Sponsors (23)
The bill raises and protects VA benefit payments for veterans and their survivors by tying them to the Social Security COLA—preserving purchasing power—but increases federal spending and creates operational and timing risks by depending on SSA determinations and hard publication deadlines.
Veterans (and their survivors/dependents) will get higher monthly VA payments—wartime disability compensation, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for surviving spouses/children, clothing allowances, and dependent supplements—tied to the Social Security COLA effective Dec 1, 2025, helping preserve beneficiaries' purchasing power against inflation.
Veterans will receive timely, public notice of updated VA benefit amounts because the VA must publish the new figures in the Federal Register aligned with the Social Security Administration's FY2026 schedule, reducing cross-agency confusion and making benefit changes easier to find and understand.
All taxpayers may face higher federal outlays and potential increases to the deficit because automatic increases to VA benefits will raise federal spending.
Tying VA benefit increases to a single Social Security determination could leave some veterans and survivors exposed if future SSA COLAs or timing do not match veterans' cost pressures or needs (e.g., lower COLAs or mismatched timing).
The statutory deadline to publish benefit amounts to match SSA's timing may compress VA internal review and administrative processes, increasing the risk of rushed or error-prone publications and forcing operational changes if SSA timing shifts or is delayed.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Raises specified VA disability payments, dependent benefits, clothing allowance, and DIC by the same percentage as the Social Security COLA effective Dec 1, 2025.
Increases VA disability compensation rates, dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) for surviving spouses and children, the clothing allowance, and certain additional dependent payments by the same percentage as the Social Security Title II cost-of-living increase that takes effect December 1, 2025. The Department of Veterans Affairs must implement the increase effective December 1, 2025 and publish the new rates in the Federal Register by the same publication deadline used for the Social Security determination for fiscal year 2026.
Introduced July 23, 2025 by Jerry Moran · Last progress November 25, 2025