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Markup on Pending Legislation

House Veterans Affairs Committee, Economic Opportunity Subcommittee

February 24, 2026 (recording here)

BILLS CONSIDERED IN MARKUP

• H.R. 5634, Veterans Flight Training Responsibility Act of 2025

• H.R. 7049, Improving Mental Health Care and Coordination for Homeless Veterans Act

• H.R. 7083, CRUISE Act

• H.R. 7103, Improving Emerging Tech Opportunities for Veterans Act

• H.R. 7141, Affordable Housing Guarantee Act

• H.R. 1803, Fair Access to Co-ops for Veterans Act of 2025

• H.R. 1957, End Veteran Homelessness Act of 2025

• H.R. 1965, Veteran Education Assistance Adjustment Act

• H.R. 3159, Improving SCRA Benefit Utilization Act

• H.R. 5436, To amend title 38, United States Code, to prohibit an educational institution from withholding a transcript from an individual who pursued a course or program of education at such institution using Post-9/11 educational assistance

• H.R. 7150, To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a quarterly report on housing loans insured, guaranteed, or under laws administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes

• H.R 982, Warriors to Workforce Act

OTHER MARKUP INFORMATION

At the conclusion of the session, the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee favorably reported twelve bills to the full House Veterans Affairs Committee.

OPENING STATEMENTS FROM THE SUBCOMMITTEE

• Chairman Derrick Van Orden stated that the Subcommittee was marking up 12 bills, many of which he supported because they would modernize the GI Bill, improve affordability for disabled veterans, and strengthen the VA Home Loan Program. He explained that while the bills had merit, none included required offsets, and official Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores were still pending. He highlighted provisions to increase housing allowances for apprenticeship programs, streamline payments for adaptive automobile equipment, expand emerging technologies under the VET TEC program, and improve oversight of HUD-VASH and other veterans’ programs. The Chairman also underscored the importance of bipartisanship, expressed concerns about late amendments and past delays from the VA, and committed to working with the Ranking Member to refine the legislation and identify offsets.

• Ranking Member Chris Pappas stressed that efficiency should not come at the expense of thorough debate and thoughtful improvements to the bills under consideration. He believed that the Subcommittee should use the markup process to incorporate feedback received from veterans service organizations (VSOs) and the VA rather than deferring fixes to the full Committee. He cautioned against rushing legislation that still required technical assistance or bipartisan agreement and indicated that he intended to offer amendments to strengthen the bills. The Ranking Member affirmed his commitment to bipartisan collaboration and noted that having an equal number of Democratic and Republican bills on the agenda reflected positive progress toward balance in the subcommittee’s work.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ON THE EN BLOC

• Chairman Van Orden asked for unanimous consent to consider several bills en bloc that did not have amendments. These included:

  • H.R. 7049, the Improving Mental Health Care and Coordination for Homeless Veterans Act

  • H.R. 3159, the Improving SCRA Benefit Utilization Act

  • H.R. 5436, A bill prohibiting educational institutions from withholding transcripts from students who used Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits

  • H.R. 7150, A bill requiring quarterly reporting to Congress on VA home loans

  • H.R. 1957, the End Veteran Homelessness Act of 2025

  • H.R. 1965, the Veteran Education Assistance Adjustment Act

• The Chairman then spoke briefly on the various proposals, explaining efforts to require VA employees to conduct homeless assessments and upload them into the electronic health record (EHR) to ensure no veteran falls through the cracks. He stated that another bill would increase the stipend for books and supplies from $1,000 to $1,400, with annual adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index. He said that another provision would increase reporting requirements related to HUD-VASH vouchers. Chairman Van Orden also noted that the bills included improvements to Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) benefit utilization and financial literacy protections, prohibited transcript withholding for veterans with school debt, and increased reporting requirements on VA-guaranteed and insured home loans.

• Ranking Member Pappas supported the en bloc package and spotlighted several bipartisan, noncontroversial bills, including measures to improve SCRA benefit utilization, prohibit transcript withholding for GI Bill users, increase transparency in the VA home loan program, and raise the GI Bill books and supplies stipend to match inflation. He underlined the importance of addressing veteran homelessness and described an agreement with the Chairman to move forward with both H.R. 7049 and H.R. 1957, with further action planned at the full Committee level.

• The en bloc bills were then favorably forwarded to the full Committee by voice vote.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ON H.R. 5634

• Chairman Van Orden called up the Veterans Flight Training Responsibility Act of 2025 (H.R. 5634) and offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute (ANS), which was adopted as base text. He explained that the ANS would allow student veterans to use up to $119,684 in entitlement for flight training tuition and fees, prevent schools from overcharging veterans, allow year-round participation in flight training, and shift from a hard cap structure to a system based on months of entitlement with unused benefits credited back to veterans.

• Ranking Member Pappas appreciated aligning the bill’s language with what the House had passed in the previous Congress and expressed support for the amendment.

• The ANS was agreed to, and H.R. 5634, as amended, was favorably forwarded to the full Committee.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ON H.R. 7083

• Chairman Van Orden then brought up the CRUISE Act (H.R. 7083).

• Ranking Member Pappas acknowledged that vendors needed to be paid on time and that delayed payments had harmed small businesses serving veterans. However, he cautioned against rushing H.R. 7083 before receiving written technical assistance from the VA, mentioning that the Department had identified unresolved implementation concerns, including staffing capacity, definitional issues regarding the 30-day payment window, and uncertainty about the benefit program addressed. He warned that Congress had one opportunity to get the policy right and that poorly drafted legislation could delay meaningful reform for years. The Ranking Member indicated that he would offer an amendment to address known issues while continuing bipartisan work on the bill.

  • Rep. Tom Barrett defended his bill, explaining that it would require the VA to centralize payments for the adaptive automobile equipment program in order to address chronic payment delays. He stated that vendors had experienced payment delays ranging from 90 to 180 days or longer, which risked reducing the number of available providers. He argued that the VA had failed to fix the issue on its own and that Congress needed to establish clear accountability standards. He maintained that his bill would create a centralized system with clear timelines and improve payment consistency.

• Ranking Member Pappas offered an amendment to modify the bill by requiring specialized claims processing at up to five VBA regional offices instead of the VA’s central office. He said that the amendment defined the 30-day payment window as beginning upon delivery or acceptance of the vehicle modification and required semiannual public reporting to identify processing bottlenecks. He argued that the amendment addressed known structural and definitional issues while preventing the creation of duplicative administrative structures.

  • Chairman Van Orden opposed the amendment, claiming that it had not been submitted on time and expressing concern about procedural standards. He believed that further changes could be made at the full Committee level once VA technical assistance was received and urged members to vote against the amendment.

• The amendment was rejected by voice vote. H.R. 7083 was then favorably forwarded to the full Committee.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ON H.R. 7103

• The Chairman called up the Improving Emerging Tech Opportunities for Veterans Act (H.R. 7103), and Rep. Abe Hamadeh offered an ANS.

  • Rep. Hamadeh explained that his ANS would expand the VET TEC program and Transition Assistance Program to include emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and semiconductor manufacturing. He believed that veterans should be filling high-demand roles that are emerging with the country’s major investments in advanced manufacturing and technology sectors, rather than relying on foreign labor. He underscored that veterans possessed advanced technical skills from military service but often lacked clear pathways into civilian technology careers. The ANS would require the VA to collaborate with private employers and educational institutions to identify future workforce needs and promote these opportunities through VA platforms and transition programs.

  • Ranking Member Pappas expressed concerns, stating that stakeholder feedback from the January legislative hearing indicated the bill required improvements and argued that the VA lacked the expertise to identify emerging industries and forecast employment outlooks. He also raised concerns about embedding unproven programs into TAP prematurely and indicated that he would offer amendments to strengthen the legislation.

• The Ranking Member offered an amendment to the ANS to incorporate language from a separate bill requiring the VA to implement a Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendation establishing a standardized employment rate calculation for the VET TEC program. He explained that the amendment would prevent bad actors from inflating employment success numbers and would align the VA’s data collection methods with industry best practices. He argued that VA had already indicated it would implement such data analysis and that the amendment would simply codify that commitment.

  • Chairman Van Orden opposed the amendment, claiming that it would impose additional reporting requirements while the updated VET TEC program was still being implemented. He argued that Congress should allow the program to proceed before adding new mandates and cautioned against continually adding reporting requirements that could delay implementation.

  • The amendment was rejected by voice vote.

• Ranking Member Pappas then offered another amendment to the ANS. He explained that the amendment would transfer responsibility for identifying emerging high-growth industries from the VA to the Department of Labor, remove the requirement to embed the new program directly into TAP, expand the stakeholder list to include labor unions, VSOs, and consumer protection groups, and remove references to specific industries from statutory text. He said that the VA lacked labor market forecasting expertise, that TAP time was already constrained, and that Congress should not codify specific industries into law.

  • The Chairman also opposed this amendment, stating that it would undermine the Committee’s collaborative reauthorization efforts with the VA and expressing concern that members had insufficient time to fully review the proposed changes.

  • The amendment was rejected by voice vote.

• The ANS was agreed to by voice vote. H.R. 7103, as amended, was then favorably forwarded to the full Committee.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ON H.R. 7141

• Chairman Van Orden then discussed the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act (H.R. 7141). He explained that the bill would increase the VA home loan guarantee for disabled veterans from 25 percent to 50 percent, arguing that it would improve housing affordability and provide parity with the Federal Housing Administration’s 100 percent guarantee structure.

  • Ranking Member Pappas responded by expressing concern that the bill, as written, would amount to a $2 billion benefit to the mortgage industry without requiring lenders to pass savings on to veterans. He argued that there was no shortage of lenders currently participating in the VA home loan program and questioned what policy benefit would result from doubling the guarantee, absent safeguards. He warned that the bill would socialize mortgage risk without ensuring expanded access or better terms for veterans.

• Ranking Member Pappas offered an amendment to limit the increased guarantee to loans made to specific categories of disabled veterans. He explained that the amendment would apply the enhanced guarantee only to disabled veterans with credit scores below 620, those with high debt-to-income ratios, and those without a credit score, such as veterans transitioning out of incarceration or homelessness. He believed that this approach would expand access to homeownership for underserved veterans rather than broadly subsidizing lenders.

  • The Chairman spoke in opposition to the amendment, noting that it had been received late and would limit the increased home loan guarantee only to certain categories of disabled veterans. He reiterated his commitment to strengthening the VA Home Loan Guarantee Program while ensuring the bill was crafted correctly. He said that homeownership was part of the American dream and expressed a willingness to work with the minority to refine the legislation.

• The amendment was rejected by voice vote. H.R. 7141 was then favorably forwarded to the full Committee.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ON H.R. 1803

• The Chairman called up the Fair Access to Co-ops for Veterans Act of 2025 (H.R. 1803) and explained that the bill would allow VA Home Loans to be used for housing cooperatives, expanding access to homeownership opportunities for veterans.

• Ranking Member Pappas offered an ANS, describing it as largely technical and clarifying in nature. He said it would provide clearer guidance on handling loan defaults in co-op arrangements and ensure that veterans in co-ops would receive similar borrower protections as other VA loan users if a co-op became insolvent. He requested that the majority extend the same flexibility to this amendment as had been afforded to other bills moving forward.

  • Chairman Van Orden opposed the ANS, again pointing out that it had been submitted late and represented a complete substitute of the bill text, which had not been adequately reviewed by members. He emphasized the need to ensure consistency across different state co-op structures and argued that the legislation was not yet ready for such changes.

• The amendment was rejected by voice vote. H.R. 1803 was then favorably forwarded to the full Committee.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS ON H.R. 982

• Chairman Van Orden brought up the Warriors to Workforce Act (H.R. 982) and explained that it would increase the percentage of educational assistance paid during months six through twelve of an apprenticeship or on-the-job training program from 80 percent to 90 percent. He underscored the need to strengthen the skilled trades workforce and argued that increasing the housing allowance would incentivize participation in apprenticeship programs.

• Ranking Member Pappas supported the underlying bill but believed it did not go far enough. He argued that the step-down structure of GI Bill housing allowances disincentivized apprenticeships and contributed to high dropout rates, particularly after month 12. He offered an amendment to increase housing allowance percentages for months 13 through 24, addressing concerns raised by Paralyzed Veterans of America about benefit cliffs and retention challenges.

  • The Chairman opposed the amendment, claiming that there was insufficient data to justify the expanded increases and raising concerns about how the proposal would be paid for. He spoke on the importance of fiscal responsibility and evidence-based policymaking.

• The amendment was rejected by voice vote. H.R. 982 was then favorably forwarded to the full Committee.

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