Veterans’ Bill of Rights Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Senator Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN]
In Committee
Summary
Codifying veterans' rights to timely care, clear information, respectful treatment, and fair appeals.
Show full summary
This bill would create a Veterans' Bill of Rights and require the Department of Veterans Affairs to notify veterans of those rights and build them into training, websites, apps, and facility practices.
- Veterans and families: Would guarantee ten specific rights, including access to VA or VA-authorized care, informed consent, privacy protections, safeguards against retaliation, clear claim notices, and the right to appeal.
- Service members transitioning to civilian life: Would add a dedicated instructional module on these rights to the Transition Assistance Program run with the Departments of Defense and Labor.
- VA employees: Would require every VA employee to receive annual training and to include the rights in VA policies, directives, and patient-facing materials.
- VA facilities and access tools: Would require each VA medical facility to designate a patient advocate or ombudsman, conduct annual internal audits with veteran satisfaction surveys, and add a prominent rights feature to the VA app and eBenefits within 180 days.
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
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
New veterans rights and VA duties
If enacted, the bill would create a Veterans' Bill of Rights. You would have rights when dealing with the VA or VA-authorized community providers. Rights would include access to care, privacy protections, informed consent, protection from retaliation, timely written notices, the right to file grievances, and the right to appeal and request fair hearings. The Secretary would have to add these rights to VA policies, patient materials, and annual staff training, and prominently post them at VA facilities and online. Within 180 days after enactment, the VA would add a prominent feature in its official mobile app and the eBenefits portal. Each VA medical facility would name a patient advocate or ombudsman to run annual compliance audits that include veteran satisfaction surveys and grievance-timeliness reviews.
Limits on using rights to sue VA
If enacted, the bill would say the Veterans' Bill of Rights does not create a new private right to sue the VA for damages or other new judicially enforceable rights. It would also say the Bill of Rights does not change who is eligible for VA care or benefits under existing law.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN]
TN • R
Cosponsors
Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT]
MT • R
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC]
NC • R
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Sen. Tuberville, Tommy [R-AL]
AL • R
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR]
AR • R
Sponsored 1/28/2026
Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN]
IN • R
Sponsored 1/29/2026
Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA]
PA • R
Sponsored 2/10/2026
Dan Sullivan
AK • R
Sponsored 3/2/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov