A bipartisan bill that would increase benefits for some severely disabled veterans and hundreds of thousands of surviving military family members has passed the House of Representatives.
The Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act passed the House in a 235-179 vote last week and now heads to the Senate.
Supporters say the bill would expand financial support for more than 7,000 severely disabled veterans and over half a million Gold Star families, while critics have said the funding of the bill will raise costs for some veterans.
Expanded Payments for Veterans and Families
The bill would increase Dependency and Indemnity Compensation benefits by 1.5 percent over two years. Those payments are provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to surviving spouses and family members of service members who died in the line of duty or from service-related conditions.
It would also raise Special Monthly Compensation payments by $10,000 annually for veterans with the most severe injuries and disabilities who require regular aid and attendance or who have traumatic brain injuries.
The legislation is named after Sharri Briley, the widow of Donovan Lee “Bull” Briley, an Army Special Operations Blackhawk helicopter pilot killed during Operation Gothic Serpent in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993, and Army veteran Sergeant Eric Edmundson, who suffered an anoxic brain injury that left him unable to walk or speak.
The measure was introduced in late 2025 by Tom Barrett, an Iraq War veteran and former Army helicopter pilot. Following the vote, Barrett said lawmakers were attempting to honor veterans and military families who had sacrificed for the country.
“Our nation can never fully repay the debt we owe to the heroes and families who have served and sacrificed for our freedom,” Barrett said in a statement after the vote. “But passing my bipartisan legislation today is further proof that we will never stop trying.”
The legislation also incorporates the Home Affordability for Guard and Reserve Act, which would broaden access to VA-backed home loans for National Guard and Reserve members.
Under current rules, Guard and Reserve members generally must complete either six years of service or at least 90 days of nontraining federal active duty to qualify for VA home loans. Those loans typically require no down payment and offer competitive interest rates.
The proposal would significantly lower that threshold, allowing Guard and Reserve members who have completed a combined 14 days of active duty, inactive duty training, or annual training duty to apply for the program.
Supporters of the bill say the changes would make homeownership more accessible for reservists and National Guard members who have served but currently do not meet eligibility standards.
Funding Changes Draw Criticism
To pay for the expanded benefits, the legislation would raise the VA home loan refinance fee from 0.5 percent to 1.42 percent and increases the loan assumption fee from 0.5 percent to 1 percent. It also extends existing funding fee rates for nondisabled veterans and adds modest monthly costs for some borrowers.
The refinance fee only applies to veterans who voluntarily refinance their loans to lower interest rates. Disabled veterans would remain exempt from the additional fees, and changes would not affect their ability to access the VA home loan program.
Some Democrats have said they support increased payments for disabled veterans and Gold Star families, but oppose offsetting the costs by raising refinance fees on other veterans. More than 175 Democrats voted against the bill last week, with 30 voting to pass. Only three Republicans voted against.
Earlier this year, House Committee on Veterans Affairs Ranking Member Mark Takano, a California Democrat, said: “We could not support H.R. 6047 because Republicans chose to fund the bill by taxing American veterans. We must increase benefits for surviving family members and catastrophically injured veterans; this is long overdue. However, we cannot charge other veterans thousands of dollars to pay for these benefits. But veterans should not be charged new mortgage fees to pay for the benefits of other veterans. The nation they served should bear the cost—not them.”
Common Defense, a grass-roots movement of progressive Veterans, said the legislation would make refinancing more expensive for veterans already facing financial pressure, and that such a change could cost the average veteran more than $8,000 over the life of a loan. While the group said it supported expanding benefits for Gold Star families and severely disabled veterans, it opposed financing those increases through higher borrowing costs for other veterans.
“Changing the rules of the VA Home Loan program to make refinancing more expensive for financially strained veterans does real harm to military families,” Naveed Shah, a veteran and political director of Common Defense, said following the bill’s passage.
“Veterans should not be pitted against one another when Congress refuses to fund crucial benefits. Gold Star Families and veterans deserve better from their representatives.”
Support
Despite the criticism, the bill has received backing from a broad coalition of veterans and military family organizations. Supporters include the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Wounded Warrior Project, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Gold Star Spouses of America and the Military Officers Association of America, among others.
Mike Bost, a Republican and chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said: “These American families would never ask for anything, but our nation owes them a debt that can never fully be repaid,” Bost said in a statement after passage. “H.R. 6047 takes a step forward to do that for the first time in over 20 years.”
The bill now heads to the Senate.
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