BRAVE Act of 2025
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill requires VA to report on market pay surveys comparing Vet Center employee salaries (counselors, social workers, therapists) to similarly situated VA and private sector employees, identifying pay disparities and staffing, exempts relaxes licensure requirements for VA mental health positions by allowing Under Secretary for Health to determine reasonable time period for obtaining licensure, rather than fixed statutory periods, and requires VA report on coordination between Veterans Health Administration and Vet Centers, including assessment of monthly suicide prevention consultations and external clinical consultant documentation. It relies on reporting requirements, compliance mandates, exemptions, and definition changes. The main policy areas are Veterans Affairs, Healthcare, and Technology.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans with spinal cord injuries would be affected, Community suicide prevention organizations could gain revenue opportunities, and Women veterans at risk for suicide would be affected.
Who Bears the Burden and How
VA predictive analytics team would take on compliance duties, VA mental health providers would take on compliance duties, and VA IT department would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Requires VA to report on market pay surveys comparing Vet Center employee salaries (counselors, social workers, therapists) to similarly situated VA and private sector employees, identifying pay disparities and staffing...
- Exempts relaxes licensure requirements for VA mental health positions by allowing Under Secretary for Health to determine reasonable time period for obtaining licensure, rather than fixed statutory periods.
- Requires VA report on coordination between Veterans Health Administration and Vet Centers, including assessment of monthly suicide prevention consultations and external clinical consultant documentation.
- Defines 'Vet Center' by reference to section 1712A(h) of title 38 for purposes of Title II.
- Requires GAO report assessing Vet Center expansion model, including adequacy for rural areas, high-suicide areas, mobile Vet Center usage trends, and population shift considerations.
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
The bill requires VA to report on market pay surveys comparing Vet Center employee salaries (counselors, social workers, therapists) to similarly situated VA and private sector employees, identifying pay disparities and staffing, exempts relaxes licensure requirements for VA mental health positions by allowing Under Secretary for Health to determine reasonable time period for obtaining licensure, rather than fixed statutory periods, and requires VA report on coordination between Veterans Health Administration and Vet Centers, including assessment of monthly suicide prevention consultations and external clinical consultant documentation.
Key Policy Areas
Veterans Affairs, Healthcare, Technology
Primary Purpose
The bill requires VA to report on market pay surveys comparing Vet Center employee salaries (counselors, social workers, therapists) to similarly situated VA and private sector employees, identifying pay disparities and staffing, exempts relaxes licensure requirements for VA mental health positions by allowing Under Secretary for Health to determine reasonable time period for obtaining licensure, rather than fixed statutory periods, and requires VA report on coordination between Veterans Health Administration and Vet Centers, including assessment of monthly suicide prevention consultations and external clinical consultant documentation.
Policy Domains
Title I - Readjustment Counseling Service
Identified Gains
- Veterans with spinal cord injuries
- Community suicide prevention organizations
- Women veterans at risk for suicide
- Women veterans
- Veterans receiving mental health disability compensation
Identified Costs
- VA predictive analytics team
- VA mental health providers
- VA IT department
- VA Human Resources
- VA-DoD transition coordination staff
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Blumenthal introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Survivors of military sexual trauma, Transitioning service members, Veterans at high risk for suicide
Government Accountability Office, VA Benefits Administration, VA Human Resources
Positive-direction: VA mental health programs
Negative-direction: Government Accountability Office, VA Benefits Administration, VA Human Resources, VA IT department, VA Readjustment Counseling Service, VA medical facility directors, VA predictive analytics team, VA suicide prevention program staff, VA-DoD transition coordination staff
Suicide prevention coordinators, Unlicensed mental health counselors seeking VA employment, VA mental health providers
Positive-direction: Unlicensed mental health counselors seeking VA employment, Vet Center mental health counselors, Vet Center social workers
Negative-direction: Suicide prevention coordinators, VA mental health providers, VA mental health residential programs, VA spinal cord injury centers
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "the_comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "the_secretary_of_defense"
- → Secretary of Defense
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
As defined in section 1712A(h) of title 38, United States Code - community-based counseling centers providing readjustment counseling to veterans
The toll-free hotline for veterans established under section 1720F(h) of title 38
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