Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

20. Department of Veterans Affairs · Notable

Create a veterans bill of rights

Not started

645 20. Department of Veterans Affairs

“First and foremost, a veterans bill of rights is needed so that veterans and VA staff know exactly what benefits veterans are entitled to receive, with a clear process for the adjudication of disputes, and so that staff ensure that all veterans are informed of their eligibility for Community Care.”

What has happened

  1. Not started

    No veterans bill of rights exists, in statute or as a VA issuance. The nearest vehicle is the Veterans’ Bill of Rights Act of 2026 (S. 3653 / H.R. 7112, both introduced 2026-01-15, and the earlier H.R. 6017 of 2025-11-10), which would require the Secretary to inform veterans of enumerated rights — access to VA or VA-authorized community providers, respect and dignity, informed consent, awareness of and access to benefits, and freedom from retaliation — close to what the Quote describes, though it carries no dispute-adjudication process of its own. S. 3653 traveled furthest: the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held hearings on 2026-04-29 and reported nothing. Under the playbook’s Requires-Congress ladder, committee action short of a passage vote leaves the Status at not-started. VA has published no departmental bill of rights; its “Patient Rights and Responsibilities” notice, which covers health care only, predates 2025-01-20.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Queries and sources, 2026-09-01:

  • Corpus bills.ndjson, titles matching bill of rights — three VA vehicles in the 119th Congress: H.R. 6017 (2025-11-10, referred), H.R. 7112 (2026-01-15, referred), S. 3653 (2026-01-15, hearings held 2026-04-29). No public law.
  • Federal Register API, conditions[term]="veterans bill of rights" (exact phrase), all types, from 2025-01-20 — zero documents.
  • news.va.gov press-release search (bill of rights) — nothing responsive.
  • The operative text of S. 3653 was read at govinfo before it was cited (playbook §1: a title match is not a substance match). It is a substance match, and it has not passed a chamber.
Action
create
Object
Veterans bill of rights
ID
1761