Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1725 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1725
5	5	To amend title 38, United States Code, to extend to Black veterans of
6	6	World War II, and surviving spouses and certain direct descendants
7	7	of such veterans, eligibility for certain housing loans and educational
8	8	assistance administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for
9	9	other purposes.
10	10	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
11	11	FEBRUARY27, 2025
12	12	Mr. M
13	13	OULTON(for himself and Mr. CLYBURN) introduced the following bill;
14	14	which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend title 38, United States Code, to extend to Black
17	17	veterans of World War II, and surviving spouses and
18	18	certain direct descendants of such veterans, eligibility
19	19	for certain housing loans and educational assistance ad-
20	20	ministered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and
21	21	for other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sgt. Isaac Woodard, 4
26	26	Jr. and Sgt. Joseph H. Maddox GI Bill Restoration Act 5
27	27	of 2025’’. 6
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30	30	•HR 1725 IH
31	31	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
32	32	Congress finds the following: 2
33	33	(1) African Americans played a pivotal role in 3
34	34	the war effort during World War II, with more than 4
35	35	1,200,000 African Americans serving in the Armed 5
36	36	Forces, and, by 1945, approximately 1.9 percent of 6
37	37	all officers in the Armed Forces were African Ameri-7
38	38	cans. 8
39	39	(2) Following World War II, the Servicemen’s 9
40	40	Readjustment Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 284, commonly 10
41	41	known as the ‘‘GI Bill’’) offered substantial material 11
42	42	benefits to 16,000,000 veterans to assist them in re-12
43	43	integrating into civil society. 13
44	44	(3) The GI Bill offered a range of economic and 14
45	45	educational benefits administered by the Federal 15
46	46	Government through the Secretary of the Veterans 16
47	47	Administration, including monetary assistance to ac-17
48	48	cess higher education, government guarantees for 18
49	49	housing loans, unemployment allowances, and civil-19
50	50	ian workforce reentry assistance. 20
51	51	(4) Though the legislative text of the GI Bill 21
52	52	was race neutral, the administration of benefits 22
53	53	through national, State, and local Veterans Adminis-23
54	54	tration offices resulted in a pattern of discrimination 24
55	55	against racial minorities, especially African Ameri-25
56	56	cans. 26
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59	59	•HR 1725 IH
60	60	(5) Veterans Administration benefits counselors 1
61	61	denied African Americans access to educational ben-2
62	62	efits at certain universities and funneled applicants 3
63	63	into industrial and vocational schools rather than 4
64	64	higher education opportunities, with just 6 percent 5
65	65	of African-American veterans of World War II earn-6
66	66	ing a college degree, compared to 19 percent of 7
67	67	White veterans of World War II. 8
68	68	(6) In administering its housing guaranty pro-9
69	69	gram, the Veterans Administration adopted the Fed-10
70	70	eral Housing Administration’s racial exclusion pro-11
71	71	grams, also known as redlining, which excluded a 12
72	72	significant number of African Americans from tak-13
73	73	ing full advantage of the housing guaranty program. 14
74	74	(7) The GI Bill created substantial economic 15
75	75	growth and wealth accumulation for those who could 16
76	76	benefit, but discriminatory administration of the 17
77	77	program prevented many African-American veterans 18
78	78	of World War II from enjoying the full economic 19
79	79	prosperity of the post-war period. 20
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82	82	•HR 1725 IH
83	83	SEC. 3. HOUSING LOANS GUARANTEED BY THE SECRETARY 1
84	84	OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR BLACK VET-2
85	85	ERANS OF WORLD WAR II AND SURVIVORS 3
86	86	AND CERTAIN DIRECT DESCENDANTS OF 4
87	87	SUCH VETERANS. 5
88	88	(a) E
89	89	STABLISHMENT.—Chapter 37 of title 38, 6
90	90	United States Code, is amended as follows: 7
91	91	(1) D
92	92	EFINITION.—Section 3701(b) of such title 8
93	93	is amended by adding at the end the following new 9
94	94	paragraphs: 10
95	95	‘‘(8) The term ‘veteran’ also includes, for pur-11
96	96	poses of housing loans, an individual who— 12
97	97	‘‘(A) is Black; 13
98	98	‘‘(B) served on active duty as a member of 14
99	99	the Armed Forces during World War II; and 15
100	100	‘‘(C) certifies to the Secretary that such 16
101	101	individual was denied a specific benefit under 17
102	102	the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (58 18
103	103	Stat. 284) on the basis of race. 19
104	104	‘‘(9) The term ‘veteran’ also includes, for pur-20
105	105	poses of housing loans, an individual who— 21
106	106	‘‘(A) is the surviving spouse, child, grand-22
107	107	child, or other direct descendant of a veteran 23
108	108	described in paragraph (8); 24
