The location of our Washington, D.C. office allows us to monitor all legislation affecting veterans, alert VFW membership to key legislation under consideration, and actively lobby Congress and the administration on veterans' issues. National Legislative Service establishes the VFW's legislative priorities and advocates on veterans' behalf. By testifying at congressional committee hearings and interacting with congressional members, the VFW has played an instrumental role in nearly every piece of veterans' legislation passed since the beginning of the 20th century. We do everything on Capitol Hill with the VFW’s Priority Goals and veterans' well-being in mind. With the strength of the more than 1.4 million VFW members and its Auxiliary members, our voice on Capitol Hill cannot be ignored!
Among the VFW's most recent and important legislative victories were expanding college education benefits for military service members with the signing of the Forever GI Bill and ensuring America's service members and veterans receive the care they deserve—whenever and wherever they need it—by passing the VA MISSION Act.
Click here for VFW's 2024 Priority Goals:
-
Budget:
-
To fully fund programs for veterans, service members, and their families, Congress must:
- Reform the dysfunctional federal budget process.
- Authorize the VA to receive reimbursements from TRICARE and Medicare.
- Never reduce one veteran’s benefits to pay for another.
-
Education, Employment, and Transition Assistance
-
To ensure veterans succeed after leaving military service, Congress, VA, DOD, and DOL must:
- Improve education benefits through increased online student housing allowances, child care stipends, parity for Guard and Reserve members, and eliminating delimiting dates.
- Enhance outreach and counseling to veterans eligible for the Veteran Readiness and Employment program.
- Ensure parity of VA and DOD education programs with other federal programs.
- Expand small businesses, hiring preferences, tax incentives, and entrepreneurship resources for veterans and military spouses.
- Increase funding for HUD-VASH vouchers, grant and per diem payments, and pilot programs to combat veteran homelessness.
- Conduct oversight of the VA's Transition Assistance Program to ensure compliance with the law and require the inclusion of accredited claims representatives.
- Eliminate red tape preventing effective use of education and employment benefits.
- Provide housing relief for surviving spouses.
-
Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
-
To ensure veterans and their survivors have timely access to earned benefits, Congress and VA must:
- Crackdown on unaccredited claims consultants known as Claim Sharks.
- Study all toxic and environmental exposures and implement programs to provide health care and benefits to all exposed service members and veterans.
- Properly oversee and update the modernized appeals process and digital claims processing.
- Increase Dependency and Indemnity Compensation benefits for survivors.
- Improve the accuracy of disability compensation claims related to military sexual trauma.
- Increase burial allowances to account for inflation.
- Ensure that earned VA benefits are never offset by other federal benefits.
-
Health Care
-
To ensure service members and veterans receive timely access to high-quality health care without increasing cost shares, Congress, VA, and DOD must:
- Eliminate service member and veteran suicide by addressing both clinical and non-clinical needs.
- Strengthen care and research for mental health and traumatic brain injuries.
- Improve oversight of Vet Centers to ensure adequate staffing, resources, and funding.
- Enhance programs and services for women and underserved veterans.
- Eliminate copayment requirements for preventive health care and medications.
- Research the efficacy of medical cannabis and other alternative therapies.
- Preserve the integrity of TRICARE.
- Properly implement VA and DOD health IT systems.
- Expand nursing home eligibility and long-term care options.
- Enhance services for veterans outside of the United States.
-
Military Quality of Life
-
To maintain a quality, comprehensive benefits and retirement package that is the backbone for preserving the all-volunteer force, Congress and DOD must:
- End the military retirement pay and VA disability compensation offset.
- Protect and improve on-base quality of life and support programs.
- Eliminate sexual assault and harassment from the military.
- Increase military base pay comparability with private sector wages.
- Ensure that military housing is safe and free of toxic substances.
- Eliminate food insecurity in the military.
- Ensure equity of benefits for Reserve Component service members.
-
National Security, Foreign Affairs, and POW/MIA
-
To fully support the all-volunteer force, protect our nation’s citizens, and defend American interests around the world, Congress and DOD must:
- Ensure DPAA is fully funded to perform its personnel recovery mission.
- Expand partnerships with host nations and private/public organizations to achieve the fullest possible accounting of U.S. military personnel missing from all wars.
- Deter threats to our national security by supporting our allies in Ukraine, Israel, Korea, and Taiwan.
- Ensure all service members who served in harm’s way, including foreign nationals, receive the recognition, care, and benefits they have earned.
- Provide recognition and support for Afghan and Iraqi translators and allies.
- Award the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for operations in Eastern Europe.
