YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyTransparency & AccountabilityVeterans needing daily care would get $833 more a month — but some VA home loan fees would rise.
Your Money
The VA's aid and attendance allowance goes to veterans who need help with daily tasks like bathing or eating. Those already getting it would receive $833.33 on top, for months starting December 1, 2026.
Survivor payments already rise each year with Social Security, which recently raised checks by under 3 percent. This bill would add one extra point to the first raise and half a point to the next, then stop.
For VA home loans, this bill would count Guard and Reserve training time as active duty. That includes drill and annual training, going back to service since September 11, 2001.
Someone with at least 14 days of active duty who finishes entry-level and skill training could get a VA-backed home loan. They would pay a fee one point higher than other borrowers.
Veterans who refinance a VA loan to get a lower interest rate now pay a 0.5% funding fee. That would nearly triple to 1.42%, or about $2,840 instead of $1,000 on a $200,000 loan.
When a buyer takes over a veteran's existing VA loan, the VA charges a fee. That fee would double, from 0.5% to 1% of the loan.
Under current law, VA loan fees are set to drop on June 9, 2034. A first loan with no down payment would go from 2.15% to 1.4%. This bill would push that drop to September 30, 2036.
Veterans with no spouse or children have their VA pension capped at $90 a month when Medicaid pays for their nursing home. That cap was set to end January 31, 2033, but this bill would keep it until September 30, 2036.
Transparency & Accountability
Each time the rates go up, the VA would post the new amounts in the Federal Register. That is the daily record of new government notices.
The VA would have to send the Defense Department facts about this home loan benefit. Guard and Reserve members who finish training would then be told they may qualify.
More about this bill
Veterans who need daily help at home would get $833.33 more each month, starting December 1, 2026. This extra payment would go to those already getting the VA's aid and attendance allowance. Survivors of veterans who died from a service-related injury or illness would also get more. Their monthly checks would rise with the yearly Social Security raise, plus one extra percent. The next raise adds half a percent. After that, the extra stops. The bill would also open VA home loans to more Guard and Reserve members. Training time would count toward qualifying, going back to service since September 11, 2001. Members with at least 14 days of service could qualify after finishing training, for an extra 1% fee. Other changes would cost some veterans money. The fee to refinance a VA loan would go from 0.5% to 1.42%. Today's loan fee rates would last until September 30, 2036, instead of dropping in 2034. A $90 monthly cap on pensions for veterans in Medicaid-paid nursing homes would also last three more years.
Congressional Summary
Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2026This bill expands specified benefits programs for veterans and their survivors and establishes a supplemental monthly allowance for certain disabled veterans.The bill establishes a supplemental monthly allowance of $833.33 for veterans who are already eligible for a monthly aid and attendance allowance due to service-connected disabilities or traumatic brain injury.The bill increases the rate of dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) by an additional 1% the next time DIC is adjusted for cost of living and an additional 0.5% the following adjustment. DIC is a monthly payment made to eligible survivors of (1) certain veterans who died due to a service-connected condition; (2) service members killed in the line of duty; or (3) veterans who were totally disabled by a service-connected disability for a certain period.The bill expands eligibility for loans under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home loan program to certain members of the reserve components and National Guard by expanding what qualifies as active duty. The bill includes annual training duty as qualifying active duty and grants eligibility for VA loan guarantees after 14 days of active-duty service (with an additional fee).Under the VA home loan program, the bill extends certain loan fee rates through September 30, 2036, and increases the fees for certain refinancing loans and loan assumptions.The bill extends the limitation on pension amounts for certain hospitalized or institutionalized veterans through September 30, 2036.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to House
- Action Date
- 2026-04-02
- Date Added
- 2026-05-19
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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