Congress extends burial benefits for veterans dying at home in VA hospice care
S. 3898 — Gerald’s Law Reauthorization Act of 2026 · Filed by John Boozman (R-AR) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Feb 24, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill extends burial benefits for veterans who die at home while receiving hospice care from the VA. It amends existing law to push back the expiration date of this benefit from 2026 to 2030, keeping the program alive for four additional years.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to extend an existing burial-assistance program for veterans by four years. It is a routine reauthorization with no hidden mechanisms or riders.
Who it affects
Veterans and their families retain access to burial benefits that would otherwise expire, reducing out-of-pocket funeral costs for a vulnerable population. The extension is a straightforward continuation of an existing public benefit with no offsetting cost to citizens.
Named in the bill
Department of Veterans Affairs, Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, Section 301(c)(2)
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Feb 24, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 24, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $630,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 9 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
John Boozman, the sponsor, reported $280,200 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Alliance for Care at Home (formerly Natl Assn for Home Care & Hospice) — $610,000 on 1 filing
- The National Alliance for Care at Home — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (388 characters) on Aug 13, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 Jun 2026 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 2026-10-20.
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