American Heroes COLA Act of 2015
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
American Heroes COLA Act of 2015
(Sec. 2) This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in lieu of furnishing a headstone or marker to a deceased individual, to furnish a medallion or other device to signify the deceased individual's veteran status, to be attached to a headstone or marker furnished at private expense. A deceased individual, for the purposes of such provision, is an individual who: (1) served in the Armed Forces on or after April 6, 1917; and (2) is eligible for a headstone or marker, or who would be eligible but for his or her date of death.
(Sec. 3) "Claim" and "formal claim" (a claim submitted on a DOD- prescribed form) are defined for purposes of provisions relating to claims for benefits under laws administered by the VA.
(Sec. 4) The VA shall report quarterly to Congress for five years regarding submitted VA claims. Each report shall include the total number of:
claims submitted, including the total number of informal and formal claims;
forms indicating an intent to file a benefits claim;
claim notification letters that included an invitation to submit an additional formal claim and the total number of claimants who submitted such additional formal claim;
electronically filed claims submitted; and
fully-developed claims submitted.
It is the sense of Congress that the VA should develop a form for increasing or reopening a claim that does not require resubmittal of information previously submitted on a formal claim form.
(Sec. 5) The VA may pay burial and funeral expenses, accrued benefits, dependency and indemnity compensation, and non-service connected disability or death pension amounts to a survivor of a veteran who has not filed a formal claim if the record contains sufficient evidence to establish the survivor's entitlement to such benefits.
The date of receipt of such benefits application shall be the earlier of:
the date on which the survivor notifies the VA of the veteran's death through a death certificate or other relevant medical evidence indicating that the death was due to a service-connected or compensable disability, or
The summary continues for 66 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on February 9, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 10, 2016: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ralph Abraham (R-LA) introduced it on February 3, 2015, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 3, 2015, 4237 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3865 days ago, on February 10, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers