Congress·In Committee·H.R. 7199

Gerald’s Law Act

Veterans: Burial Benefits for Home Hospice Care

Jan 22·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committee

This bill was recently introduced and is currently being reviewed by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. It is in the early stages of the legislative process and is considered active. There are no upcoming votes scheduled at this time.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Likely to pass

This bill has strong bipartisan support and fixes a specific gap in veterans' benefits that lawmakers generally agree on.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 234 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 234 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill helps families of veterans pay for funeral and burial costs if the veteran dies at home. Right now, the VA usually only pays these benefits if a veteran dies while staying in a VA hospital or nursing home.
Under this plan, a veteran would qualify for the burial money if they were receiving VA hospice care at home when they died. This care must have started right after the veteran left a VA medical facility.
The change is meant to support veterans who want to spend their final days at home with their families. It ensures that choosing to leave the hospital for home hospice care does not result in losing financial help for a funeral.
If this becomes law, the rule would apply to deaths going back to 2020. This means some families who were previously denied these benefits might be able to claim them now.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Jan 22, 2026House

Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Jan 22, 2026

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes, news coverage, or related bills recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Gerald’s Law Act

Bill NumberHR 7199

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(12)

D: 6R: 6

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.