PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 11, 2025
Helping Heroes Act
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish the Veteran Family Resource Program to address social determinants of health challenges experienced in veterans’ family units and ensure veterans and their families have access to services and resources to support wellness within the family units.
In implementing the program, the VA must (1) appoint at least one family coordinator in each Veterans Integrated Service Network (regional VA health care administrative areas), and (2) ensure adequate staffing and resources to ensure family coordinators are able to carry out their duties and functions. Under the bill, a family coordinator’s function is generally to serve at a VA medical center as a point person regarding VA and community resources for veterans, their families, and caregivers and survivors of veterans.
The VA may expand the program to additional medical centers as appropriate.
Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this bill, and not less frequently than once every five years after, the VA must survey disabled veterans and their families to identify and better understand their needs.
People & committees
Rep. Perez, Marie Gluesenkamp [D-WA-3] · D–WA
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 Health.
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.
Source last updated: Jun 3, 2026. 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.2077 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.2077 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.2077 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.2077 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 · 2025-03-11 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 the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to create a program helping veterans and their families connect with VA benefits and community resources. Family coordinators would help veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors find and use available assistance. The bill would also require recurring surveys of disabled veterans and their families about their needs, including support for their children. These are proposed requirements; the supplied record does not establish enactment.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, acting through the Under Secretary for Health and the Office of Patient Care Services and Care Management and Social Work Services of the Veterans Health Administration, establish a program
To help veterans, their families, their caregivers, and their survivors access and navigate the public and private resources described in subparagraph (A).
the Secretary shall conduct a survey of disabled veterans and their families to identify and better understand the needs of such disabled veterans and their families.
(1) the types and quality of support disabled veterans receive for their children; and (2) the unmet needs of such children.
Source snapshot updated 2026-06-03T08:09:04Z. 2025-03-31: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. 2025-03-11: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 2025-03-11: Introduced in House
Section 1 would name the bill the Helping Heroes Act.
This Act may be cited as the Helping Heroes Act.
Section 2 would establish the Veteran Family Resource Program through specified VA health officials and offices. Its stated purpose is to address social and family circumstances affecting veterans’ health by connecting clinical care, VA benefits, and community resources. Veterans and their families would define their own family units for this purpose; improved health and well-being are program aims, not established results.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, acting through the Under Secretary for Health and the Office of Patient Care Services and Care Management and Social Work Services of the Veterans Health Administration, establish a program— (A) to enhance the resilience, health, and well-being of veterans by addressing social determinants of health challenges experienced in their family units through person-centered clinical integrations, connections to benefits furnished by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and community resource engagement; and (B) to ensure veterans and their families have access to a continuum of services and resources needed to support wellness within their family units as they define the family units.
The program established pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be known as the Veteran Family Resource Program
Within five years after enactment, VA would have to appoint at least one family coordinator in each Veterans Integrated Service Network, a VA health care network, and provide adequate staffing and resources for coordinators to perform their work.
The Secretary shall carry out the Program by, not later than the date that is five years after the date of the enactment of this Act— (A) appointing at least one family coordinator in each Veterans Integrated Service Network; and (B) ensuring adequate staffing and resources to ensure family coordinators are able to carry out their functions and duties under the Program.
Family coordinators would serve as contacts at VA medical centers. They would need working knowledge of potentially available VA resources and community resources for unmet needs, and would help veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors navigate that assistance.
(A) To serve at medical centers of the Department as point persons who understand and have a good working knowledge of— (i) all resources that families, caregivers, and survivors may be eligible for under provisions of law administered by the Secretary; and (ii) community resources available to such families, caregivers, and survivors when they have needs that are not met by the resources described in clause (i). (B) To help veterans, their families, their caregivers, and their survivors access and navigate the public and private resources described in subparagraph (A).
As far as practicable, each coordinator would assess veterans’ and family members’ needs using evidence-based methods, build relationships with them, refer them to government and other resources, and maintain lists of supportive services inside and outside VA.
