Sponsors (4)
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Raises the dollar limits the Department of Veterans Affairs can pay for home improvements and structural alterations for disabled veterans, with two different caps depending on when a veteran first applied. It also adds an annual inflation adjustment tied to a construction cost index, limits each veteran to no more than three such improvements, and says veterans who already used their full benefit before this change do not get extra payments because of the new higher limits.
Amends paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of 38 U.S.C. 1717 by inserting text before the em dash in the matter preceding subparagraph (A).
For a veteran who first applied for benefits under this paragraph for a non-service-connected disability before the date of enactment and whose disability the Secretary determines is service-connected after that date, the amount available for improvements and structural alterations is $6,800.
For a veteran who first applied for benefits under this paragraph on or after the date of enactment, the amount available for improvements and structural alterations is $10,000.
Redesignates the existing paragraph (3) of subsection (a) as paragraph (5).
Adds an annual adjustment: on the first day of each fiscal year, the dollar amounts in effect under paragraph (2) must increase by the percentage the residential home cost of construction index (established under 38 U.S.C. 2102(e)(3)) rose during the previous fiscal year; if that index did not increase, the amounts remain the same.
Primary impact: disabled veterans who need home modifications will see higher statutory dollar limits for VA-funded improvements if they apply under the higher cap or after the relevant application-date threshold. Annual indexing will help maintain benefit value as construction costs rise, reducing erosion of assistance over time. The three-grant limit caps lifetime use, which may constrain veterans with ongoing or multiple changing needs. Veterans who already received past benefits do not get extra money retroactively, so individuals who exhausted the prior cap remain at that paid level. For the VA, administrative updates will be needed to implement two-tier eligibility rules, track the number of improvements provided per veteran, and calculate yearly index adjustments; budgetary effects depend on how many veterans claim the higher amounts going forward.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced May 7, 2025 by Catherine Marie Cortez Masto · Last progress May 7, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate