To require the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to develop guidelines regarding the use by the Secretaries of the military departments and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of unofficial sources of information to determine the eligibility of a member or former member of the Armed Forces for benefits and decorations when the member's service records are incomplete because of damage to the records, including records damaged by a 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Cost and committee reports

Official records Congress.gov attaches to H.R. 3040.

• Constitutional authority statementThe sponsor’s statement of where the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass this bill. Statement by Mrs. CAPPS, as printed in the Congressional Record (Vol. 161, No. 108, July 13, 2015, Page H5117):
  Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution.
  Source: Congress.gov, Congressional Record July 13, 2015 ↗

  Evidence

  Field in the Congress.gov record

  constitutionalAuthorityStatementText

  Statement length

  65 characters

  Congress.gov bill record

  H.R. 3040, 114th Congress

  Congress.gov API record

  https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/114/hr/3040

  Record last updated by Congress.gov

  June 6, 2025

  PORKER copy retrieved

  September 22, 2026

  Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file

  753e09a514908840d10e450700e47bfa41762a216c346e822a108a5a743ca011

  PORKER shows the statement exactly as printed, with the page markup removed. It is the sponsor’s claim; it is not a legal finding.

Congress.gov’s record for this bill does not list a CBO cost estimate or a committee report (as of June 6, 2025). Not every bill gets one.

From the Congress.gov bill record for H.R. 3040, last updated June 6, 2025. PORKER’s copy was retrieved September 22, 2026 and is refreshed nightly. Open “Evidence” on any line for the record, field and file fingerprint.