Each family coordinator appointed under paragraph (1) shall, to the extent practicable— (A) assess the needs of veterans and the family members of veterans using evidence-based strategies; (B) build positive relationships with veterans and such family members; (C) refer veterans and such family members to local, State, Federal, and non-Department resources to support the overall health, well-being, and treatment goals of such veterans; and (D) develop and maintain a list of— (i) supportive services offered by the Department; and (ii) supportive services offered by non-Department providers;
The program’s stated goals would include connecting veterans with family resources, strengthening cooperation within VA, collecting data to assess operations and impact, and maintaining and carefully developing community partnerships. VA would have to establish assessment measures covering referrals from inside and outside VA, health factors, and veteran and staff satisfaction.
The goals of the Program shall be as follows: (A) To connect veterans to family resources to increase their well-being and resiliency. (B) To develop internal partnerships to improve health care furnished by the Department. (C) To capture and maintain data to enhance understanding of process improvement opportunities and impact. (D) To function as a community liaison to bolster existing partnerships and conduct due diligence to form new partnerships.
The Secretary shall establish metrics for assessment of the Program, including metrics relating to the following: (A) Department referrals into the Program. (B) Non-Department referrals into the Program. (C) Health factors. (D) Veteran and staff satisfaction.
The VA Secretary could expand the program to additional VA medical centers or otherwise expand it to serve its stated purposes. Expansion would be discretionary.
The Secretary may expand the Program to additional medical centers of the Department or otherwise expand the Program to carry out the purposes specified in subsection (a)(1) as the Secretary determines appropriate.
Within two years after the program begins, VA would have to report on its progress to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees and the appropriations subcommittees responsible for military construction, veterans affairs, and related agencies.
Not later than two years after the commencement of the Program, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the progress of the Program.
the term appropriate committees of Congress means— (A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
The report would have to count veterans and children receiving supportive services, describe recipients’ demographic characteristics, summarize services and VA costs, and use a participant survey to assess whether and how participation produced positive outcomes and supported veterans’ health and treatment goals.
The report required by paragraph (1) shall include— (A) the number of veterans and children who received supportive services under the Program; (B) the demographic data of veterans and family members in receipt of supportive services under the Program, including— (i) the relationship to the veteran; (ii) age; (iii) race; (iv) ethnicity; (v) gender; (vi) disability; and (vii) English proficiency and whether a language other than English is spoken at home; (C) a summary of the supportive services carried out under the Program and the costs to the Department of such supportive services; and (D) an assessment, measured by a survey of participants, of whether, and how, participation in the Program— (i) resulted in positive outcomes for veterans and children; and (ii) contributed to the overall health, well-being, and treatment goals of the veteran.
Section 2 defines “supportive services” specifically around children’s social, emotional, mental health, career-readiness, and other needs. Examples include physical and behavioral health services and peer-support programs; the Secretary could include other services or activities considered appropriate for children’s needs.
the term supportive services means services that address the social, emotional, and mental health, career-readiness, and other needs of children, including— (1) wellness services, including mental, emotional, behavioral, and physical health; (2) peer-support programs for children; and (3) any other services or activities the Secretary considers appropriate to support the needs of children.
Section 3 would require VA to survey disabled veterans and their families within one year after enactment, then at least once every five years, with timing determined by the Secretary within that requirement. The survey would identify family needs and ask about the types and quality of support for children and children’s unmet needs.
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than once every five years thereafter as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determines appropriate, the Secretary shall conduct a survey of disabled veterans and their families to identify and better understand the needs of such disabled veterans and their families.
The survey required under subsection (a) shall include questions with respect to— (1) the types and quality of support disabled veterans receive for their children; and (2) the unmet needs of such children.
Section 4 would apply the listed federal nondiscrimination laws to any program or activity receiving funds provided under the Act. It also includes any other federal law prohibiting discrimination under an applicable federally assisted program or activity.
The following provisions of law shall apply to any program or activity that receives funds provided under this Act: (1) Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.). (2) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). (3) Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794). (4) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). (5) The Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.). (6) Any other Federal law prohibiting discrimination under an applicable program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
The supplied actions snapshot, updated June 3, 2026, records introduction and referral to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on March 11, 2025, followed by referral to the Subcommittee on Health on March 31, 2025. These are the actions shown in that dated snapshot.
Source snapshot updated 2026-06-03T08:09:04Z. 2025-03-31: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. 2025-03-11: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 2025-03-11: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-11. 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 or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion 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 and does not resolve formal earmark status in accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow carve-out, special exemption, or preferential exception was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Ordinary program eligibility and equal-access protections do not by themselves qualify. This conclusion does not extend to other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jun 3, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI