To protect regular order for budgeting for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Enrolled (Passed Congress)Mr. Sullivan (for himself, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Budd, Mr. Wicker, …
Passed Senate (inferred from es version)
Passed House (inferred from enr version)
Enrolled Bill (inferred from enr version)
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Protecting Regular Order for Veterans Act of 2025 (PRO Veterans Act) improves oversight and accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs through two main reforms. First, it requires the VA Secretary to provide quarterly in-person briefings to Congress on the VA's budget and any funding shortfalls for the next three years. Second, it creates a new Veterans Experience Office dedicated to measuring and improving customer service for veterans using VA benefits and services.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans and their beneficiaries benefit through improved customer service, as the new Veterans Experience Office will systematically collect feedback and work to address barriers that prevent veterans from accessing benefits. Congressional oversight committees gain enhanced visibility into VA budget problems through mandatory quarterly briefings. VA field office executives may receive critical skill incentive bonuses that are now prohibited for their Central Office counterparts. Customer experience consultants and survey vendors may see new revenue opportunities from contracts to support the Veterans Experience Office's data collection and analysis work.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Senior Executive Service employees at VA Central Office headquarters (including the Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Benefits Administration, and National Cemetery Administration) lose eligibility for critical skill incentive bonuses, though narrow exceptions exist for employees who split time between headquarters and field offices. The VA Secretary and senior leadership face increased compliance burdens from quarterly congressional briefings and new reporting requirements. VA administrative staff across the department must regularly report customer experience metrics to the new Veterans Experience Office, adding to their workload.
Key Provisions
- Requires quarterly in-person briefings to four Congressional committees (Veterans' Affairs and Appropriations in both chambers) on VA budget and shortfalls for three years, including mitigation plans when shortfalls occur
- Prohibits critical skill incentive bonuses for Senior Executive Service employees at VA Central Office, with exceptions only for field-based work (proportional to time spent) and requiring approval from multiple senior officials
- Establishes the Veterans Experience Office led by a Chief Veterans Experience Officer who reports directly to the VA Secretary
- Mandates collection of veteran satisfaction data and usage patterns for all VA benefits and services, with annual reports to Congress including demographic breakdowns and analysis of barriers to access
- Includes privacy protections prohibiting disclosure of personally identifiable information without consent
- Sets a sunset date of September 30, 2028, after which the Veterans Experience Office authorities terminate
- Requires the Comptroller General to analyze the effectiveness of VA's customer experience methods within 540 days
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
Enhances oversight of VA budgeting through quarterly briefings, restricts executive bonuses at VA Central Office, and establishes a Veterans Experience Office to improve customer service
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Improve VA budget transparency and accountability while reducing executive compensation at headquarters and enhancing veteran customer service"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Veterans and beneficiaries (through improved customer experience)
- Congressional oversight committees (through quarterly briefings)
- VA field office executives (proportionate bonuses allowed)
Likely Burden Bearers
- VA Central Office senior executives (restricted from receiving critical skill incentives)
- VA administrative staff (additional reporting requirements)
- Chief Veterans Experience Officer (new reporting obligations)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "the_chief_officer"
- → Chief Veterans Experience Officer
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
An office established within the Department within the Office of the Secretary to carry out customer experience initiatives
With respect to a fiscal year, means that the amount of appropriations required by the Department of Veterans Affairs for such fiscal year to meet all of the statutory obligations of the Department during that fiscal year exceeds the amount of appropriations requested for the Department for that fiscal year in the budget of the President
Has the meaning given such term in section 3132(a) of title 5
Includes the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and the National Cemetery Administration central offices, regardless of the actual location where the employee performs the functions of the position
The head of the Veterans Experience Office, appointed by the Secretary and reporting directly to the Secretary
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