II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 274
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to
laws relating to the payment of certain benefits administered by the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs that are affected by death, and for other
purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mr. D
AINES(for himself and Mr. KIM) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain
improvements to laws relating to the payment of certain
benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs that are affected by death, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Next of Kin Collections 4
Protection Act of 2025’’. 5
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•S 274 IS
SEC. 2. PAYMENT BY SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 1
OF CERTAIN BENEFITS AFFECTED BY DEATH. 2
(a) E
FFECTIVEDATE OFCERTAINREDUCTIONS AND 3
D
ISCONTINUANCES OF COMPENSATION, DEPENDENCY 4
ANDINDEMNITYCOMPENSATION, ANDPENSIONUNDER 5
L
AWSADMINISTERED BYSECRETARY OFVETERANSAF-6
FAIRS.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 5112(b) of title 38, 8
United States Code, is amended— 9
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘(except 10
in the case of a pension under an existing rat-11
ing or decision),’’ after ‘‘death of a payee’’; 12
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 13
through (10) as paragraphs (4) through (11), 14
respectively; and 15
(C) by inserting, after paragraph (2), the 16
following new paragraph (3): 17
‘‘(3) by reason of death of a payee in the case 18
of a pension under an existing rating or decision, 19
shall be the last day of the month in which such 20
death occurs;’’. 21
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT .—Section 22
1832(b)(4) of such title is amended by striking 23
‘‘paragraphs (1), (6), (9), and (10)’’ and inserting 24
‘‘paragraphs (1), (7), (10), and (11)’’. 25
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•S 274 IS
(b) PAYMENT OF BENEFITS FOR MONTH OF 1
D
EATH.—Section 5310(b) of title 38, United States Code, 2
is amended by inserting ‘‘, or in the case of a payment 3
for the month of the death of a payee under section 4
5112(b)(2) of this title,’’ before ‘‘an amount equal’’. 5
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments to title 38, 6
United States Code, made by this section shall apply with 7
respect to a payment of a benefit affected by a death that 8
occurs on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 9
Æ
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