Bill raises pay for vets and opens home loans to Guard members
H.R. 6047 — Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2026 · Filed by Tom Barrett (R-MI) · 14 cosponsors · Introduced Nov 17, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill raises monthly pay for vets with injuries or illness. Starting December 2026, some hurt vets get extra monthly pay. Pay for spouses and kids of dead vets will grow each year. The bill lets Guard and Reserve members get VA home loans. It also extends a fee waiver through 2036.
Who it affects
Vets with injuries get more monthly pay. Spouses and kids of dead vets get higher pay that grows each year. Guard and Reserve members can now get VA home loans.
One thing to notice
Pay for spouses and kids will grow with Social Security for only two times. After that, Congress must pass a new law to keep it going. The bill lets people with 14 days of service get home loans.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
14 cosponsors: 14 Republicans.
- Nov 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 17, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
- Dec 3, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee Hearings Held”
- Feb 12, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Feb 12, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 13 - 10”
- May 21, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 235 - 179 (Roll no. 191).”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
7 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 10 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $1,444,667 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 13 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 86% of bills with any report.
Tom Barrett, who sponsored the bill, received $1,206,004 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Military Officers Association of America — $854,387 in 1 report
- Votevets Action Fund, Inc. — $280,280 in 2 reports
- Broker Action Coalition — $160,000 in 2 reports
- Rocket Lp — $50,000 in 1 report
- Gold Star Wives of America, Inc. — $40,000 in 2 reports
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- vets — People who served in the armed forces
- pay — Monthly money the government gives to vets or their families
- Guard and Reserve — Military groups that train part-time and can be called to active duty
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (7,748 characters) on Jul 11, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,928 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-03.
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