HR 3914 — Valor Has No Expiration Act

Summary

Allows military decorations to be awarded to active duty service members for service dating back to January 1, 1940, without regard to time limitations if the relevant records were classified or withheld for national security purposes.
Requires the Secretary of each military department to begin review of decoration requests within 30 days and complete reviews within one year of receiving the request.
Permits Secretaries to use existing military award procedures to conduct reviews of decoration requests.
Clarifies that failure to meet review timeframes does not limit authority to award decorations and that a Secretary's recommendation against an award does not prevent the President from awarding it.
Requires the Secretary to submit reports to Congress and, for Presidential decorations, to the President within 30 days of completing each review.

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)

Rep. Issa, Darrell (R-CA) [#48]

2 cosponsors

Rep. Kiggans, Jennifer A. (R-VA) [#2]
Rep. Obernolte, Jay (R-CA) [#23]

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Darrell Issa’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

Employer not reported $45,911
ARMSCOR PRECISION INTL $18,200
GOOGLE $11,400
FRANKLIN SQUARE GROUP $7,050
1A AUTO $6,850

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Darrell Issa → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)

Jun 11, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services. · house
Jun 11, 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)

Introduced in House · Jun 11, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 11, 2025

Mr. Issa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretaries of the military departments to review certain requests to award decorations that were not timely awarded because relevant records were classified or otherwise restricted, 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 “Valor Has No Expiration Act”.

SEC. 2. REVIEW OF REQUESTS FOR DECORATIONS NOT TIMELY AWARDED TO MEMBERS OF CERTAIN ARMED FORCES SERVING ON ACTIVE DUTY BECAUSE RELEVANT RECORDS WERE CLASSIFIED OR OTHERWISE RESTRICTED.

Chapter 57 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1130 the following new section: “Sec. 1130a. Consideration of proposals for certain decorations not previously submitted in timely fashion because relevant records were classified or otherwise restricted

“(a) Waiver of Time Limitations.—Notwithstanding section 1130 of this title, a decoration (including any device in lieu of a decoration), authorized by law or under the regulations of the Department of Defense or the military department concerned, may be awarded, without regard to any time limitation imposed by law or regulation for a recommendation for such award—

“(1) to any person for service—

“(A) while on active duty in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Space Force;

“(B) during the period beginning on January 1, 1940; and

“(C) the records of which were classified, withheld from the public record due to sensitivity, or redacted for national security purposes; and

“(2) based on a request for consideration of such award received by the Secretary of a military department.

“(b) Review of Requests.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary of a military department—

“(1) shall—

“(A) begin a review of a request under subsection

(a)(2) not later than 30 days after the Secretary receives such request; and

“(B) complete such a review not later than one year after the date of such receipt; and

“(2) may use the process under subsections (b) and (c) of section 1130 of this title to carry out such a review.

“(c) Rules of Construction.—(1) The failure of the Secretary of a military department to complete the review of a request under subsection (a)(2) within the time limitations under subsection (b) shall not be construed to limit the authority to award a decoration under this section.

“(2) In the case of a decoration the President may award, the recommendation of the Secretary of the military department concerned to not award such decoration shall not be construed to prohibit the President from awarding such decoration.

“(d) Reports.—(1)(A) Not later than 30 days after completing the review of a request under subsection (b), the Secretary of a military department shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a report regarding such review.

“(B) In the case of a review of a request for a decoration the President may award, the Secretary of the military department concerned shall, subject to subparagraph (C), also submit such report to the President.

“(C) In the case of a review of a request for a Medal of Honor, the Secretary of Defense shall submit the report under this paragraph.

“(2) Such a report shall include, with respect to the request reviewed, the following elements:

“(A) A summary of the request.

“(B) The findings of the review.

“(C) The final action or recommendation of the submitting Secretary regarding such request.

“(D) Any recommendation of the submitting Secretary to improve award procedures with respect to military intelligence personnel.”. <all>

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