The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs passed the Love Lives On Act, clearing the way for the bill to go to the full Senate floor for a vote. If signed into law, the Love Lives On Act would make a major change to military education benefits and related options by eliminating a “remarriage penalty” affecting… Read more »
The United States Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a veteran who sued the Department of Veterans Affairs over his GI Bill benefits. James Rusdill is a veteran who joined the Army as an enlisted soldier, served three different times, and signed up for both the Montgomery GI Bill as an enlisted member and… Read more »
3M has agreed to settle a major lawsuit brought by a quarter of a million veterans who claim they received faulty hearing protection gear for use in combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 3M Lawsuit Settlement: $6 Billion Over Allegedly Defective Hearing Protection CBS News reports approximately a quarter million veterans are set to… Read more »
The Veterans Affairs Schedule for Rating Disabilities, or VASRD, is the VA reference for assigning disability ratings for service-connected medical conditions. It was updated in 2024. Those updates include modified ratings and criteria for some 55 medical conditions, including changes to how the VA rates certain digestive conditions. VA Secretary for Benefits Josh Jacobs, quoted… Read more »
The House and Senate passed the federal budget over the weekend of March 23, 2024. This passage was not easy. Congress narrowly avoided a partial government shutdown earlier in the month under a continuing resolution that partially funded the government until the March 22 deadline. On the 22nd, it avoided that scenario only by an… Read more »
Will the federal government shut down at midnight when the March 22, 2024 deadline arrives? Could military members be forced to work during such a shutdown without pay? At press time, and certainly subject to change, conditions seem ripe for a partial government shutdown unless the House and Senate can agree to pass six legislative… Read more »
On Mon, Mar 11, 2024, the White House released its 2025 federal budget request, which includes a 4.5% proposed pay raise for the military. Learn more.
The VA is part of a public/private partnership to help military spouses find and keep jobs even when a PCS or other relocation is required. The agency announced its participation on March 7, 2024, as a step forward in the effort to support military spouse employment. Learn more.
The House of Representatives approved funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal agencies through the end of the fiscal year. The funding also applies to long-delayed military construction projects. The official site for the House Appropriations Committee Chair Kaye Granger notes the passage of House Resolution 4366, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024,… Read more »
Update: On March 6, 2024, the House passed a multiple-agency spending package fully funding the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects until the end of the fiscal year. The measure moved to the Senate where it passed and moved to the President’s desk for signature on March 9, 2024. What follows is preserved… Read more »