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Service-Connected Suicide Compensation Act
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to automatically pay dependency and indemnity compensation to a survivor of a veteran with a service-connected mental disorder who dies by suicide.
Summary
This bill amends veterans benefits law to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to automatically pay dependency and indemnity compensation to the surviving spouse, children, and parents of a veteran who had a service-connected mental disorder and dies by suicide. Dependency and indemnity compensation is a monthly benefit paid to survivors of veterans whose death is determined to be service-connected. Under current law, survivors must apply for and establish eligibility for this benefit; this bill would make the payment automatic for deaths by suicide when the veteran has a documented service-connected mental disorder.
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)
11 cosponsors
- Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9] (D-TN)
- Rep. Conaway, Herbert [D-NJ-3] (D-NJ)
- Rep. Deluzio, Christopher R. [D-PA-17] (D-PA)
- Rep. Gillen, Laura [D-NY-4] (D-NY)
- Rep. Hayes, Jahana [D-CT-5] (D-CT)
- Rep. Kiggans, Jennifer A. [R-VA-2] (R-VA)
- Rep. Quigley, Mike [D-IL-5] (D-IL)
- Rep. Ryan, Patrick [D-NY-18] (D-NY)
- Rep. Sorensen, Eric [D-IL-17] (D-IL)
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA)
- Rep. Wittman, Robert J. [R-VA-1] (R-VA)
Actions (3)
- Apr 4, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. · house
- Mar 21, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · house
- Mar 21, 2025 Introduced in House
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
March 21, 2025
Mr. Lawler (for himself and Mr. Conaway) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to automatically pay dependency and indemnity compensation to a survivor of a veteran with a service-connected mental disorder who dies by suicide.
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 “Service-Connected Suicide Compensation Act”.
SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SURVIVORS OF A VETERAN WITH A SERVICE-CONNECTED MENTAL DISORDER WHO DIES BY SUICIDE.
Section 1310(a) of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by inserting “(1)” before “When”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(2) The Secretary shall pay dependency and indemnity compensation to the surviving spouse, children, and parents of a veteran who the Secretary determines—
“(A) has a mental disorder that is a service-connected disability; and
“(B) dies by suicide.”. <all>
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