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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 would amend the Beneficiary Travel program of the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase the mileage reimbursement rate for veterans traveling for health-related reasons. Rather than keeping a fixed rate, the bill would tie the VA's mileage rate to the General Services Administration's rate for federal employee travel, ensuring veterans receive at least the same reimbursement rate as federal employees. The bill would also require the VA to process and pay mileage reimbursement requests within 90 days of receiving a properly submitted claim. These changes would make the VA's reimbursement rate automatically adjust when federal employee mileage rates change, eliminating the need for separate legislative action for future rate increases.
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)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
18 cosponsors
- Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD] (D-MD)
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI)
- Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV] (D-NV)
- Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA] (D-PA)
- Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ] (D-AZ)
- Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] (D-HI)
- Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME] (I-ME)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD] (R-SD)
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Slotkin, Elissa [D-MI] (D-MI)
- Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Warnock, Raphael G. [D-GA] (D-GA)
- Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI)
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] (D-OR)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Peter Welch’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $8,600
- THE OLD MOUNTAIN COMPANY, INC. $3,300
- WEST FRONT STRATEGIES $2,500
- UCAR $2,300
- MINILEC SERVICE $2,000
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Peter Welch → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- May 21, 2025 Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-86. · senate
- Feb 13, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · senate
- Feb 13, 2025 Introduced in Senate
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 13, 2025
Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Padilla, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Hirono, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Smith, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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>
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