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119-hr-6033119th CongressWALLET

STRIVE Act of 2025

Sponsored By: Representative Horsford, Steven [D-NV-4]

In Committee

Summary

Raising visibility into racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in VA disability benefits is the bill’s main goal. It would require new GAO and VA reports and concrete action plans to identify and address gaps in approvals and discharge-characterization reviews.

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  • Veterans: Would spotlight approval and application gaps, especially for Black applicants who were 14% less likely to be approved than White non‑Hispanic applicants and for Black men who faced 3–22% lower approval rates; it also notes women may apply at lower rates.
  • Government oversight: Would require the Government Accountability Office to produce a report within 180 days examining 15 years of discharge characterizations and review outcomes disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender.
  • Department of Veterans Affairs: Would require the VA Secretary to report within 365 days on causes of disparities, provide a three-year plan to address each cause, implement the plan, and publish annual summaries on a VA public website.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

Study of VA disability disparities for veterans

Within 180 days, the Comptroller General would report on the last 15 years. The report would show discharge types and review outcomes by race, ethnicity, and gender. It would count who asked for a records review, who got a change, and who applied for VA disability benefits. It would also count who was denied because of discharge status. The report would say if disparities exist and how they relate to those already found in GAO-23-106097.

VA plan to fix veteran benefit disparities

Within 365 days, the VA Secretary would send Congress and post a report. It would explain how VA is fixing data limits the GAO flagged. It would list major causes of racial, ethnic, or gender gaps in VA disability benefits. It would include a three-year plan to address each cause. VA would have to start the plan the day after it is sent and post yearly progress updates.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Horsford, Steven [D-NV-4]

NV • D

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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