Sponsor
Rosa L. Delauro
Representative · D-CT
Representative · D-CT
The bill symbolically honors veterans and clarifies a VA facility's name—helping awareness, destigmatization, and administrative consistency—while offering no new funding or policy changes and imposing only minor administrative costs and short-term transition confusion.
Veterans (especially those who served in combat) are publicly honored by Congress, raising national awareness of their service and sacrifices.
The bill recognizes and helps destigmatize combat-related mental health struggles, which may encourage veterans to seek care and reduce stigma around treatment.
The bill highlights VA medical care and brain donation, which could raise public and provider awareness of veteran healthcare needs and support for related research.
The legislation is purely honorific and does not provide funding or change policy for veterans' programs, so it does not deliver concrete services or resources to address veterans' needs.
Public recognition may create the perception that congressional recognition substitutes for concrete action on veterans' mental health and services, potentially reducing pressure for needed policy or funding changes.
Renaming the facility will require minor administrative updates (signage, stationery, databases) that incur small costs for the VA and taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Renames the West Haven VA Medical Center as the Captain Paul W. Bucha VA Medical Center and updates all federal references to the facility name.
Official title: To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in West Haven, Connecticut, as the "Captain Paul W. "Bud" Bucha VA Medical Center".
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Rosa L. Delauro · Last progress July 16, 2026
Renames the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in West Haven, Connecticut, (or any successor location) as the Captain Paul W. Bucha VA Medical Center and treats all legal and administrative references to the facility as referring to the new name. The bill also includes findings honoring Paul W. Bucha’s military service, awards, education, veterans advocacy, and recent death. No funding, program authorizations, deadlines, or regulatory changes are included; the change is a commemorative renaming and updating of references in law and official records.