The record

LegislationLegislation· Feb 2026
HR 3123 Passed House — in Senate

Sponsored by Elise M. Stefanik (R)

Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act

Requires VA to pay accrued pension benefits to a veteran's family if payment arrives after death.

Tradeoff

Establishes a procedure for distributing unpaid pension benefits owed to deceased veterans. No budgetary impact identified.

What's in it

See official bill text

Reduces net direct spending by $3 million over the 2026-2035 period.

This bill changes how existing VA pension benefits are distributed and extends an existing policy that reduces VA payments for nursing home residents, resulting in a net $3 million reduction in federal spending over 10 years mainly because picks up more of the nursing home costs that VA pension reductions would otherwise cover.

H.R. 3123, Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act · Oct 2025

The House passed this 405-1 on February 2, 2026. It is now in the Senate.

  1. House

    Introduced

    (Apr 30, 2025)

  2. House

    Committee on Veterans' Affairs(Apr 30, 2025)

  3. House

    The Committee on Veterans' Affairs voted to send it to the floor

    Reported by (Jul 23, 2025)

    Committee report H. Rept. 119-339.

  4. House

    On Motion to and Pass, as Amended

    Passed(Roll #50 · Feb 2, 2026)

    405 yeanay 1

  5. Senate

    Received from the House

    on Veterans' Affairs(Feb 3, 2026)

Passage votes so far· Feb 2, 2026· 119th Congress · 2025–2027