Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018
Public Law 115-407 · S. 2248 · 115th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Donald Trump (R) on Dec 31, 2018 · Armed Forces and National Security
Sponsor: Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
Cosponsors (2): Sen. Dean Heller, Sen. Tom Udall
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018
This bill updates various Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits and programs in areas including education, transition assistance, and civil relief.
The bill makes a number of changes to educational benefits. Among the changes, the bill adjusts assistance limits for veterans participating in a VA vocational rehabilitation program who are called to active reserve duty in certain instances. The bill also requires the VA to electronically provide documentation verifying the amount of their housing stipend to recipients of Post-9/11 educational assistance and requires the VA to disapprove courses of education at educational institutions that have certain payment policies in place.
Additionally, the bill requires the VA to make prompt payments of educational assistance funding and to provide information on whether a postsecondary education institution requires a covered individual to take certain actions to stay enrolled pending a receipt of educational assistance. Finally, the bill updates the basic housing allowance amounts for veterans enrolled in high technology programs pursuant to the VA pilot program.
The bill makes changes regarding memorial affairs for veterans, including requiring the VA to furnish, when requested, headstones or markers for the unmarked graves of any eligible individuals (including those whose remains are unavailable) buried in a veterans cemetery owned by a tribal organization or on land owned by or held in trust for a tribal organization.
The bill amends several sections of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, including to allow (1) a surviving spouse of a deceased servicemember who died while in military service to terminate a lease without penalty within one year of the servicemember's death; (2) the spouse of a servicemember to elect to use the same residence as the servicemember for the purposes of taxation and voting; and (3) a servicemember to terminate a commercial mobile, telephone exchange, internet access or programming service contract after the service member receives military orders to a location that does not support such contracts.
With regard to transition assistance, the bill requires the VA to identify and publish a list of community-based programs operated by nonprofit entities that provide transition assistance to members of the Armed Forces who are retired, separated, or discharged.
The bill addresses a variety of VA administrative issues. Specifically, the bill directs the VA to prohibit employees who have knowingly misused VA purchase cards from serving as purchase card holders or approving officials. The bill also requires the VA to make changes to its information technology systems so that changes to information about a person's dependent is reviewable and revisable by that person.
Under the bill, the VA must submit certain documents to Congress related to the Electronic Health Record Modernization Program. In addition, the VA must develop a standard letter to be provided to individuals who owe debts to the VA and to develop a method by which individuals can elect to receive such notice electronically.
The bill also makes several other changes to a variety of VA programs, projects, and benefits. Specifically, the bill authorizes specific major medical facility projects and requires VA medical facility directors to submit plans to improve facilities.
The bill expands eligibility for homeless veterans reintegration programs to other veterans, including include veterans who are transitioning from being incarcerated and others.
The VA must award contracts to multiple regional prime vendors instead of a single nationwide prime vendor for the Medical Surgical Prime Vendor program; and
Finally, the bill requires the VA to report on the feasibility and advisability of expanding access to dental care for eligible veterans.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.
H.R. 3657Related bill
To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide certain burial benefits for spouses and children of veterans who are buried in tribal cemeteries, and for other purposes.
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 19 actions.
- Dec 31, 2018Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 115-407.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 27, 2018FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 20, 2018FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Dec 19, 2018Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to the House amendment to S. 2248 by Unanimous Consent.
- OtherOther · Resolving differences -- Senate actions: Senate agreed to the House amendment to S. 2248 by Unanimous Consent.
- Dec 11, 2018FloorFloor · Message on House action received in Senate and at desk: House amendment to Senate bill.
- Dec 10, 2018FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 2248.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Roe (TN) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Mar 5, 2018FloorFloor · Held at the desk.
- FloorFloor · Received in the House.
- FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Mar 1, 2018FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs discharged by Unanimous Consent.
- Dec 19, 2017CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.