Sponsors (5)
The bill raises and ties Medal of Honor special pensions and extends current payment rules—giving recipients higher, more predictable support in the near term while increasing federal costs and concentrating benefits on a very small group of veterans, with some limits on how and when future increases apply.
Medal of Honor recipients will receive higher monthly special pensions and those pensions will be linked to VA compensation (§1114(m)), increasing their household income and ensuring payments rise when VA compensation rates increase.
The bill preserves eligibility for the pension payment limit under 38 U.S.C. §5503(d)(7) through Jan 31, 2033, providing continuity and financial predictability for veterans and the VA rather than an abrupt cutoff.
Public recognition of Medal of Honor recipients is reinforced, publicly honoring their service and potentially boosting public support for veterans.
Raising and extending these special pensions increases federal/VA outlays, which will be borne by taxpayers and add to budgetary costs.
The benefit is narrowly targeted to a very small group (Medal of Honor recipients) rather than being distributed to a broader population of veterans who may also have financial needs.
An intra-year increase restriction can delay or reduce additional pension raises within a year, meaning recipients might not receive multiple adjustments that could otherwise apply in the same year.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Ties the Medal of Honor special pension to the VA monthly compensation for a veteran without dependents (rounded up), limits multiple yearly increases, and extends a related pension date to Jan 31, 2033.
Changes how the monthly special pension for living Medal of Honor recipients is calculated by tying it to the monthly base compensation for a veteran without dependents (rounded up to the next intermediate rate). It also blocks the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from applying more than one increase to that special pension in the same calendar year if an increase already occurred that year. Separately, it extends an existing expiration/termination date in another VA pension provision through January 31, 2033. The result is a likely increase in the monthly benefit for living Medal of Honor recipients (and a small additional cost to the VA/federal budget), clearer indexing of the benefit to standard VA compensation levels, and a one-year-plus extension of a statutory date in a related pension rule. No specific effective date is stated in the text provided.
Introduced January 23, 2025 by Troy E. Nehls · Last progress December 1, 2025