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Creates a Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund to provide one-time $25,000 payments to eligible World War II United States Merchant Marine crewmembers and authorizes $125,000,000 for the fund for fiscal year 2026. It sets eligibility and qualifying-service rules, requires beneficiaries to apply within one year of enactment, directs the Secretary to pay applicants in the order received, and requires regulations and annual reports to implement and oversee the program.
Adds a new section titled '533 Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund' to Subchapter II of title 38, United States Code, creating the statutory basis for the fund.
Establishes in the general fund of the Treasury a fund called the Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund; amounts in the fund are available to the Secretary, subject to the availability of appropriations, and are available without fiscal year limitation.
Requires eligible individuals to submit to the Secretary, during the one-year period beginning on the date of enactment, an application containing information and assurances the Secretary may require.
Makes an applicant ineligible if the applicant has received benefits under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (Public Law 78–346).
Defines 'qualified service' as service between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, by a member of the United States merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) serving as a crewmember of a vessel meeting specified criteria.
Primary direct beneficiaries are World War II United States Merchant Marine crewmembers who meet the statute's eligibility and qualifying-service definitions. Eligible individuals who apply within one year of enactment would receive a single $25,000 payment, subject to available funding and the order of applications received. The program targets a small, defined group of largely elderly individuals (or their heirs/estates if the law permits), providing financial recognition and relief. On the administrative side, the designated Secretary must write regulations, process applications, determine eligibility, make payments in application order, and produce annual reports—creating an implementation workload and modest administrative costs. The $125 million authorization has a clear, one-year fiscal target; the statute sets a firm funding cap (as authorized) but actual outlays depend on appropriations and program execution. The measure may also set precedent for one-time payments to other service groups, but it does not change tax rules, impose mandates on states or localities, nor address national security matters.
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Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Al Green · Last progress January 3, 2025
Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in House