HR 1288 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
To amend title 38, United States Code, to increase the mileage rate offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs through their Beneficiary Travel program for health related travel, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Veterans' benefits law to increase the mileage reimbursement rate for the Department of Veterans Affairs Beneficiary Travel program, which reimburses veterans for travel to VA medical appointments. The bill requires the VA's mileage rate to equal or exceed the General Services Administration's mileage reimbursement rate for federal employees using personal vehicles for official business. The bill also requires the VA to process mileage reimbursement requests within 90 days of submission, rather than allowing indefinite processing times. Currently, the VA reimburses at a fixed rate of 41.5 cents per mile; this bill makes the rate flexible and ties it to the federal employee mileage rate.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
51 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Balint, Becca [D-VT-At Large] (D-VT)
- Rep. Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL-13] (D-IL)
- Rep. Bynum, Janelle S. [D-OR-5] (D-OR)
- Rep. Castor, Kathy [D-FL-14] (D-FL)
- Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila [D-FL-20] (D-FL)
- Rep. Cisneros, Gilbert Ray [D-CA-31] (D-CA)
- Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9] (D-TN)
- Rep. Craig, Angie [D-MN-2] (D-MN)
- Rep. Crenshaw, Dan [R-TX-2] (R-TX)
- Rep. Davis, Danny K. [D-IL-7] (D-IL)
- Rep. DeLauro, Rosa L. [D-CT-3] (D-CT)
- Rep. García, Jesús G. "Chuy" [D-IL-4] (D-IL)
- Rep. Garcia, Sylvia R. [D-TX-29] (D-TX)
- Rep. Golden, Jared F. [D-ME-2] (D-ME)
- Rep. Gonzalez, Vicente [D-TX-34] (D-TX)
- Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] (D-NJ)
- Rep. Hageman, Harriet M. [R-WY-At Large] (R-WY)
- Rep. Hayes, Jahana [D-CT-5] (D-CT)
- Rep. Horsford, Steven [D-NV-4] (D-NV)
- Rep. Houlahan, Chrissy [D-PA-6] (D-PA)
- Rep. Hoyle, Val T. [D-OR-4] (D-OR)
- Rep. Jackson, Jonathan L. [D-IL-1] (D-IL)
- Rep. Jacobs, Sara [D-CA-51] (D-CA)
- Rep. Kennedy, Timothy M. [D-NY-26] (D-NY)
- Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17] (D-CA)
- Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY)
- Rep. Levin, Mike [D-CA-49] (D-CA)
- Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] (D-CA)
- Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-18] (D-CA)
- Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10] (D-NJ)
- Rep. Min, Dave [D-CA-47] (D-CA)
- Rep. Moore, Gwen [D-WI-4] (D-WI)
- Rep. Morrison, Kelly [D-MN-3] (D-MN)
- Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO)
- Rep. Obernolte, Jay [R-CA-23] (R-CA)
- Rep. Pettersen, Brittany [D-CO-7] (D-CO)
- Rep. Pfluger, August [R-TX-11] (R-TX)
- Rep. Ramirez, Delia C. [D-IL-3] (D-IL)
- Rep. Salinas, Andrea [D-OR-6] (D-OR)
- Rep. Sherman, Brad [D-CA-32] (D-CA)
- Rep. Sorensen, Eric [D-IL-17] (D-IL)
- Rep. Strickland, Marilyn [D-WA-10] (D-WA)
- Rep. Subramanyam, Suhas [D-VA-10] (D-VA)
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] (D-MI)
- Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA-4] (D-CA)
- Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1] (D-NV)
- Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-12] (D-MI)
- Rep. Van Drew, Jefferson [R-NJ-2] (R-NJ)
- Rep. Vargas, Juan [D-CA-52] (D-CA)
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Julia Brownley’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $9,600
- HAAS AUTOMATION $9,100
- SPARAGNA & SPARAGNA $6,600
- HACKMAN CAPITAL $6,600
- UNITED STAFFING ASSOCIATES $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Julia Brownley → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Apr 11, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. · house
- Feb 13, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · house
- Feb 13, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 13, 2025
Ms. Brownley (for herself, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Budzinski, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Hoyle of Oregon, Ms. Norton, Mr. Obernolte, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Lieu, and Ms. Titus) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to increase the mileage rate offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs through their Beneficiary Travel program for health related travel, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Driver Reimbursement Increase for Veteran Equity Act of 2025” or the “DRIVE Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. PAYMENTS OR ALLOWANCES BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR BENEFICIARY TRAVEL.
(a) Minimum Payment Amount.—Subsection (g) of section 111 of title 38, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
“(g) The Secretary shall ensure that the mileage rate described in subsection (a) is equal to or greater than the mileage reimbursement rate for the use of privately owned vehicles by Government employees on official business (when no Government vehicle is available), as prescribed by the Administrator of General Services under section 5707(b) of title 5.”.
(b) Timely Processing of Allowances.—Subsection (b) of such section is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(5) If, with respect to any fiscal year, the Secretary exercises the authority under this section to make any payments, the Secretary shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that an allowance based on mileage paid under subsection (a) is paid not later than 90 days after the date on which a request for such allowance is properly submitted to the Secretary in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary.”.
(c) Conforming Amendments.—Such section is further amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking “(at a rate of 41.5 cents per mile)” and inserting “(at a rate determined in accordance with subsection (g))”; and
(2) in subsection (b)(1), by striking “and notwithstanding subsection (g)(2) of this section”. <all>
Comments