced a traumatic brain injury, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Staff Sergeant John D. Martek Purple 
Heart Restoration Act''.

SEC. 2. AWARDING OF PURPLE HEART TO CERTAIN VETERANS WHO EXPERIENCED A 
              TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.

    Chapter 57 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after section 1129a the following new section:
``Sec. 1129b. Purple Heart: certain veterans who experienced a 
              traumatic brain injury
    ``(a) In General.--For purposes of the award of the Purple Heart, 
the Secretary concerned shall treat a veteran described in subsection 
(b) in the same manner as a member of the Armed Forces who is killed or 
wounded in action as the result of an act of an enemy of the United 
States.
    ``(b) Veteran Described.--A veteran described in this subsection is 
a veteran--
            ``(1) who experienced a traumatic brain injury while a 
        member of the Armed Forces that is attributable to an act of an 
        enemy of the United States that occurred on or after December 
        7, 1941; and
            ``(2)(A) who has a service-connected disability 
        attributable to such traumatic brain injury, as determined by 
        the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or
            ``(B) with respect to whom there is a military record that 
        demonstrates the occurrence of such traumatic brain injury.
    ``(c) Award Process.--Each Secretary concerned shall--
            ``(1) establish a process for persons to submit 
        applications for the awarding of the Purple Heart under this 
        section; and
            ``(2) award the Purple Heart to each person who submits an 
        application that demonstrates the person is a veteran described 
        in subsection (b), without regard to the date on which the 
        veteran experienced the traumatic brain injury that is 
        described in the application.
    ``(d) Definitions.--In this section, the terms `service-connected' 
and `veteran' have the meaning given the terms in section 101 of title 
38.''.
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