HR 6656 United States House · 118th Congress

Stuck On Hold Act

HR 6656, the "Stuck On Hold Act," requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Social Security Administration (SSA) to implement automated phone systems within one year. These systems must inform callers of expected wait times and offer automatic callbacks if waits exceed 15 minutes. The bill also mandates that both agencies issue guidance to reduce average call wait times to 15 minutes or less. It directly affects veterans and Social Security beneficiaries who contact these agencies by phone, aiming to improve their experience with customer service lines.

Issues: ✓ Veterans

Sub-Topics: Veteran Healthcare Veteran Benefits Veteran Education

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2023

Committee Review

Sep 2024

House Passage

Sep 2024

Senate Passage

President

Introduced Dec 7, 2023 Last action Sep 25, 2024

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced in House → Engrossed in House · 6 edits · Sep 25, 2024

MODERATE

The engrossed version of the Stuck On Hold Act removes all provisions related to the Social Security Administration, narrowing the bill to cover only Department of Veterans Affairs customer service telephone lines. It also lowers both the callback threshold and the average wait time target from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, adds a new definition of 'covered line' with specific exclusions, and removes the requirement that all calls be answered in the order received.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed significantly: it no longer covers the Social Security Administration at all, and within VA it now excludes the toll-free veterans hotline and emergency department phone lines from the definition of covered line.

SCOPE

All provisions applying to the Social Security Administration were deleted. The bill now applies only to VA customer service telephone lines.

REQUIREMENT

The threshold for automatically offering a callback was lowered from 15 minutes to 10 minutes of anticipated wait time.

The target average wait time in guidance was lowered from 15 minutes to 10 minutes.

The requirement that all calls be answered in the order in which they are received was removed from both the VA and SSA provisions.

DEFINITION

A new definition of 'covered line' was added, meaning a VA customer service telephone line, but explicitly excluding the toll-free veterans hotline under 38 U.S.C. 1720F(h) and phone lines for VA health care facility emergency departments.

TECHNICAL

Guidance language changed from 'such guidance as is necessary' to 'such guidance the Secretary determines necessary,' giving the Secretary more discretion in determining what guidance to issue.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the House by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Sep 25, 2024

Committee

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

upper

Sep 25, 2024

Introduced

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5776)

lower

Sep 25, 2024

Lower · Passed

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5776)

lower

Sep 25, 2024

Introduced

Mr. Bost moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.

lower

Apr 17, 2024

Lower · Passed

Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended) by Voice Vote.

lower

Apr 17, 2024

Lower · Passed

Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

lower

Mar 20, 2024

Lower · Passed

Subcommittee Hearings Held

lower

Jan 11, 2024

Committee

Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.

lower

Dec 7, 2023

Committee

Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

lower

Dec 7, 2023

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

1 primary · 3 co-sponsors