To amend title 38, United States Code, to promote assistance from persons recognized by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for individuals who file certain claims under laws administered by the Secretary.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Veterans Claims Education Act of 2025 amends title 38 claim-assistance rules. When VA receives an initial claim from a claimant who is not represented by an accredited person, the Secretary must notify the claimant that an accredited person may be able to represent them, that a veterans service organization recognized under section 5902 may represent them at no charge, where to find VA's online accredited-representative search tool, and where to report a non-accredited representative or a fee charged by such a person. VA must maintain an easily accessible online tool listing accredited persons who represent claimants and keep the list current at least quarterly. VA must also include warnings in benefit-claim portals used for benefits administered by the Under Secretary for Benefits or Under Secretary for Health about fees agents or attorneys may charge for assistance in filing claims, with links to the accredited-person tool and reporting website. Within 180 days, VA must review regulations, processes, and procedures for recognizing representatives under section 5904, develop legislative or administrative recommendations, and report findings and recommendations to House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees. The bill also extends the section 5503(d)(7) veterans pension payment-limit date from November 30, 2031, to March 31, 2032.
Who Benefits and How
Unrepresented veterans filing claims, survivors filing VA claims, veterans service organizations, accredited attorneys, accredited agents, accredited representatives, claimants using VA benefit portals, veterans harmed by unaccredited fee-charging representatives, House Veterans Affairs Committee staff, and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee staff benefit from clearer notices, a searchable representative list, fee warnings, reporting links, and a review of recognition rules.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Benefits Administration staff, Veterans Health Administration portal owners, VA accreditation staff, VA web-tool teams, claims intake staff, portal-design teams, VA legal staff, and VA pension administrators must provide claimant notices, maintain the search tool quarterly, add warnings and links to portals, process reports of improper representation or fees, complete the recognition review, and apply the pension-date change.
Key Provisions
- Requires VA notices to unrepresented claimants about accredited representatives and no-cost veterans service organization help.
- Requires VA to provide links to an accredited-person search tool and a public reporting website for non-accredited representation or fees.
- Requires an accessible online accredited-person tool updated at least quarterly.
- Requires fee-warning language and links in VA benefit-claim portals.
- Requires a 180-day review of VA representative-recognition regulations, processes, and procedures with recommendations to veterans committees.
- Extends the title 38 section 5503(d)(7) pension payment-limit date to March 31, 2032.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires VA to notify unrepresented claimants about accredited representatives and free veterans service organization help, maintain an accessible quarterly updated online search tool for accredited persons, add fee-warning and reporting links to VA claim portals, review VA recognition rules within 180 days, report recommendations to veterans committees, and extend a veterans pension payment-limit date to March 31, 2032.
Key Policy Areas
Veterans Affairs, Consumer Protection, Legal Services
Primary Purpose
Requires VA to notify unrepresented claimants about accredited representatives and free veterans service organization help, maintain an accessible quarterly updated online search tool for accredited persons, add fee-warning and reporting links to VA claim portals, review VA recognition rules within 180 days, report recommendations to veterans committees, and extend a veterans pension payment-limit date to March 31, 2032.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Unrepresented veterans filing claims
- Survivors filing VA claims
- Veterans service organizations
- Accredited attorneys
- Accredited agents
- Claimants using VA benefit portals
- Veterans Affairs Committee staff
Identified Costs
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Veterans Benefits Administration staff
- Veterans Health Administration portal owners
- VA accreditation staff
- VA web-tool teams
- Claims intake staff
- VA pension administrators
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseAdditional sponsors: Mrs. Radewagen, Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mr. Fitzpatrick, …
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Mr. Peters (for himself, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Obernolte, and Mr. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of Veterans Affairs, VA accreditation staff, VA pension administrators
Accredited agents, Accredited attorneys
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "accredited_person"
- → A recognized veterans service organization, attorney, agent, or other person recognized under title 38 section 5902 or 5904.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology