Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act of 2025

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Bill ID: 119/s/1992
Last Updated: July 13, 2026

Sponsored by

Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]

ID: B001299

Follow the money

The bill

Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act of 2025

S. 1992, 119th Congress.

The sponsor

Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$131,221 raised

21 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

95% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Department of Veterans Affairs" section, p. 688-691 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-247.

December 9, 2025

Introduced

Committee Review

📍 Current Status

Next: The bill moves to the floor for full chamber debate and voting.

🗳️

Floor Action

✅

Passed Senate

🏛️

House Review

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another exercise in legislative theater, courtesy of our esteemed Congress. Let's dissect this farce, shall we?

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act of 2025 (S. 1992) claims to improve the efficiency of adjudications and appeals for veterans' benefits. How quaint. In reality, it's a Band-Aid on a bullet wound, designed to placate the masses while maintaining the status quo.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:**

1. Annual reports on the length of adjudications (because who doesn't love more paperwork?). 2. Guidelines for advancing cases on the docket of the Board of Veterans' Appeals (a.k.a. a recipe for bureaucratic gridlock). 3. Requirements to track and maintain information on certain claims for benefits (read: more data collection, less actual help).

These "reforms" are nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to create the illusion of progress while perpetuating the same inefficiencies that have plagued the system for decades.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:**

* Veterans: The supposed beneficiaries of this bill. In reality, they'll continue to face delays, denials, and bureaucratic red tape. * Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): Will be forced to generate more reports, guidelines, and data collection schemes, further entrenching the agency's reputation for inefficiency. * Congress: Gets to pat itself on the back for "doing something" about veterans' issues while avoiding any real reform.

**Potential Impact & Implications:**

This bill will have all the impact of a feather in a hurricane. Veterans will continue to suffer, the VA will remain mired in bureaucracy, and Congress will maintain its reputation as a bastion of ineptitude.

The only winners here are the politicians who get to tout this legislation as a "victory" for veterans, while their donors and lobbyists reap the benefits of continued inefficiency. It's a classic case of " legislative lupus": a disease where the symptoms (inefficient bureaucracy) are treated with more of the same poison that caused them in the first place.

In short, this bill is a masterclass in legislative malpractice. Bravo, Congress. You've managed to create a bill that's as effective as a placebo and just as transparently self-serving.

Related Topics

Military & Veterans AffairsJudiciary & Legal Reform
Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$131,221
18 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$100
Committees
$0
Individuals
$131,121

No PAC contributions found

1
STOCKAMP FOUNDATION
1 transaction
$100

No committee contributions found

1
NEAL, ROLLIE
2 transactions
$26,136
2
RAMSEY, JASON
2 transactions
$13,200
3
SALAMONE, CHRISTOPHER J
1 transaction
$12,000
4
BYERS, RICHARD JR.
2 transactions
$11,600
5
BARKLEY, JOSH
1 transaction
$6,700
6
THRIFT, PAUL
1 transaction
$6,700
7
MUSELMAN, ROGER C.
1 transaction
$6,700
8
WALTERS, KENNETH
1 transaction
$6,700
9
DUMEZICH, DANA A.
1 transaction
$6,600
10
SEEGERS, PAUL R.
1 transaction
$5,800
11
MOORE, NOEL
1 transaction
$5,000
12
LILLARD, ROYCE
1 transaction
$4,650
13
VANDEBUNTE, BARB
1 transaction
$4,357
14
LEDERER, HOWARD
1 transaction
$4,140
15
COPELAND, LAMMOT JR
1 transaction
$3,700
16
BROWN, MATTHEWS
1 transaction
$3,680
17
PEDERSON, BRAD
1 transaction
$3,458

Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance

This bill has 3 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.

Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]

ID: B001277

Top Contributors

20

1
OLSON, LYNDON
NOT EMPLOYED • NOT EMPLOYED
IndividualWACO, TX
$3,300
Dec 20, 2024
2
ALIX, JAY
ALIX PARTNERS • FOUNDER
IndividualBIRMINGHAM, MI
$3,300
Oct 2, 2023
3
KIM, CHRISTINE M.
BBB LLC • ATTORNEY
IndividualNEW YORK, NY
$3,300
Oct 31, 2023
4
ALIX, JAY
ALIX PARTNERS • FOUNDER
IndividualBIRMINGHAM, MI
$3,300
Apr 15, 2024
5
ROURE, RITA
PAGNY - LINCOLN HOSPITAL • PHYSICIAN
IndividualGREENWICH, CT
$3,300
Apr 10, 2024
6
ROURE, RITA
PAGNY - LINCOLN HOSPITAL • PHYSICIAN
IndividualGREENWICH, CT
$3,300
Apr 10, 2024
7
CHAVEZ, TOM
KRUX INC. • CEO
IndividualSAN FRANCISCO, CA
$3,300
Jul 13, 2024
8
CHAVEZ, TOM
KRUX INC. • CEO
IndividualSAN FRANCISCO, CA
$3,300
Jul 13, 2024
9
JONES, JERRY C.
LIVERAMP INC. • EXECUTIVE
IndividualLITTLE ROCK, AR
$3,300
Sep 19, 2024
10
NESSEL, ARIEL
NESSEL DEVELOPMENT • OWNER
IndividualROSS, CA
$3,300
Jul 12, 2024

Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA]

ID: C001075

Top Contributors

20

1
YAWITZ, JESS B. MR.
RETIRED • RETIRED
IndividualSAINT LOUIS, MO
$14,000
Jun 11, 2024
2
MANDELBLATT, DANIELLE
DMM PROPRIETA MANAGEMENT • MANAGER
IndividualASPEN, CO
$9,900
Nov 2, 2023
3
MANDELBLATT, ERIC
SOROBAN CAPITAL PARTNERS LP • MANAGING PARTNER
IndividualASPEN, CO
$9,900
Nov 2, 2023
4
JAYASINGHE, SAMAN K. DR.
SELF-EMPLOYED • PHYSICIAN
IndividualBATON ROUGE, LA
$9,900
Jun 13, 2024
5
KARP, ALEXANDER C.
PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES • CEO
IndividualBEDFORD, NH
$9,900
Apr 16, 2024
6
OBERNDORF, SUSAN
HOMEMAKER • HOMEMAKER
IndividualSAN FRANCISCO, CA
$9,900
Jun 5, 2024
7
OBERNDORF, WILLIAM
OBERNDORF ENTERPRISES • OWNER
IndividualSAN FRANCISCO, CA
$9,900
Jun 5, 2024
8
YAWITZ, ALICE G.
RETIRED • RETIRED
IndividualST. LOUIS, MO
$9,900
Jun 18, 2024
9
GRIGSBY, BOBBI F. MRS.
HOMEMAKER • HOMEMAKER
IndividualBATON ROUGE, LA
$6,600
Dec 23, 2024
10
GRIGSBY, L. LANE MR.
CAJUN INDUSTRIES LLC • CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
IndividualBATON ROUGE, LA
$6,600
Dec 23, 2024

Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT]

ID: S001232

Top Contributors

100

1
CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,720
Jun 27, 2024
2
CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,720
Jun 27, 2024
3
CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,720
Jun 27, 2024
4
CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,720
Jun 27, 2024
5
CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,720
Jun 27, 2024
6
SENATE CONSERVATIVES FUND
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,609
Jun 21, 2024
7
SENATE CONSERVATIVES FUND
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,609
Jun 21, 2024
8
SENATE CONSERVATIVES FUND
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,609
Jun 21, 2024
9
REPUBLICAN JEWISH COALITION-POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (RJC-PAC)
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,000
Jun 25, 2024
10
REPUBLICAN JEWISH COALITION-POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (RJC-PAC)
PACWASHINGTON, DC
$7,000
Jun 25, 2024

Donor Network - Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

Loading...

Showing 37 nodes and 43 connections

Total contributions: $43

Top Donors - Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]

Showing top 18 donors by contribution amount

1 Org17 Individuals

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Very Strong
Vector: 69%
Pages: 688-691AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act directly implements Project 2025's VA objectives by mandating efficiency improvements, transparency reporting, and technology-driven tracking to streamline the appeals process and enhance accountability for veterans' benefits."

Key themes:veterans benefits appealsVA efficiencytransparency reportingtechnology trackingaccountability

— 655 — Department of Veterans Affairs ENDNOTES 1. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Division, VHA Directive 1003, “VHA Veteran Patient Experience,” April 14, 2020, pp. 1 and B-1. 2. S. 2372, VA Mission Act of 2018, Public Law No. 115-182, 115th Congress, June 6, 2018, https://www.congress. gov/115/plaws/publ182/PLAW-115publ182.pdf (accessed January 30, 2023). 3. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA History Office, “VA History,” last updated May 27, 2021, https://www. va.gov/HISTORY/VA_History/Overview.asp (accessed January 28, 2023). 4. 38 U.S. Code § 1116, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/1116 (accessed January 28, 2023). 5. S. 3373, Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022), Public Law No. 117-168, 117th Congress, August 10, 2022, https://www. congress.gov/117/plaws/publ168/PLAW-117publ168.pdf (accessed January 28, 2023). 6. H.R. 2471, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, Public Law No. 117-103, 117th Congress, March 15, 2022, Division S, Title I, https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ103/PLAW-117publ103.pdf (accessed March 18, 2023). Known variously as the Department of Veterans Affairs Nurse and Physician Assistant Retention and Income Security Enhancement Act and the VA Nurse and Physician Assistant RAISE Act. 7. See note 5, supra.

Department of Transportation

Very Strong
Vector: 66%
Pages: 673-675AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill’s provisions to streamline the appeals process, increase transparency through annual reporting, and use technology to track claims directly support Project 2025’s objectives for a veteran‑centric, efficient, and accountable VA."

Key themes:veteran‑centric serviceefficiency and accountabilitytransparency and reportingtechnology‑driven process improvementreducing wait times

— 641 — 20 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Brooks D. Tucker MISSION STATEMENT The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the primary provider of health care, benefits, and memorial affairs for America’s veterans and their families. The VA has the noble responsibility to render exceptional and timely support and services with respect, compassion, and competence. The veteran is at the forefront of every VA process and interaction. The VA must continually strive to be recognized as a “best in class,” “Veteran-centric”1 system with an organizational ethos inspired by and accountable to the needs and problems of veterans, not subservient to the parochial preferences of a bureaucracy. OVERVIEW At the end of the Obama Administration, the VA was held in low esteem both by the veterans it served and by the employees who served these former warriors. Eroding morale caused by the downstream effects of a health care access crisis in 2014 led to the resignation of Secretary Eric Shinseki and extensive oversight investigations by Congress from 2015–2016. By 2020, however, the VA had become one of the most respected U.S. agencies. This significant progress was due in part to the leadership of Secretary Robert Wilkie (2018–2021) and his team of political appointees and career senior executives, many of them veterans, who led the effort to ensure that the VA became “Veteran-centric” in its governance decisions and fostered a more positive work environment. This mindset translated into a department that was better attuned to employees’ and veterans’ needs and experiences in the daily operations of health care, benefits, — 642 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise and memorial affairs. During that period, the VA received the largest number of watershed congressional authorizations to reform its health care and benefits that it had received since the post–Vietnam War years along with historic increases in annual appropriations, which have tripled since the last full year of the George W. Bush Administration. The current VA leadership team of Biden appointees has adopted some of their predecessors’ governance processes. However, they have not sustained the previous Administration’s commitment to a genuine “Veteran-centric” philosophy, most nota- bly with respect to the delivery of health care, and harbor a bias toward expanding the unionized federal employee workforce that has not always been aligned with a focus on “Veteran-centric” care. There also is growing concern in Congress and the veteran community that the VA is poorly managing and in some cases disregarding provisions of the VA MISSION [Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Out- side Networks] Act of 20182 that codify broad access for veterans to non-VA health care providers. Efforts to expand disability benefits to large populations without adequate planning have caused an erosion of veterans’ trust in the VA enterprise. Additionally, the current VA leadership is focusing very publicly on “social equity and inclusion” within departmental policy discussions toward ends that will affect only a small minority of the veterans who use the VA. For the first time, the VA is allowing access to abortion services, a medical procedure unrelated to military service that the VA lacks the legal authority and clinical proficiency to perform. In addition to continuing the grotesque culture of violence against the child in the womb, these sociopolitical initiatives and ideological indoctrinations distract from the department’s core missions. DEPARTMENTAL HISTORY Following the Civil War, state veterans homes were established to provide med- ical and hospital treatment for all injuries and diseases. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, “Congress established a new system of Veterans benefits, including programs for disability compensation, insurance for service personnel and Veterans, and vocational rehabilitation for the disabled”3 that was overseen by three different federal programs: the Veterans Bureau, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Pensions, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. In 1921, Congress combined those programs into the Veterans Bureau. Following World War II, a national VA hospital system, much of which remains operational today, was established to care for millions of returning veterans. Following the Vietnam War, the VA’s federally owned and operated hospital network expanded again to meet the needs of the volunteer and draftee population. In the past two decades, the VA has purposely transitioned to leasing medical prop- erties rather than building expensive new facilities that can take years to complete and often experience budget overruns. As the nature of health care has evolved

Department of Veterans Affairs

Strong
Vector: 71%
Pages: 682-684AI Enhanced

AI Analysis:

"The bill aligns closely with Project 2025's focus on improving VA efficiency through technology, performance tracking, and streamlined claims processing, particularly in enhancing transparency and timeliness of appeals."

Key themes:technology use in claims processingperformance metrics and reportingstreamlining veterans' benefits appealsincreased accountability and transparencymodernizing VA operations

— 649 — Department of Veterans Affairs approaches and technology tools that currently exist in the private sector could be employed to improve existing VBA activities. This problem is most pronounced in the disability claims process, which needs more and better management attention focused on streamlining the procedures involved in processing claims and administering benefits. The VA must improve timeliness of claim adjudication and benefits delivery: Veterans want the VBA to provide timely responses to requests for benefits support, render empathetic customer service and understandable explanations of those benefits, and deliver those benefits without frustrating delays (weeks, not months). l Identify performance targets for benefits, report publicly on actual performance each quarter, and use these metrics to drive consistent improvement. l Develop a new pilot “Express 30” commitment for a veteran’s first fully developed disability compensation claim and organize the VBA to complete the first claim in 30 days. l Hire more private companies to perform disability medical examinations. Delays in completing the examinations could be eliminated with more external capacity. l Increase automation. Hiring additional staff to process claims is costly, is inflexible, and has yielded mixed results. Attempting to change laws and regulations simply to adjudicate claims would be a herculean effort given their complexity. The best way to provide benefits faster and more accurately is by using technology to perform most of the work. Technology currently exists in the private sector, but the VBA lacks the expertise to use it. This would be more of an organizational challenge than a technology hurdle. l Reduce improper payment and fraud. About $500 million is improperly paid out each year. Better tools, training, and management could reduce this substantially, but rule changes at the departmental level would be needed. Budget The VA’s Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) has assigned disability ratings to a growing number of health conditions over time; some are tenuously related or wholly unrelated to military service. The further growth in presumptive service-connected medical conditions pursued by Congress and Veteran Service Organizations, begun with Agent Orange and most recently for Burn Pits/Airborne — 650 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise Toxins, has led to historic increases in mandatory VBA spending in recent years. The VA has a time-phased plan to reassess the VASRD and its ratings for com- pensation, but this internal process can be slow and laborious, requires Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approvals, and can become politically charged both in Congress and with VSOs. l The next Administration should explore how VASRD reviews could be accelerated with clearance from OMB to target significant cost savings from revising disability rating awards for future claimants while preserving them fully or partially for existing claimants. l The VBA’s Information Technology top-line budget should be reexamined and reassessed in light of the need for expanded automation across the enterprise. l Traditionally, VHA captures the large majority of VA IT funding. The VBA needs to make the case for a larger IT budget with clear requirements to support that request. Personnel l Pursue reforms of the Human Capital Management process and operations within the VBA to build a more blended workforce with more contractors to process claims. This would free federal employees to perform other duties and be involved solely with the final decision to award benefits. l Improve the VBA acquisition workforce. The VBA needs more world-class contractor support. Currently, few of the top companies have contracts with the VBA, and the VBA needs to conduct more outreach to the private sector through senior leader engagement and industry conferences. l To identify more effective and efficient ways to complete claims, establish a knowledge exchange program with top-tier private-sector companies that do similar work. The VBA is fundamentally a financial services organization. A significant amount of its work has a private-sector analogue that could be leveraged to improve service to veterans. l For most of its existence, the VBA has been a risk-averse, insular, paper-based organization, implementing technology only over the past decade. This insularity has led to a predominantly “build it ourselves” approach, partly because VBA staff has limited experience or insight into current private- sector tools and methods and partly because the VBA struggles to compete

Showing 3 of 5 policy matches

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.

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