HR 7199 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 provide a burial allowance for certain veterans who die at home while in receipt of hospice care furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Summary
This bill amends federal veterans benefits law to provide burial allowances for veterans who die at home while receiving hospice care furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The burial allowance applies when the veteran was receiving VA hospice care at the time of death and that hospice care was directly preceded by the VA furnishing hospital care or nursing home care to the veteran. The bill expands existing burial allowance eligibility, which previously covered veterans dying in VA facilities or approved nursing homes. The bill takes effect retroactively as of the enactment of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020.
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. Bergman, Jack [R-MI-1] (R-MI)
13 cosponsors
- Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2] (R-NE)
- Rep. Baird, James R. [R-IN-4] (R-IN)
- Rep. Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL-13] (D-IL)
- Rep. DesJarlais, Scott [R-TN-4] (R-TN)
- Rep. Golden, Jared F. [D-ME-2] (D-ME)
- Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] (D-NJ)
- Rep. Lee, Susie [D-NV-3] (D-NV)
- Rep. Malliotakis, Nicole [R-NY-11] (R-NY)
- Rep. Mast, Brian J. [R-FL-21] (R-FL)
- Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (D-CO)
- Rep. Pettersen, Brittany [D-CO-7] (D-CO)
- Rep. Self, Keith [R-TX-3] (R-TX)
- Rep. Van Drew, Jefferson [R-NJ-2] (R-NJ)
Actions (2)
- Jan 22, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · house
- Jan 22, 2026 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.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 22, 2026
Mr. Bergman (for himself, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Golden of Maine, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. Self, Ms. Lee of Nevada, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Neguse, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Mast, Mr. Baird, and Ms. Pettersen) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide a burial allowance for certain veterans who die at home while in receipt of hospice care furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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 “Gerald’s Law Act”.
SEC. 2. BURIAL ALLOWANCE FOR CERTAIN VETERANS WHO DIE AT HOME WHILE IN RECEIPT OF HOSPICE CARE FURNISHED BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) In General.—Section 2303(a)(2)(A) of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in clause (i), by striking “; or” and inserting a semicolon;
(2) in clause (ii)(III), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new clause:
“(iii) a home or other setting at which the deceased veteran was, at the time of death, receiving hospice care pursuant to section 1717(a) of this title if such care was directly preceded by the Secretary furnishing to the veteran hospital care or nursing home care as described in subclauses (I), (II), or (III) of clause (ii).”.
(b) Effective Date.—The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect as if included in the enactment of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-315). <all>
Comments