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
This bill improves mental health care and suicide prevention services for veterans by strengthening Vet Centers, expanding access for women veterans and veterans with disabilities, extending suicide prevention grants, and requiring annual mental health outreach to veterans receiving disability compensation.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans at high risk for suicide benefit from improved coordination between VA medical facilities and Vet Centers, with monthly suicide prevention consultations. Women veterans gain tailored mental health outreach addressing military sexual trauma and intimate partner violence. Veterans with spinal cord injuries get new access to mental health residential treatment through a pilot program at three VA facilities. Mental health counselors at Vet Centers may receive pay increases after market surveys identify disparities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Veterans Affairs faces significant reporting requirements and must implement new pilot programs, modify the REACH VET risk assessment system, and conduct outreach to all veterans receiving mental health disability compensation. VA regional leadership must ensure monthly coordination with Vet Centers and document suicide prevention consultations. Community organizations receiving suicide prevention grants face new program requirements though maximum grants increase from $750K to $1M.
Key Provisions
- Extends Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program from 3 to 6 years and increases maximum grants from $750K to $1M
- Requires annual mental health consultations for veterans receiving compensation for mental health conditions
- Creates pilot program for veterans with spinal cord injuries to access mental health residential treatment
- Mandates VA study effectiveness of suicide prevention outreach to women veterans
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
Strengthens veteran mental health services, suicide prevention programs, and Vet Center operations through improved staffing, expanded access, and targeted outreach to women veterans and veterans with disabilities
Key Policy Areas
Veterans Affairs, Healthcare, Mental Health
Primary Purpose
Strengthens veteran mental health services, suicide prevention programs, and Vet Center operations through improved staffing, expanded access, and targeted outreach to women veterans and veterans with disabilities
Policy Domains
Title I - Readjustment Counseling Service
Identified Gains
- Vet Center mental health staff
- Veterans using Vet Center services
- Rural veterans
Identified Costs
- VA administrative staff
- Readjustment Counseling Service leadership
Title II - Vet Center Expansion
Identified Gains
- Veterans in rural areas
- Veterans in areas with high suicide rates
Identified Costs
- VA IT department
- VA facility planners
Title IV - Other Mental Health Matters
Identified Gains
- Veterans with spinal cord injuries
- Community suicide prevention organizations
- Transitioning service members
Identified Costs
- VA medical facilities
- VA and DoD coordination staff
Title III - Women Veterans
Identified Gains
- Women veterans
- Survivors of military sexual trauma
Identified Costs
- VA mental health program administrators
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