BRAVE Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Crow
In Committee
Summary
Boost veterans' mental health access and services. This bill would reshape VA mental health workforce rules, Vet Center operations and technology, and targeted programs for women veterans and veterans with severe disabilities to improve care and coordination.
Show full summary
- It would require market pay surveys for Readjustment Counseling Service positions and a consolidated report within 180 days on pay disparities and staffing challenges. It also allows time-limited licensure waivers or adjustments for psychologists and licensed professional mental health counselors and calls for a 60-day report on coordination between Vet Centers and Veterans Health Administration clinical care.
- It directs a Comptroller General assessment within one year of the Vet Center model for expansion decisions, focusing on rural demand, mobile Vet Centers, crisis-line links, and regional needs. It would require better outreach data and an IT assessment of RCSNet with recommendations, timelines, and cost estimates.
- It mandates studies and program changes for women veterans, including tailoring suicide prevention outreach and weighting REACH VET risk factors like military sexual trauma. It raises the Staff Sgt. Parker Gordon Fox grant cap from $750,000 to $1,000,000 and extends the program to six years. It also launches pilots to expand residential care access for veterans with spinal cord injury at not fewer than three facilities with a 120-day start and a one-year implementation report.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Annual mental health check offers
If enacted, the VA would offer at least one mental health consultation each year to every veteran who receives VA compensation for a service-connected mental health disability. The VA would conduct outreach to tell those veterans about consultations and other mental health services. The VA would collect veteran feedback, analyze it, and review outreach within one year and at least once every two years. The VA would report findings and plans to the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees.
Temporary licensure waivers for counselors
If enacted, the VA would be able to allow time-limited qualification adjustments and temporary waivers of licensure or certification for certain mental health staff. The Under Secretary for Health would recommend what is a reasonable time period for those waivers. The change would take effect upon enactment and is intended to help the VA hire and keep psychologists and licensed professional counselors.
Residential mental care for SCI/D veterans
If enacted, the VA would submit a plan within 60 days to ensure veterans with a spinal cord injury or disorder can access VA mental health residential treatment. The plan would cover staffing, equipment, and best locations. The VA would start a pilot at at least three medical facilities within 120 days and report on implementation and results within one year.
Update suicide risk tool for women
If enacted, the VA would begin within 60 days to modify the REACH VET suicide-risk tool so it weights risk factors that matter for women veterans. The changes must include factors like military sexual trauma and intimate partner violence. The update is meant to help flag women veterans who may need intervention sooner.
Better Vet Center outreach data
If enacted, the VA would require each Vet Center to have demographic data for people eligible in its service area and to get guidance on outreach metrics and targets. The VA would also require periodic processes to assess barriers veterans face in getting Vet Center services and barriers staff face in providing services. These actions must be done within 180 days of enactment.
Increase suicide prevention grant cap
If enacted, the annual cap for the Staff Sgt. Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program would rise from $750,000 to $1,000,000. The program authorization period would also extend from three years to six years. The change would let community organizations get larger grants and keep the program running longer.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Crow
CO • D
Cosponsors
Rep. Kiggans, Jennifer A. [R-VA-2]
VA • R
Sponsored 11/12/2025
Schrier
WA • D
Sponsored 12/5/2025
Rep. Moulton, Seth [D-MA-6]
MA • D
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Mrvan
IN • D
Sponsored 12/15/2025
Obernolte
CA • R
Sponsored 3/24/2026
Davis (NC)
NC • D
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36]
CA • D
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Rep. Joyce, David P. [R-OH-14]
OH • R
Sponsored 4/16/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov