Lawmakers are considering a major legislative package that includes dozens of bills for improving the delivery of benefits and services through the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — From the Major Richard Star Act to the Love Lives On Act, more than 60 bills to improve veterans benefits and services have been bundled together into a single piece of legislation that GOP lawmakers have pledged to fast-track through Congress.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., are leading the massive legislation, called the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, which largely would be funded by a reduction in future disability payments for sleep apnea and tinnitus.
The legislation would cut future Department of Veterans Affairs benefits by as much as $57 billion over 10 years for an estimated 1.5 million veterans, according to the language in the 554-page bill.
The goal is to bring the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act directly to the House and Senate for a vote in the near future, since most of the bills were evaluated already in committee, lawmakers said.
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act is based on the following 62 bipartisan, bicameral bills:
• The Veterans ACCESS Act requires the VA to inform veterans about their options for private medical care, when VA care is unavailable close to a veteran’s home or in a timely manner.
• The Major Richard Star Act enables combat-injured veterans medically retired with fewer than 20 years of service to receive their full military retirement pay and their VA disability compensation.
• The Love Lives On Act protects surviving spouses of fallen service members and veterans from losing benefits when they remarry before the age of 55.
• The Coordinating Care for Senior Veterans and Wounded Warriors Act establishes a pilot program to manage health care and benefits for veterans enrolled in Medicare and VA health care.
• The HOPE for the Brave Act aims to improve the VA community grant program for at-risk veterans obtaining mental health care and suicide prevention services. It would make the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program permanent.
• The Optimizing the VA Workforce for Veterans Act of 2025 directs the VA to develop a blueprint to align current and future staffing levels with demands for services.
• The VITAL Act of 2025, also known as the Veterans Infrastructure and Transformation Act, bolsters upgrades to VA infrastructure.
• The HONOR Act, known as the Honor Our Promise to Veterans Act, accelerates care delivery, strengthening community care provider standards, and boosting VA staffing and infrastructure.
• The Precision Brain Health Research Act requires the VA to create a long-term plan to better understand the effects of repetitive low-level blast injuries.
• The Veteran Caregiver Reeducation, Reemployment, and Retirement Act provides workforce entry support for family caregivers of disabled veterans transitioning back to the labor market.
• The Veterans Spinal Trauma Access to New Devices Act requires annual VA health exams and easier access to assistive technologies for veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders.
• The Disabled Veterans Dignity Act codifies the VA’s authority to reimburse family members, caregivers, and agencies performing urinary catheterization, ostomy care, and bowel programs for veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders.
• The Fallen Servicemembers Religious Heritage Restoration Act directs the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a program to identify American-Jewish service members buried in U.S. military cemeteries overseas under markers that incorrectly represent their religion and heritage. It creates a 10-year program to conduct research on those service members and contact their surviving descendants to facilitate a grave marker change to properly represent their religious heritage.
• The Fisher House Availability Act makes temporary lodging at a VA Fisher House accessible to active-duty, reserve and other members of the armed services, as space is available. VA’s Fisher House is for family stays when a veteran is receiving medical treatment.
• The Veterans’ Disability Exam Modernization and License Portability Act allows eligible health professional with an unrestricted license and a contract with the VA to provide disability exams to veterans across state lines.
• The Caring for Veterans and Strengthening National Security Act expands VA health care to veterans in the freely associated states of Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. It mandates the VA to provide tele-health care, mail-order prescription drugs, and travel reimbursements.
• The Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement Act requires the VA to operate a unified, electronic system to book appointments with private providers outside the VA system.
• The Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act offers an additional $10,000 annually to veterans with critical disabilities from military service, including brain injuries, limb loss, and paralysis. Higher benefits would be funded with a hike in a refinancing fee on VA homes loans.
• The Justice for ALS Veterans Act ends a rule that disqualifies widowed spouses from receiving full benefits if a veteran with ALS lives less than eight years after diagnosis.
• The Reducing Arbitrary Barriers to Apprenticeship Act of 2026 eliminates GI Bill provisions that result in financial disadvantages for veterans choosing apprenticeships or on-the-job training instead of four-year college degrees.
• The VetPAC Act establishes a 17-member panel of veterans and medical experts to independently review the Veterans Health Administration and make recommendations to Congress.
• The LINC VA Act enables the VA to form public-private partnerships to connect veterans with local resources, including food, housing, child care, job training and transportation.
• The REP VA Act requires the VA to operate at least one regional call center in each U.S. time zone to assist with health care appointments and referrals.
• The Supporting Rural Veterans Access to Healthcare Services Act expands travel and transportation assistance for rural veterans with in-person medical appointments.
• The Critical Access to Veterans Care Act streamlines VA reimbursements to critical access hospitals.
• The AVERT Crisis Act aims to strengthen the VA’s ability to respond to natural disasters, pandemics and other national emergencies.
• The Ensuring VetSuccess on Campus Act requires at least one specially trained veteran counselor in every U.S. state and territory to assist veterans who are students.
• The Servicewomen and Veterans Menopause Research Act requires studies on menopause for women serving in the military.
• The Improving Veteran Access to Care Act modernizes VA medical appointment scheduling for veterans.
• The Improving Access to Care for Rural Veterans Act enables the VA to partner with non-VA private health facilities in rural areas to deliver timely treatment closer to home.
• The End Veterans Overdose Act directs the VA to make opioid overdose rescue medications available to veterans for free and without a prescription at VA pharmacies.
• The Service Dogs Assisting Veterans Act establishes a VA grant program to help eligible nonprofits provide trained service dogs to veterans with disabilities.
• The RECOVER Act authorizes $20 million per year for three years for a pilot program for community providers to operate and expand veterans mental health care.
• The ASSIST Act expands VA coverage for medically necessary vehicle adaptations that enable disabled veterans to safely use their personal vehicles.
• The Fairness in Veterans’ Education Act fixes a structural flaw in GI Bill compensation to ensure service members and veterans are refunded up to $1,200 for their voluntary contributions to the Montgomery GI Bill when they transition to the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
• The Ensuring Veterans’ Final Resting Place Act and the Dennis and Lois Krisfalusy Act remove arbitrary date restrictions on who can be included on a memorial headstone or marker.
• The Veterans SPORT Act covers adaptive prosthetics for sports and recreational activities for disabled veterans.
• The Delivering Digitally to Our Veterans Act gives veterans receiving educational assistance the option to get updates and information via text, email, virtual chat and other electronic formats.
• The Clear Communication for Veterans Claims Act requires the VA to revamp notice letters on disability benefits to make them shorter, free of legal jargon and easier to understand.
• The TRAVEL Act authorizes the VA to send traveling physicians and specialists to underserved and remote U.S. territories.
• The Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act requires the VA to compare outcomes for veterans receiving VA mental health care versus private care.
• The CARING for Our Veterans Health Act is designed to improve information sharing between the VA and private providers authorized to treat and receive reimbursement for veteran care.
• The SAVES Act, which stands for the Servicemembers and Veterans Empowerment and Support Act, is designed to strengthen VA benefits and health care access for survivors of military sexual trauma.
• The Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act expands research on birth defects among children of toxic-exposed veterans.
• The TAP Promotion Act requires that representatives from veterans service organizations be part of transition assistance programs for service members preparing to leave the military.
• The Lactation Spaces for Veteran Moms Act requires VA medical facilities to designate a private space for nursing mothers.
• The Review Every Veterans Claims Act stops the VA from rejecting a claim because a veteran missed a compensation and pension exam.
• The Vets Opportunity Act expands GI Bill eligibility to cover partially online and hybrid skilled trade programs for high-demand careers.
• The Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act requires the VA to offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy through a pilot program.
• The Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act mandates that the VA make its paperwork for disability and survivor benefits more user-friendly.
• The Protecting Veteran Access to Telemedicine Services Act of 2025 authorizes VA providers to prescribe medically necessary controlled substances via telemedicine.
• The START Act shortens the wait time for veterans scheduling their first appointment after receiving a community care referral.
• The Expanding Access for Online Veteran Students Act increases the monthly housing allowance for veterans pursuing distance learning under the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Program.
• The Representing Our Seniors at VA Act requires the addition of a licensed nursing home administrator on the VA’s Geriatrics and Gerontology Advisory Committee.
• The Blast Overpressure Research and Mitigation Taskforce establishes a task force to study, mitigate, and treat the effects of blast overpressure and brain injuries in service members and veterans.
• The ETS Act requires and expands pre-separation counseling for exiting service members preparing to enter the civilian job market and to access VA health care and benefits.
• The VA Fiscal Management and Modernization Act designates the VA’s assistant secretary for management as chief financial officer, overseeing budgets, financial audits, and compliance.
• The Cruise Act ensures that companies modifying vehicles for disabled veterans are reimbursed in a timely manner.
• The VA Contracting and Procurement Act modernizes how the VA manages medical supply contracts.
• The Leasing and Infrastructure Act of 2025 grants the VA independent authority to enter into leases for major medical facilities.
• The Modernizing All Veterans and Survivors Act requires the VA to submit a plan to Congress for modernizing claims processing.
• The BEACON Act of 2026 expands VA research and grant programs to improve care for veterans living with mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries.
