Take Care of America’s Veterans Act

Under current law many of these retirees have one payment cut when they draw the other. From January 1, 2027, a retiree with a combat-related disability could draw both in full.

Veterans already getting the aid and attendance allowance for daily help would get an extra $833.33 each month. It starts December 1, 2026.

Remarriage now ends a surviving spouse's Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and Survivor Benefit Plan annuity in most cases. The bill would let a spouse remarry at any age and keep both.

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation would go up whenever Social Security does, plus one extra percentage point. The extra point applies to the first three increases, starting December 1, 2026.

A veteran who dies of ALS would count as dying from service, no matter how long the disease lasted. That reaches back to deaths on or after October 1, 2022.

Drill weekends, annual training, and full-time Guard duty would count toward VA home loan eligibility, back to September 11, 2001. A shorter 14-day path exists but adds one percentage point to the loan fee.

The VA could not throw out a benefits claim only because the veteran did not show up for a VA medical exam. It would still weigh the rest of the file.

A community provider would have one year to send the VA its bill. If it misses that deadline, it could not turn around and bill the veteran instead.

A one-year pilot would hand naloxone to any veteran at no charge, and a written statement of veteran status would be enough. The bill also drops the copayment for overdose reversal drugs.

GI Bill housing money for a first-year, full-time apprenticeship or on-the-job training would be paid at the full rate instead of 80 percent.

The VA home loan fee table has two lines set at 0.50 percent today. One would rise to 1.42 percent and the other to 1.00 percent.

New sleep apnea claims would be scored 0, 10, 50, or 100 percent, with 50 percent only if treatment fails. This applies to claims filed after the law passes, and ratings already granted could not be cut.

Ringing in the ears could no longer get its own payment rating. It would rate 10 percent only when tied to service-connected hearing loss that pays nothing on its own.

Before any reduction in force, the VA would tell affected workers and Congress 60 days ahead, with the numbers and reasons. A layoff done without that notice would have no effect.

A family member or hired caregiver doing this daily care for a veteran with a spinal cord injury would get a monthly stipend. It is capped at what a VA nursing assistant nearby earns per hour.

A primary family caregiver could be paid back for license and certificate fees needed to return to work. The lifetime cap is $1,000, and help continues for 180 days after leaving the program.

The VA would have to repay continuing education costs for doctors, nurses, psychologists, and similar staff, up to $1,000 a year each. No more than 50,000 people a year could be repaid.

The VA would write one telework policy and tell staff and Congress at least 90 days before changing it. It would also report the yearly cost of the policy.

The VA could not deny a military sexual trauma claim without first telling the veteran what evidence would count and giving a chance to send it. Trained teams would handle every such claim.

The Board of Veterans' Appeals could bundle appeals that raise the same question and decide them together, and the veterans court could take class-action requests. That bundling power would end after three years.

Personal details collected when a veteran picks up naloxone could only be used for care. They could not block employment or serve as proof of drug use.

The VA would have to ask every enrolled veteran about social conditions that affect health, using set medical codes. Those cover housing, food, income, work, and family problems.

A new program would track health and collect samples from children of toxic-exposed veterans for seven years. The bill says the findings may not be used to widen benefits for them.

The VA could rent space and buy building services from a partner hospital or another entity without running a competitive bid. Multi-year deals would still depend on yearly funding.

For a new pilot linking VA and Medicare care, the VA would first try to hire private health companies to design and run it. If it does not, it must explain why to Congress.

The VA could suspend a community provider it finds submitted a fraudulent claim, after written notice and a 30-day chance to reply. Suspensions would be named to Congress every quarter.

The VA would have to end contracts with firms barred from Medicare and Medicaid or convicted of a serious crime. A one-year waiver is possible but must be reported to Congress.

The drive and wait numbers would sit in law, so the VA could not rewrite them. Eight years on the text lapses, but the VA would still need a joint resolution from Congress to set different numbers.

For any big VA building project or lease, the veterans committees would get the contracts, cost estimates, schedules, and emails. The VA could not refuse by calling them internal or bid-sensitive.

A six-person budget office inside the VA would send Congress certified financial answers. No other VA official could change, delay, or hold back those replies.

Programs over $1 billion in total, or $200 million a year, would get an independent cost estimate before the VA commits. A yearly report would list every estimate that beat the budget request by more than 5 percent.

Veterans would be told in writing how long the wait and drive are at a VA site, by VA telehealth, and at the nearest community provider. It goes in the health record, and a veteran can opt out.

Bed availability and wait times for live-in mental health and addiction programs would be posted publicly each month. The price list the VA pays outside programs would also go online.

The VA would run a public dashboard showing how many military sexual trauma claims are filed, granted, denied, and appealed, and how long they take. It would refresh at least monthly.

The VA would send Congress yearly data on what veterans die of, including whether the death was suicide. This report stops after five years.

The VA's public staffing site would update every three months, broken out by medical center and regional office. It would have to show jobs left empty with no hiring under way.

The bill authorizes $1.18 billion to replace the Manchester, New Hampshire medical center and add a utility plant, living center, and rehab facility. The VA could waive the usual rule that an outside federal agency manage the work.

This benefits bill also appropriates $500 million to the VA's technology office through 2031, split between cybersecurity, supply tracking, and records work. It may not be used to expand the electronic health record program.

Congress finds that about 900 Jewish service members killed in the world wars were buried overseas under Latin crosses. A nonprofit would be paid $500,000 a year for five years to identify them and reach their families.