109	109	‘‘(B) certifies to the Secretary that such 25
110	110	veteran described in paragraph (8) was denied 26
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113	113	•HR 1725 IH
114	114	a specific benefit under the Servicemen’s Read-1
115	115	justment Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 284) on the 2
116	116	basis of race; and 3
117	117	‘‘(C) is living on the date of the enactment 4
118	118	of the Sgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr. and Sgt. Joseph 5
119	119	H. Maddox GI Bill Restoration Act of 2025.’’. 6
120	120	(2) B
121	121	ASIC ENTITLEMENT .—Section 7
122	122	3702(a)(2)(E) of such title is amended by adding at 8
123	123	the end the following new subparagraph: 9
124	124	‘‘(H) Each individual— 10
125	125	‘‘(i) described in paragraph (8) or (9) of 11
126	126	section 3701(b) of this title; and 12
127	127	‘‘(ii) who applies for a housing loan during 13
128	128	the five-year period beginning on the date of 14
129	129	the enactment of the Sgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr. 15
130	130	and Sgt. Joseph H. Maddox GI Bill Restoration 16
131	131	Act of 2025.’’. 17
132	132	(b) D
133	133	EADLINE.—The Secretary shall carry out the 18
134	134	amendment made by this section not later than 90 days 19
135	135	after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20
136	136	(c) R
137	137	EGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-21
138	138	fairs shall prescribe regulations to carry out the amend-22
139	139	ments made by this section. 23
140	140	(d) GAO R
141	141	EPORT.—Not later than one year after the 24
142	142	deadline under subsection (b), the Comptroller General of 25
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145	145	•HR 1725 IH
146	146	the United States shall submit to Congress a report re-1
147	147	garding— 2
148	148	(1) the number of individuals who received 3
149	149	housing loan benefits pursuant to the amendments 4
150	150	made by this section; and 5
151	151	(2) the total value of housing loan benefits ad-6
152	152	ministered by the Secretary pursuant to the amend-7
153	153	ments made by this section. 8
154	154	SEC. 4. EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR SURVIVORS AND 9
155	155	CERTAIN DIRECT DESCENDANTS OF BLACK 10
156	156	VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II. 11
157	157	(a) E
158	158	NTITLEMENT.—Subsection (b) of section 3311 12
159	159	of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at 13
160	160	the end the following new paragraph: 14
161	161	‘‘(12) An individual— 15
162	162	‘‘(A) described in section 3701(b)(9) of 16
163	163	this title; and 17
164	164	‘‘(B) who applies for educational assistance 18
165	165	under this chapter during the five-year period 19
166	166	beginning on the date of the enactment of the 20
167	167	Sgt. Isaac Woodard, Jr. and Sgt. Joseph H. 21
168	168	Maddox GI Bill Restoration Act of 2025.’’. 22
169	169	(b) D
170	170	EADLINE.—The Secretary shall carry out the 23
171	171	amendment made by this section not later than 90 days 24
172	172	after the date of the enactment of this Act. 25
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175	175	•HR 1725 IH
176	176	(c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-1
177	177	fairs shall prescribe regulations to carry out the amend-2
178	178	ment made by this section. 3
179	179	(d) GAO R
180	180	EPORT.—Not later than one year after the 4
181	181	deadline under subsection (b), the Comptroller General of 5
182	182	the United States shall submit to Congress a report re-6
183	183	garding— 7
184	184	(1) the number of individuals who received edu-8
185	185	cational assistance pursuant to the amendment 9
186	186	made by this section; and 10
187	187	(2) the total amount of educational assistance 11
188	188	paid by the Secretary pursuant to the amendment 12
189	189	made by this section. 13
190	190	SEC. 5. BLUE RIBBON PANEL ON BENEFITS AND ASSIST-14
191	191	ANCE FOR FEMALE AND MINORITY VET-15
192	192	ERANS. 16
193	193	(a) E
194	194	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 17
195	195	the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 18
196	196	Veterans Affairs shall, pursuant to the Federal Advisory 19
197	197	Committee Act (Public Law 92–463; 5 U.S.C. App.), ap-20
198	198	point a panel of independent experts on— 21
199	199	(1) inequities in the distribution of benefits and 22
200	200	assistance administered by the Secretary; and 23
201	201	(2) military service by female and minority 24
202	202	members of the Armed Forces. 25
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205	205	•HR 1725 IH
206	206	(b) DUTIES.—The panel shall develop recommenda-1
207	207	tions regarding additional benefits and assistance for indi-2
208	208	viduals described in subsection (a)(2), and related legisla-3
209	209	tion. 4
210	210	(c) R
211	211	EPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 5
212	212	of the enactment of this Act, the panel shall submit to 6
213	213	Congress and the President a report containing the rec-7
214	214	ommendations developed under this section. 8
215	215	Æ
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