Sponsors
This bill guarantees a $525 burial allowance for eligible veterans' family members and provides predictable revenue to state cemeteries immediately upon enactment, at the cost of higher VA/taxpayer spending and potential implementation burdens and coverage gaps for some unmarried adult children.
Spouses, surviving spouses, and eligible minor/college-age children of veterans — and the state/local veteran cemeteries that bury them — will receive a $525 per-plot/interment allowance, providing guaranteed burial support for families and predictable revenue to state-owned cemeteries.
Benefits and payments apply immediately to deaths on or after enactment, so eligible families and cemeteries can access the allowance without delay.
Taxpayers and the VA budget will face increased costs from adding the $525 allowance, raising VA expenditures and potentially diverting funds from other programs or requiring additional appropriations.
Some state and local cemeteries may not qualify under VA discretion for unmarried adult children, creating inconsistent coverage and leaving certain adult dependents without the newly specified benefit.
VA and state/local cemetery administrators will incur additional administrative burden to update records, process payments, and implement cross-references to the new allowance, causing short-term implementation costs and possible delays.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the VA to pay State-owned cemeteries a $525 plot/interment allowance for qualifying veteran family members, with future increases allowed.
Adds a $525 plot or interment allowance that the Department of Veterans Affairs must pay to State-owned (or State agency/political subdivision-owned) cemeteries for the burial or interment of spouses, surviving spouses (including those who remarried), minor children (under 21, or under 23 if enrolled in approved education), and, at the VA Secretary’s discretion, unmarried adult children of eligible veterans. The change amends current VA burial-pay rules, adjusts internal numbering of related provisions, and takes effect on enactment for deaths occurring on or after that date. The payment amount is subject to future increases under the existing adjustment mechanism in VA law; the bill makes conforming edits to cross-references so the new allowance integrates with current payment and adjustment rules.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Bonnie Watson Coleman · Last progress November 20, 2025