PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 18, 2025
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to employ a resident advocate in each of its domiciliary facilities. The resident advocate must (1) serve as liaison between veterans in the facilities and the VA; (2) receive complaints from such veterans, transmit the complaints to the directors of the facilities, and respond to such complaints; and (3) submit complaints to the Office of Inspector General of the VA when appropriate.
Additionally, state homes must also employ a resident advocate in order to be eligible for payment from the VA for domiciliary care provided to a veteran. A state home is a home established by a state or tribe for veterans who are disabled by age, disease, or otherwise and are incapable of earning a living because of such disability. The term also includes a home that furnishes nursing home care for veterans.
People & committees
Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] · D–NJ
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jun 13, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1413 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1413 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1413 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1413 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-18 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The bill would require a resident advocate in every Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) domiciliary facility, which provides residential care for veterans. States would also have to employ an advocate in a State home to qualify for payments for that care. Advocates would connect veterans with responsible officials and handle complaints. These are proposed requirements, not established law in the supplied evidence.
The Secretary shall employ in each domiciliary facility of the Department a resident advocate.
To be eligible for payment for domiciliary care provided to a veteran in a State home under this section, a State shall employ in such State home a resident advocate.
To receive complaints from such veterans, transmit such complaints to the director of such domiciliary facility, and respond to such complaints.
2025-02-18: Introduced in House
The proposal would add a federal-law requirement that the VA Secretary employ a resident advocate in each VA domiciliary facility.
Subchapter I of chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section
The Secretary shall employ in each domiciliary facility of the Department a resident advocate.
VA facility advocates would have to serve as a point of contact between resident veterans and the Secretary. They would receive veterans’ complaints, forward them to the facility director, and respond to them.
A resident advocate shall have duties that include the following: (1) To serve as a liaison between veterans in the domiciliary facility and the Secretary. (2) To receive complaints from such veterans, transmit such complaints to the director of such domiciliary facility, and respond to such complaints.
VA facility advocates’ duties would include escalating a complaint when they determine it appropriate. The clause names the Secretary and the VA Inspector General, an oversight official, but does not clearly connect those two recipients.
(3) When the resident advocate determines it appropriate, to submit such a complaint to the Secretary, the Inspector General of the Department.
For a State to qualify for payments under section 1741 for domiciliary care provided to a veteran in a State home, it would have to employ a resident advocate in that home. The proposal makes staffing a condition of payment eligibility.
State homes Section 1741 of title 38, United States Code, is amended
To be eligible for payment for domiciliary care provided to a veteran in a State home under this section, a State shall employ in such State home a resident advocate.
State home advocates would connect resident veterans with the State, receive complaints, forward them to the home’s director, and respond. Their duties would also include submitting a complaint to the VA Secretary, VA Inspector General, or an appropriate State official when the advocate determines it appropriate.
A resident advocate shall have duties that include the following: (1) To serve as a liaison between veterans in such State home and the State. (2) To receive complaints from such veterans, transmit such complaints to the director of the State home, and respond to such complaints. (3) When the resident advocate determines it appropriate, to submit such a complaint to the Secretary, the Inspector General of the Department, or an appropriate State official.
The supplied action snapshot, updated June 13, 2025, records House introduction and referral to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on February 18, 2025, followed by referral to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on March 21, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2025-06-13T19:16:15Z. 2025-03-21: Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. 2025-02-18: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 2025-02-18: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-18. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; earmark disclosures and accompanying committee materials were not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preferential treatment, special exemption, or carve-out was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Coverage of the policy’s intended beneficiaries alone does not qualify. This conclusion does not extend to other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jun 13, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI