H.R. 6047 Explained | The New $833/Month Benefit for Disabled Veterans on Aid and Attendance (2026)

A bill moving through Congress right now would add $833.33 a month — tax-free — on top of existing compensation for a specific group of severely disabled veterans: those already receiving VA Aid and Attendance. It’s called the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2026 (H.R. 6047), and it’s the first dedicated increase for this group of veterans in more than 20 years.

It has already passed the House. It has not yet passed the Senate, and it is not law. This guide breaks down exactly what the bill does, who it would actually help, how it fits with the Aid and Attendance and Special Monthly Compensation benefits you may already receive, what happens to your DMV and state benefits if your rating changes, and — most importantly — what to actually do while the bill is still pending in the Senate.

Status Note: Bill has NOT been signed into law as of this writing — see “Where the Bill Stands Right Now”

What H.R. 6047 Actually Does

H.R. 6047 amends Title 38 of the U.S. Code — the section of federal law that governs VA disability compensation — in three distinct ways, bundled into a single piece of legislation. It’s worth separating these out clearly, because most headline coverage collapses all three into “veterans get a raise,” which oversimplifies who’s actually affected by each part.

Section 2 creates a new supplemental monthly allowance of $833.33 for veterans who are already eligible for a monthly Aid and Attendance allowance because of a service-connected disability or traumatic brain injury. This is paid on top of, not instead of, their existing compensation — it functions similarly to how SMC-K stacks on top of a standard disability rating rather than replacing it.

Section 2 also increases Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) — the benefit paid to surviving spouses and dependents of veterans who died from a service-connected condition — by an additional 1% at the next scheduled cost-of-living adjustment, and an additional 0.5% at the adjustment after that.

Sections 3 and 4 are unrelated to disability compensation entirely. They modify VA home loan guarantee fees and extend certain pension payment limit provisions, while a separate portion of the bill — titled the Home Affordability for Guard and Reserve Act — expands eligibility for VA-guaranteed home loans to certain members of the Reserve components with as little as 14 days of qualifying service.

The version that passed the House would have the new $833.33 allowance take effect on December 1, 2026, and — notably — the bill text specifies that this particular increase terminates after the second future increase to that amount occurs, meaning it’s structured as a defined uplift rather than an open-ended new permanent line item that automatically compounds forever without further Congressional action after that point. This is a technical detail almost no news coverage has mentioned, and it matters if you’re trying to understand the long-term shape of this benefit rather than just the headline number.

Why This Bill Exists: The 20-Year Gap

To understand why this specific bill matters, it helps to know what hasn’t happened for veterans on Aid and Attendance for the past two decades. Standard VA disability compensation and DIC both receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment every year, tied to the Social Security Administration’s COLA calculation. That part of the system works as designed and has kept pace with inflation reasonably well over time.

What hasn’t happened is a dedicated, standalone increase specifically targeted at the population of veterans who require the aid and attendance allowance — separate from the general annual COLA that everyone already receives. According to the bill’s House sponsors, this specific category of severely disabled veterans — those needing daily hands-on assistance because of catastrophic combat injuries or severe TBI residuals — has not seen a targeted increase of this kind in over 20 years, even as the actual cost of hiring in-home care, adaptive equipment, and specialized medical support has risen sharply.

That gap is the entire policy rationale behind H.R. 6047’s core provision. It isn’t framed as “veterans need more money in general” — it’s framed narrowly around a specific, small, high-need population whose actual caregiving costs have consistently outpaced what standard COLA increases were ever designed to cover.

Who Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Are

Congress names major veterans’ legislation after real people, and understanding their stories explains exactly which two populations this bill targets.

Sharri Briley is the surviving spouse of CW3 Donovan Lee “Bull” Briley, an Army Special Operations Black Hawk helicopter pilot killed in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 during Operation Gothic Serpent — the mission that later became widely known through the book and film Black Hawk Down. Her situation directly reflects the DIC survivor-benefit piece of this bill: a spouse who has lived for decades on survivor compensation that has never received a dedicated increase beyond standard annual COLA.

Sergeant Eric Edmundson is an Army veteran whose vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Iraq on October 2, 2005. His catastrophic injuries left him requiring the kind of ongoing, daily personal care that defines Aid and Attendance eligibility. His situation reflects the second half of the bill: the population of severely disabled combat veterans who depend on daily assistance and, until now, have not had a benefit specifically designed to keep pace with the real cost of that care.

Together, their names attached to the bill signal exactly who its sponsors intend it to help — not the broad population of disabled veterans generally, but two specific, narrower groups: severely disabled veterans needing daily aid and attendance, and the surviving spouses and dependents who receive DIC.

Who Would Qualify for the $833 Payment

This is the detail that matters most, and it’s considerably narrower than some headlines suggest. The new $833.33 allowance is not available to every disabled veteran, and it is not the same thing as a general disability compensation increase.

To qualify, a veteran generally needs to:

• Already be rated eligible for a monthly Aid and Attendance allowance under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(r) or (t) — meaning you require the regular personal assistance of another person for daily activities, or you meet the criteria tied to severe TBI residuals, and
• Have that eligibility tied to a service-connected disability or traumatic brain injury

According to the Congressional Budget Office’s official scoring of the bill, roughly 8,000 veterans currently meet this threshold nationwide, with that number expected to grow to about 10,000 by 2036 as more veterans are rated at this level over time. For context, that’s a small fraction of the roughly 5+ million veterans who receive some form of VA disability compensation — this is a deliberately targeted benefit, not a broad increase.

If you’re rated at a standard 100% disability but do not currently receive an Aid and Attendance allowance, this specific $833 benefit would not apply to you under the bill as passed by the House. Being 100% disabled and being eligible for Aid and Attendance are related but distinct things, and conflating them is the single most common misunderstanding veterans have about this bill. If you’re already at 100% P&T, it’s also worth checking our free stuff for 100% disabled veterans checklist — Aid and Attendance eligibility often sits alongside other benefits veterans at this rating haven’t claimed yet.distinct things, and conflating them is the single most common misunderstanding veterans have about this bill.

How to Check If You Currently Qualify for Aid and Attendance

Because eligibility for this new allowance runs entirely through your existing Aid and Attendance status, the most useful thing you can do right now isn’t waiting — it’s confirming where you actually stand. Here’s exactly how to check:

Step 1: Pull your most recent VA rating decision letter. Log into VA.gov and go to your claims history, or check physical correspondence from the VA. Look specifically for language referencing “aid and attendance,” “housebound,” “38 U.S.C. 1114(r),” or “38 U.S.C. 1114(t).”

Step 2: Download your VA Summary of Benefits Letter. From My VA → Records → Download your benefit letters, select the Benefit Summary and Service Verification Letter and customize it to show your full rating detail. This letter will explicitly state whether aid and attendance is part of your current award.

Step 3: If neither document mentions it, and you don’t require daily personal assistance, this bill likely wouldn’t apply to you as written — but that doesn’t mean the door is closed permanently if your situation changes later.

Step 4: If you believe you meet the functional criteria for Aid and Attendance but it isn’t reflected in your file, that’s a gap worth closing regardless of this bill. Our full Special Monthly Compensation guide walks through exactly what evidence is needed and how to file.

Step 5: If you’re genuinely unsure how to read your own rating decision, a VA-accredited VSO can review it for free and tell you definitively whether aid and attendance is or isn’t already part of your award — this is a five-minute conversation that resolves a lot of uncertainty. Our DAV claims help guide walks through exactly what to expect from that appointment and how to book one.

How This Connects to Aid and Attendance and SMC

If you’ve read our full Special Monthly Compensation guide, you already know that Aid and Attendance shows up in two different places in the VA system, and it’s worth being precise about which one this bill affects:

• Aid and Attendance as part of SMC-R.1 / R.2 — the higher tiers of Special Monthly Compensation for veterans who need daily, hands-on personal care, generally on top of already meeting one of the L-through-O level criteria.
• The monthly aid and attendance allowance referenced directly in 38 U.S.C. § 1114(r)/(t) — this is the specific statutory hook H.R. 6047 attaches its new $833.33 supplement to.

In practice, veterans who are already receiving SMC at the R.1, R.2, or comparable aid-and-attendance-based levels are the population most likely to qualify for this new allowance, since eligibility for the underlying monthly aid and attendance allowance is the bill’s stated trigger. If your SMC claim already establishes that eligibility, you would not need to file anything new to benefit from this allowance if it becomes law — the increase is designed to apply based on existing eligibility, similar to how existing COLA increases are applied automatically each year without a new claim.

That said, if you believe you meet the functional criteria for Aid and Attendance but have never had it formally recognized in your VA rating, this is exactly the kind of gap our SMC guide covers — and closing that gap now means you’d already be positioned to receive this new allowance the moment it takes effect, rather than waiting on a new claim to catch up after the fact. Filing that claim (or amending an existing one) goes through the same VA Form 21-526EZ process used for standard disability compensation claims.

The DIC Increase for Survivors

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is paid to eligible surviving spouses, dependent children, and in some cases parents of service members or veterans who died from a service-connected condition. H.R. 6047 doesn't create a new benefit here — it increases the rate of the next two scheduled COLA adjustments to DIC specifically, adding an extra 1% at the first adjustment and an extra 0.5% at the one after that, on top of the standard annual COLA every VA benefit already receives.

This is a smaller, more technical change than the $833 allowance, but it's a meaningful one for survivors, since DIC rates have historically lagged behind disability compensation increases over time relative to the actual cost of supporting a family after losing a service member. For a surviving spouse currently receiving base DIC, this compounds on top of whatever the standard annual COLA percentage turns out to be for the relevant adjustment years — it does not replace or reduce the standard COLA in any way.

Unlike the $833.33 Aid and Attendance supplement, the DIC provision doesn't have a single flat dollar figure attached to it in the bill text — the actual dollar impact depends on the DIC base rate at the time each adjustment occurs, which itself depends on future COLA percentages that haven't been calculated yet. Surviving spouses managing a veteran's estate or their own benefits should also see our guide on veteran spouse vehicle benefits, since DIC eligibility often overlaps with state-level surviving-spouse DMV benefits.

The Home Loan and Reserve Component Provisions

These sections of H.R. 6047 get almost no news coverage because they don't involve a headline dollar figure, but they're a real part of the bill and worth understanding if you're a Reserve or Guard member.

Home loan guarantee fee changes: The bill modifies the fee table VA charges borrowers for home loan guarantees under 38 U.S.C. § 3729(b)(2), adjusting specific fee percentages and extending the timeline these fee structures apply under, out to September 30, 2036.

Reserve component eligibility expansion — the "Home Affordability for Guard and Reserve Act": This provision expands eligibility for VA-guaranteed home loans to certain members of the Reserve components who have as little as 14 days of qualifying service — a significantly lower bar than standard active-duty service requirements typically used elsewhere in VA eligibility determinations. If you're a Guard or Reserve member who has assumed you don't have enough service time to access a VA home loan guarantee, this provision is worth watching specifically, independent of whether the Aid and Attendance provisions apply to your situation. Your DD-214 or equivalent service record is the document that would ultimately verify your qualifying service days for this provision, the same way it does for most other veteran benefit determinations.

Pension payment limits: The bill also extends certain existing limits on pension payments, pushing a previous expiration date out from January 31, 2033 to September 30, 2036 — a technical extension rather than a benefit change, mostly relevant to how VA pension programs are budgeted and administered over the coming decade.

H.R. 6047 is not law yet. It has cleared the House, which is a real and significant step — House Veterans' Affairs Committee approval and a full floor vote both represent meaningful legislative progress. But it still needs to pass the Senate in identical form and be signed by the President before the $833.33 allowance or the DIC increase actually take effect. Bills at this stage can stall in committee, get amended in ways that change eligibility or the dollar amount, or get folded into other larger legislation — so the December 1, 2026 effective date written into the House-passed version is a target built into the bill's text, not a guarantee of what will actually happen.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), introduced it alongside a bipartisan group of co-sponsors including Reps. Van Drew, Crank, Hinson, Bost, Van Orden, Ciscomani, Radewagen, King-Hinds, Hudson, Kiggans, Hill, Luttrell, Wittman, and Miller-Meeks — a broad coalition that suggests reasonably strong House support, though that doesn't automatically predict Senate timing or outcome.

H.R. 6047 vs. the PACT Act: Not the Same Bill

Veterans researching this topic often search for it alongside the PACT Act, and it's worth being explicit that these are two entirely separate pieces of legislation with different purposes:

• The PACT Act (2022) expanded VA healthcare and disability benefits eligibility for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other environmental hazards, adding dozens of new presumptive conditions to the rating schedule.
• H.R. 6047 (2025-2026) does not add new presumptive conditions and has nothing to do with toxic exposure. It's narrowly focused on increasing the dollar amount of an existing benefit (Aid and Attendance-linked compensation) and increasing DIC survivor rates.

If you're specifically researching whether a new health condition might now be covered based on your service history, that's a PACT Act question, not an H.R. 6047 question. If you're researching whether your existing Aid and Attendance-linked compensation is about to increase in dollar amount, that's the H.R. 6047 question this guide answers.

Projected Payment Timeline

Assuming the bill passes the Senate and is signed in time for its current effective date, here's what the Congressional Budget Office projects:

These figures come directly from CBO's official cost estimate for the bill and represent the supplemental amount only — added on top of whatever a qualifying veteran's existing Aid and Attendance-linked compensation already provides, not a replacement for it. CBO separately estimates that enacting H.R. 6047 would increase on-budget federal deficits by more than $5 billion in each of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037 — a figure Senate budget considerations may factor into the bill's path forward.

Real-World Scenarios: Who Actually Benefits

Scenario 1 — Clear qualifier. A veteran with a service-connected traumatic brain injury from an IED blast has been rated for SMC-R.1 for the past six years, requiring daily assistance from a home health aide for bathing, dressing, and medication management. His current rating decision explicitly lists eligibility under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(r). If H.R. 6047 becomes law as written, he would begin receiving the additional $833.33 monthly supplement automatically once the provision takes effect, without needing to file a new claim.

Scenario 2 — Not currently eligible, but close. A veteran is rated 100% P&T for combined PTSD and orthopedic conditions but has never been evaluated for Aid and Attendance, despite his wife handling an increasing share of his daily care informally. Under the bill as passed by the House, he would not qualify for the $833.33 supplement, because his file doesn't currently establish Aid and Attendance eligibility — even though his day-to-day reality may functionally resemble it. His actual next step isn't waiting on the bill; it's pursuing an SMC-L or R.1 evaluation now, using the process outlined in our SMC guide, so that if he's found eligible, he'd already meet the bill's trigger criteria going forward.

Scenario 3 — Survivor benefit. A surviving spouse has received DIC for over a decade following her husband's service-connected death. Her monthly DIC amount adjusts each year with standard COLA, but under H.R. 6047, the next two adjustment cycles would each include an additional bump — 1% at the first, 0.5% at the second — beyond what standard COLA alone would have provided.

Scenario 4 — Reserve component home loan. A National Guard member with 45 days of qualifying service has been told in the past that he doesn't have enough service time to access a VA-guaranteed home loan. Under the Home Affordability for Guard and Reserve Act provision within H.R. 6047, the qualifying threshold would drop to as little as 14 days of service for certain Reserve component members — potentially opening that door for him for the first time, independent of anything related to Aid and Attendance or disability compensation.

Is the $833 Payment Taxable? Does It Affect SSDI or SSI?

Like standard VA disability compensation and existing Special Monthly Compensation, the proposed $833.33 supplement is structured as an addition to VA disability compensation under 38 U.S.C. § 1114 — the same statutory chapter that governs tax-free VA disability pay generally. VA disability compensation, including SMC, is not subject to federal income tax, and there's nothing in the bill's language suggesting this new supplement would be treated differently.

Regarding SSDI and SSI: VA disability compensation and Social Security disability programs are administered separately, and receiving VA compensation — including this new supplement, if enacted — generally does not reduce SSDI, since SSDI isn't a needs-based program. SSI, by contrast, is a needs-based program with strict income limits, and unearned income including VA compensation can affect SSI eligibility or payment amount. If you currently receive SSI alongside VA compensation, an increase to your VA payment — including this proposed supplement — could affect your SSI calculation, and that's worth discussing directly with the Social Security Administration or a benefits counselor if and when this provision actually takes effect, rather than assumed based on how VA-only compensation typically works.

What You Should Do While This Is Pending

You can't file a claim for a benefit that doesn't exist in law yet — there's no application for the $833.33 allowance itself right now. But there are concrete steps that put you in the best position if and when it takes effect:

1. Confirm whether you're currently rated for Aid and Attendance. Check your most recent VA rating decision letter, or download your VA Summary of Benefits Letter from VA.gov, to see if aid and attendance eligibility is explicitly listed under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(r) or (t).
2. If you're not currently rated for it but believe you meet the criteria, start that process now — don't wait for the bill. Filing an Intent to File preserves an earlier effective date for any resulting award, and that same effective date protection matters just as much here, since a later-enacted benefit tied to an existing aid and attendance rating would apply based on when that underlying eligibility is established.
3. Track the bill's Senate progress through Congress.gov or GovTrack rather than relying on secondhand headlines, since the effective date and exact language can still change during Senate consideration.
4. Talk to a VA-accredited VSO — DAV, VFW, or American Legion — if you're unsure whether your current medical evidence would support an Aid and Attendance rating. This costs nothing and follows the same evidence-gathering process covered in our SMC filing guide.
5. If you're a Guard or Reserve member curious about the home loan provision, check your current service days against the 14-day threshold and speak with a VA-approved lender about how the provision would apply once enacted.
6. Don't pay anyone for early access, faster processing, or a "reserved spot" for this benefit. No legitimate service can secure a benefit created by legislation that hasn't been signed into law.

How to Track H.R. 6047 and Contact Your Senators

If you want to follow this bill's progress yourself rather than relying on news summaries, two official sources are the most reliable:

• Congress.gov — search "H.R. 6047" for the official bill text, all recorded actions, and committee activity, updated directly by the Library of Congress.
• GovTrack.us — provides a more plain-language status tracker, including a rough probability estimate of the bill's chances of passage, though this is an independent estimate, not an official government figure.
• CBO's official cost estimate — the source for the payment figures and deficit-impact numbers cited throughout this guide.
• VA.gov's Aid and Attendance and Housebound page — the official VA source for current Aid and Attendance eligibility rules, independent of this bill.

If you want to advocate for the bill's passage, contacting your state's two U.S. Senators directly — by phone, email, or through their official website contact forms — is the standard way constituents communicate a position on pending legislation. Veterans Service Organizations like the DAV, VFW, and American Legion also track legislation like this and often provide action alerts or template contact information for members who want to weigh in, at no cost.unicate a position on pending legislation. Veterans Service Organizations like the DAV, VFW, and American Legion also track legislation like this and often provide action alerts or template contact information for members who want to weigh in, at no cost.

What Happens If the Bill Doesn't Pass

It's worth being direct about this possibility, since a meaningful share of bills that clear the House do not ultimately become law in the same Congress. If H.R. 6047 stalls in the Senate, is significantly amended, or doesn't pass before the current Congress ends:

• Nothing about your current VA compensation changes. You keep whatever standard compensation, SMC, or DIC you already receive, including standard annual COLA increases, which are entirely separate from this bill.
• The bill's sponsors could reintroduce similar legislation in a future Congress, as happens routinely with veterans' benefits legislation that has bipartisan House support but stalls in the Senate.
• Any groundwork you did in the meantime — confirming or establishing your Aid and Attendance eligibility — is not wasted. That eligibility matters for your existing SMC and Aid and Attendance compensation regardless of whether this specific bill becomes law, and it would position you well for this or any similar future legislation. You can also check your claim's current stage anytime using our how to track your VA claim status guide.

