Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB660 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 660
5	5	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense
6	6	to carry out programs to provide to certain veterans who are women
7	7	a compensation benefit and an upgrade to the discharge status of such
8	8	veterans, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY23, 2025
11	11	Ms. B
12	12	ROWNLEY(for herself, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, and Ms.
13	13	O
14	14	MAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
15	15	on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-
16	16	fairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
17	17	case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
18	18	the committee concerned
19	19	A BILL
20	20	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary
21	21	of Defense to carry out programs to provide to certain
22	22	veterans who are women a compensation benefit and
23	23	an upgrade to the discharge status of such veterans,
24	24	and for other purposes.
25	25	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
26	26	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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29	29	•HR 660 IH
30	30	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
31	31	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women Involuntarily 2
32	32	Separated Earning Remittance Act of 2025’’ or the 3
33	33	‘‘WISER Act of 2025’’. 4
34	34	SEC. 2. PROGRAMS TO PROVIDE COMPENSATION BENEFIT 5
35	35	AND DISCHARGE STATUS UPGRADES FOR 6
36	36	CERTAIN VETERANS WHO ARE WOMEN DIS-7
37	37	CHARGED PURSUANT TO EXECUTIVE ORDER 8
38	38	10240. 9
39	39	(a) D
40	40	ISCHARGESTATUSUPGRADEPROGRAM.— 10
41	41	(1) I
42	42	N GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 11
43	43	amounts made available in advance in appropriations 12
44	44	Acts, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in coordina-13
45	45	tion with the Secretary of Defense, shall establish 14
46	46	and carry out a program to, subject to the eligibility 15
47	47	criteria under subsection (c) and conditions to be 16
48	48	prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, upgrade the 17
49	49	discharge status of covered veterans. 18
50	50	(2) A
51	51	PPLICATIONS.—A covered veteran desiring 19
52	52	to participate in such program shall submit to the 20
53	53	Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of 21
54	54	Defense an application in such form, at such time, 22
55	55	and containing such information and assurances as 23
56	56	such Secretaries determine appropriate. 24
57	57	(3) T
58	58	REATMENT OF CERTAIN COVERED VET -25
59	59	ERANS.—With respect to the provision of benefits 26
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62	62	•HR 660 IH
63	63	under the laws administered by the Secretary of Vet-1
64	64	erans Affairs, such Secretary shall treat a covered 2
65	65	veteran who receives a discharge status upgrade pur-3
66	66	suant to such program as if such covered veteran 4
67	67	completed the duty to which such covered veteran 5
68	68	was assigned at the time such covered veteran was 6
69	69	separated from active military, naval, air, or space 7
70	70	service. 8
71	71	(b) C
72	72	OMPENSATIONBENEFITPROGRAM.— 9
73	73	(1) I
74	74	N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 10
75	75	shall establish and carry out a program to provide 11
76	76	to covered veterans, subject to the eligibility criteria 12
77	77	under subsection (c) and paragraph (2), a one-time 13
78	78	compensation benefit in the amount of $25,000. 14
79	79	(2) S
80	80	URVIVING SPOUSE ELIGIBILITY .—If a cov-15
81	81	ered veteran who satisfies the eligibility criteria 16
82	82	under subsection (c) dies after the date of the enact-17
83	83	ment of this Act, the surviving spouse of such cov-18
84	84	ered veteran shall be eligible for participation in the 19
85	85	program under paragraph (1). 20
86	86	(3) A
87	87	PPLICATIONS.—A covered veteran, or the 21
88	88	surviving spouse of a covered veteran, desiring to 22
89	89	participate in such program shall submit to the Sec-23
90	90	retary of Defense an application in such form, at 24
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93	93	•HR 660 IH
94	94	such time, and containing such information and as-1
95	95	surances as the Secretary determines appropriate. 2
96	96	(4) A
97	97	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 3
98	98	There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-4
99	99	retary of Defense such sums as may be necessary to 5
100	100	carry out this subsection. 6
101	101	(c) E
102	102	LIGIBILITYCRITERIA.— 7
103	103	(1) I
104	104	RREBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION .—There is 8
105	105	an irrebuttable presumption of eligibility for partici-9
106	106	pation in the programs under subsections (a) and 10
107	107	(b) for a covered veteran who was involuntarily sepa-11
108	108	rated from active military, naval, air, or space serv-12
109	109	ice pursuant to Executive Order 10240. 13
110	110	(2) R
111	111	EBUTTABLE PRESUMPTIONS .—There is a 14
112	112	rebuttable presumption for eligibility for participa-15
113	113	tion in such programs for a covered veteran who— 16
114	114	(A) gave birth to a child, obtained legal or 17
115	115	physical custody of a child, or adopted a child 18
116	116	during the 10-month period beginning after the 19
117	117	date the veteran was separated from active mili-20
118	118	tary, naval, air, or space service; or 21
119	119	(B) experienced an incomplete pregnancy 22
120	120	(including due to an abortion or miscarriage) 23
121	121	during such 10-month period. 24
122	122	(d) D
123	123	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
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126	126	•HR 660 IH
127	127	(1) The term ‘‘active military, naval, air, or 1
128	128	space service’’ has the meaning given such term in 2
129	129	section 101 of title 10, United States Code. 3
130	130	(2) The term ‘‘covered veteran’’ means a vet-4
131	131	eran who— 5
132	132	(A) is a woman; and 6
133	133	(B) performed active military, naval, air, 7
134	134	or space service during the period beginning on 8
135	135	April 27, 1951 and ending on February 23, 9
136	136	1976. 10
137	137	Æ
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