Bills that would change veteran benefits — and where they actually stand

Sleep apnea and tinnitus: file before it passes

This is the single most useful fact about this bill, and it is the one most write-ups leave out.

Section 108 would change how VA rates two of the most commonly claimed conditions: obstructive sleep apnea and tinnitus — ringing in the ears. The criteria for the higher grades get tighter.

Tinnitus today is compensable at 10 percent on its own. The bill would take away that separate rating except narrowly, where it accompanies hearing loss that is not itself compensable.

Major Richard Star Act — who it reaches, and when

Section 101 of H.R. 9237. Real money for a specific group. Read the group carefully.

Today, if you were medically retired under chapter 61 — disability retirement — with fewer than 20 years of service, your military retired pay is reduced dollar for dollar by your VA disability compensation. That reduction is called the offset. DFAS states the rule the same way: a chapter 61 retiree with fewer than 20 years of creditable service cannot receive concurrent retired pay and VA compensation and must waive military pay dollar for dollar.

Section 101 would stop that offset from being applied to a chapter 61 retiree whose disability is combat-related. You would draw chapter 61 retired pay and VA compensation side by side.

The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs majority estimates this would reach roughly 54,000 combat-wounded veterans. That is a committee estimate, not a final government score.

The same idea also exists as its own bill. The Major Richard Star Act is filed on its own as H.R. 2102 in the House (Rep. Gus Bilirakis, introduced March 14, 2025) and S. 1032 in the Senate (Sen. Richard Blumenthal, introduced March 13, 2025). Same core idea: let chapter 61 retirees with a combat-related disability receive full military retired pay and full VA disability compensation with no offset. Concurrent receipt is the technical name. Unlike Section 101 above, the standalone House bill says it takes effect on the first day of the first month after it becomes law, not on January 1, 2027. It amends title 10, United States Code, sections 1413a and 1414.

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee Democrats' release of September 16, 2026 puts support at about 340 House cosponsors and 80 Senate cosponsors and the number of veterans affected at about 59,000. Counts change, so treat those as that date's figures. That 59,000 is a different estimate from the 54,000 committee-majority figure above, and it covers a different bill, so do not mix them.

Love Lives On Act — it is the age test that goes away

Section 102. This one gets described backwards constantly, and the backwards version tells the wrong widow she is out of luck.

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is the monthly tax-free payment VA makes to a surviving spouse, child or parent of a service member or veteran whose death was service connected.

Three more rights in the same section that almost never get printed:

• Survivors who already remarried below the age line could have benefits resumed going forward
• A Survivor Benefit Plan annuity — the military retiree's own survivor annuity — could not be terminated solely because the surviving spouse remarries
• TRICARE health coverage restored to a remarried widow or widower whose later marriage ended by death, divorce or annulment

Separately, Section 103 would extend the increased DIC rate to surviving spouses of veterans who died of ALS. Today the increase generally requires the veteran to have been rated totally disabling for eight continuous years before death; ALS often kills faster than that, which shuts those survivors out. The section would drop that eight-year requirement for ALS deaths and reach back to deaths in past years.

Three changes to how claims are handled

• Section 105 — missed exam. VA could not deny a claim solely because the veteran did not appear for a scheduled VA medical examination. A missed compensation and pension exam is one of the most common ways a good claim dies. The section also adds tracking and quality checks on appeals.
• Section 107 — automation. VA would be required to submit a plan for using automation tools to process claims. Not a study. A plan. If you have a view on a computer touching your file, this is the provision to have it about.
• Section 111 — military sexual trauma. Improvements to how VA processes MST-related claims and how it reaches the veterans who have them.

The fee increases — and the pro that is also a con

Section 104. If you are planning a refinance, this is the number you need.

Section 104(b) raises rows of the VA loan fee table:

• Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan (IRRRL) — the VA streamline refinance — fee goes from 0.50% to 1.42%. That is nearly triple.
• Loan assumption — where a buyer takes over your existing VA loan — fee goes from 0.50% to 1.00%.

I am not printing the exact length-of-service threshold for that new Guard and Reserve category. It turns on a minimum period of service after entry-level and skill training, tied to service on or after September 11, 2001, and I could not confirm the exact number to the standard I hold myself to. If it matters to you, read Section 104(c) in the bill text linked at the top of this page and take the words to a VA-approved lender rather than to me.

The rest of the package

H.R. 9237 bundles more than 60 separate veterans bills into one.

• Section 104(a) — Special Monthly Compensation. A supplemental monthly allowance for certain veterans at the higher SMC levels. SMC is the extra compensation VA pays above the normal disability rates for the most severe losses. I am not printing a dollar figure. The only number that exists sits in an unpassed bill and has never been a payable rate.
• Section 206 — Transition Assistance Program and SkillBridge. Improvements to the classes and the civilian work placement program you go through on the way out.
• Section 302 — caregivers. Reemployment and retirement protections for family caregivers, alongside the existing Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC).
• VA operations and facilities. The package carries portions titled the VITAL Act of 2026 and the Veterans Infrastructure and Transformation Act of 2026. Whether that is modernization or disruption is opinion, and both sides have one.

Veterans groups are split down the middle

Both lists are published by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. You deserve the names, not “groups are divided.”

Opposed — minority release of July 9, 2026: VFW, DAV, IAVA, Marine Corps League, Jewish War Veterans of the USA, Student Veterans of America, National Veterans Legal Services Program, National Organization of Veterans Advocates, Reserve Organization of America, Swords to Plowshares, Burn Pits 360, Service Women's Action Network, Minority Veterans of America, and others — joined by the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Consumer Law Center, whose objection is to the home loan fee increases. Read their statement.

Supporting — majority release of July 13, 2026: The American Legion, MOAA, Wounded Warrior Project, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America, TAPS, Gold Star Spouses of America, Military Order of the Purple Heart, National Military Family Association, Elizabeth Dole Foundation, K9s For Warriors, Mission Roll Call, and others — while saying in the same breath that “Legislating changes to the Veterans Affairs Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) is not a standard path, and under ordinary circumstances it is not an approach we would support.” Read their statement.

A Statement of Administration Policy dated July 15, 2026 supports the bill, raises reservations about provisions touching the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and executive privilege, and notes that a final cost score was not yet available.

Three moves, today

Phone numbers and official pages

Every number below was read on an official government page.

• VA benefits hotline: 800-827-1000, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET. Claim and appeal status, direct deposit and address changes, general benefits questions. va.gov/contact-us
• DFAS retired pay, CRDP and CRSC questions: 800-321-1080. CRSC · CRDP
• Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1. veteranscrisisline.net
• Your Representative (House switchboard): 202-224-3121. Find your Representative
• File a VA disability claim: va.gov/disability or an accredited Veterans Service Officer, at no charge.
• Check a bill's status yourself: H.R. 2102 · S. 1032 · Discharge Petition No. 22