Common Misunderstandings About This Bill

"This is a $833 increase for all disabled veterans." No. It is specifically tied to veterans already eligible for the monthly Aid and Attendance allowance under 38 U.S.C. § 1114(r) or (t) — a much smaller, more severely disabled population than the general disability compensation pool of several million veterans.

"I can apply for this now." There's nothing to apply for yet. The benefit doesn't exist until the bill is signed into law. What you can do now is make sure your underlying Aid and Attendance eligibility is properly documented and rated.

"This replaces my current SMC or Aid and Attendance payment." No. It's described in the bill text as an amount paid in addition to the veteran's existing compensation — a true supplement, similar in structure to how SMC-K stacks on top of standard compensation rather than replacing it.

"This is already law." As of this writing, it has passed the House and is pending in the Senate. It is not yet enacted, and the December 2026 effective date depends entirely on Senate and presidential action happening on that timeline.

"This is the same as the PACT Act." They're unrelated bills addressing different things — see the comparison section above.

"A rating of 100% automatically means I'll get this. A 100% schedular rating alone does not establish Aid and Attendance eligibility. The two are evaluated separately, and this bill's trigger is specifically the latter.

A Note on Third-Party "Benefit Enrollment" Services

Whenever a new veterans' benefit gets national media attention, private companies and individuals often advertise "pre-enrollment," "priority processing," or paid case reviews specifically tied to the new benefit — sometimes before the underlying legislation has even passed. It's worth knowing plainly: there is no enrollment process for a benefit that Congress has not yet enacted into law, and no third party can guarantee faster access to, or a "reserved place" in, a program that doesn't exist yet. VA-accredited VSOs — the DAV, VFW, and American Legion — provide the same core service of reviewing your Aid and Attendance eligibility and helping you file at no cost whatsoever, with no retainer or percentage-of-back-pay arrangement. If you see any service specifically marketing early access to H.R. 6047's benefits, treat that as a signal to verify the offer against official Congress.gov and VA.gov sources before providing any payment or personal information.

How This Connects to Your DMV and State Benefits

Because eligibility for this new allowance runs through your existing Aid and Attendance / SMC rating rather than creating a separate rating of its own, it doesn't change your DMV or state-benefit eligibility on its own. But if the process of confirming your Aid and Attendance status turns up a rating change — for example, discovering you actually qualify for Aid and Attendance when your file didn't previously reflect it — that updated rating could also affect eligibility for state-level benefits tied to 100% Permanent and Total status, including registration fee waivers, property tax exemptions, and enhanced parking privileges. Once any rating change is reflected in an updated VA Summary of Benefits Letter, it's worth revisiting your state's disabled veteran DMV benefits guide to see what that unlocks at your local DMV or county tax office.

Glossary

• Aid and Attendance allowance — A VA benefit for veterans who require the regular personal assistance of another person for daily activities, referenced in 38 U.S.C. § 1114(r) and (t).
• DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation) — A tax-free monthly benefit paid to eligible surviving spouses, children, and in some cases parents of veterans who died from a service-connected condition.
• CBO (Congressional Budget Office) — The nonpartisan federal agency that estimates the budgetary impact of proposed legislation, including H.R. 6047.
• COLA (Cost-of-Living Adjustment) — The annual increase applied to VA compensation and most federal benefits to keep pace with inflation.
• Reported (in House context) — The stage at which a committee has formally sent a bill to the full chamber, often with amendments, for a vote.
• Reserve components — Military service branches including the National Guard and Reserve forces of each armed service, subject to distinct eligibility rules for certain VA benefits compared to active-duty veterans.
• PACT Act — Separate 2022 legislation expanding VA healthcare and disability eligibility for veterans exposed to toxic substances like burn pits; unrelated to H.R. 6047.
• Intent to File — A formal notice to the VA that preserves an earlier effective date for benefits while you gather evidence for a full claim.

This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or VA claims advice. H.R. 6047 has not been signed into law as of this writing, and its provisions, effective dates, and exact language may still change during Senate consideration. Always verify the bill's current status at congress.gov and confirm your own VA rating and eligibility directly through VA.gov or an accredited Veterans Service Officer before making any financial decisions based on this information.