Sgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr. and Sgt. Joseph H. Maddox GI Bill Restoration Act of 2025

Summary

Expands VA benefits to provide housing loan and education assistance to Black individuals who served on active duty during World War II and to certain surviving descendants if those veterans were denied GI Bill benefits on the basis of race; establishes application windows and implementation deadlines and requires federal reports. Also creates a 30-day-appointed Blue Ribbon panel to study inequities in VA benefits and recommend further remedies for female and minority veterans.

• Expands VA eligibility so Black World War II veterans denied GI Bill benefits due to race — and certain surviving descendants — can receive housing loans and education benefits.
• Eligible applicants must apply within five years of enactment to receive housing loan or chapter 33 education benefits.
• The VA must implement the new eligibility rules and issue regulations within 90 days of enactment.
• GAO and the Comptroller General must each report to Congress within one year after the 90-day deadline on beneficiaries and total benefit amounts provided.
• Requires a Blue Ribbon advisory panel (appointed within 30 days) to recommend remedies and additional benefits for female and minority veterans, with a report due within one year.
• The law targets remedies for documented race-based denials tied to World War II-era administration of the GI Bill.
• No explicit new appropriation is included; the bill modifies entitlement definitions and places administrative and reporting requirements on VA.
• Benefits apply to direct descendants (spouse, children, grandchildren, other direct descendants) living at enactment who certify the veteran was denied benefits due to race.