HR647-119

Reported

To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the provision of certain additional burial benefits for individuals for whom an urn or plaque is furnished, and for other purposes.

119th Congress Introduced Jan 23, 2025

Legislative Progress

Reported
Introduced Committee Passed
Oct 17, 2025

Additional sponsors: Mrs. Radewagen, Mr. McGarvey, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Harder …

Oct 17, 2025

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …

Jan 23, 2025

Mr. Yakym (for himself and Mrs. Biggs of South Carolina) …

Summary

What This Bill Does

Allows VA to provide both a headstone or marker AND an urn or plaque for eligible veterans, rather than requiring families to choose one or the other.

Who Benefits and How

  • Veteran families receive more comprehensive burial benefits
  • Veterans choosing cremation can have both urn and memorial marker
  • VA burial benefits become more flexible for varying preferences

Who Bears the Burden and How

  • VA budget covers cost of providing both items
  • VA administers expanded benefit offerings

Key Provisions

  • No longer in lieu of headstone when urn provided
  • Applies to veterans who died on or after January 5, 2021
  • Retroactive application allows families to receive both benefits
  • Amends section 2306 of title 38
Model: claude-opus-4
Generated: Jan 10, 2026 17:13

Evidence Chain:

This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

Primary Purpose

Expands VA burial benefits to provide both headstone/marker and urn/plaque

Policy Domains

Veterans Burial Benefits Memorials

Legislative Strategy

"Honor veterans more fully through expanded burial benefit options"

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Veterans Burial Benefits

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