Congress moves to honor 74 sailors erased from Vietnam memorial
S. 3131 — USS Frank E. Evans Act · Filed by Adam Schiff (D-CA) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 6, 2025 · Hearing held
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What it does
This bill directs the Secretary of Defense to add the names of 74 crew members of the USS Frank E. Evans who died on June 3, 1969, to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. within one year of enactment. The Secretary must consult with the Interior Department, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and other authorities about placement and spacing, and the normal Commemorative Works Act approval process does not apply to this action.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to direct inclusion of previously omitted names on an existing war memorial. It is a straightforward commemorative measure correcting a historical record.
What the text implies
- The waiver of the Commemorative Works Act (40 U.S.C. Chapter 89) bypasses the standard public review and approval process for changes to federal memorials, though the specific justification here is to expedite recognition of a documented historical omission rather than to enable unrelated changes.
- The one-year deadline creates urgency for the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with Interior and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund on physical placement, which may require temporary closure or modification of the Wall during implementation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill corrects a historical omission by ensuring 74 fallen service members receive recognition on the nation's primary Vietnam War memorial. Veterans, their families, and the public benefit from accurate historical commemoration and proper honoring of the war dead.
Named in the bill
USS Frank E. Evans, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Interior, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Commemorative Works Act
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Nov 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Nov 6, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Jul 21, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. Hearings held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $980,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 12 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Adam Schiff, the sponsor, reported $54,400 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Sanofi Us Services Inc — $920,000 on 1 filing
- Novartis, Inc. — $60,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,085 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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