Hudson Introduces Veterans Package with Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-09), Fort Bragg's Congressman, announced the introduction of H.R. 9237, The Take Care of America's Veterans Act, a comprehensive veterans' package which includes more than 60 bipartisan bills to modernize, enhance, and reform the delivery of health care and benefits services at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the entire veteran community. Rep. Hudson is proud to support this legislation with House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-IL) and 18 additional original cosponsors.

The Take Care of America's Veterans Act includes H.R. 1004, Love Lives On Act, legislation championed by Rep. Hudson to protect survivor benefits for spouses of fallen servicemembers.

The Love Lives On Act allows surviving spouses of fallen servicemembers to remarry at any age without losing earned survivor benefits, including Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). It also restores access to TRICARE health coverage if a subsequent marriage ends due to death, divorce, or annulment. The bipartisan legislation is supported by more than 50 Veteran Service Organizations and would protect benefits for nearly 30,000 surviving spouses nationwide.

In addition to Love Lives On Act, the bill includes a number of key reforms:

• Veterans' ACCESS Act: Ensures veterans can access the health care they have earned, inside or outside VA, and without wait times.
• Major Richard Star Act: Ends the wounded veteran tax by permitting eligible combat-injured veterans to concurrently receive their full military retirement pay alongside their VA disability compensation benefits.
• Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act: Increases monthly VA benefits for severely disabled veterans and their families as well as veterans' survivors and Gold Star families.
• GI Bill Benefits Expansion: Increases the monthly housing allowance for student veterans going to school online or apprenticeships training, expands access to in-demand tech career opportunities, and reimburses servicemembers for paid-into GI Bill benefits.
• TAP Expansion and TAP Promotion Act: Expands access to TAP services for transitioning servicemembers across the ranks.
• VA Disability Benefits & Appeals Modernization: Implements needed reforms to ensure veterans have all the answers when it comes to their VA appeal for disability benefits, adds better tracking for claims filing, continues to study toxic exposure-related illnesses, and prohibits VA from denying claims solely because of a missed medical exam.

Read the bill text here.

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