CONGRESS IS CLOSER TO RAISING DIC FOR SURVIVORS, BUT THE FUNDING FIGHT COULD RAISE SOME VA HOME-LOAN FEES

The legislation now moving through Congress carries two names many Americans may not recognize right off the bat, Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson. But the policy debate surrounding the bill is becoming impossible for the Veteran community to ignore. Lawmakers say they want to raise a long-stagnant survivor benefit. Critics say the way Congress plans to pay for it could affect another benefit millions of Veterans rely on, the VA home loan.

The Bill Moving Through Congress

The legislation is H.R. 6047, the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2026.

On February 12, 2026, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute by 13–10 and then voted 13–11 to report the bill to the full House. Advancing out of committee does not make the bill law. It must still pass the House, pass the Senate, and be signed by the president.

The Survivor Benefit at the Center of the Debate

The legislation focuses on Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), a tax-free monthly benefit paid to eligible surviving spouses, children, and parents of service members who die in the line of duty or Veterans who die from service-connected conditions, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

As of December 1, 2025, the base payment for an eligible surviving spouse is $1,699.36 per month, with additional payments available depending on family circumstances.

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Survivor advocates have argued for years that the benefit has not kept pace with financial realities facing military families. In testimony to Congress, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) said more than 500,000 surviving spouses receive DIC and that the benefit structure has largely risen only through cost-of-living adjustments since 1993.

What the Bill Would Change

The committee substitute includes two major benefit changes.

First, it would create a new $833.33 monthly payment for certain catastrophically disabled Veterans receiving the highest levels of special monthly compensation, including Veterans qualifying under 38 U.S.C. §1114(r) or (t).

Second, it would increase certain DIC payments by the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment plus one percentage point, beginning December 1, 2026, with the additional increase ending after the third adjustment.

Why the Funding Plan Is Triggering Backlash

The controversy surrounding the bill is not about whether survivor benefits should increase. It is about how Congress plans to fund the expansion. To offset the cost of the new benefits, the substitute text revises the VA home-loan funding-fee table in federal statute. VA says the funding fee helps sustain the home-loan program and is typically paid at closing or rolled into the mortgage amount.

Under the recommendation text:

• IRRRL refinance fees would increase from 0.5% to 1.5%
• Loan assumption fees would increase from 0.5% to 1.5%
• Subsequent zero-down purchase loans would increase from 3.3% to 4.3%

The legislation would also extend the higher statutory funding-fee schedule through September 30, 2035. These changes appear in the substitute legislative text adopted during committee markup.

What this change would do is penalize Veterans with additional fees for using the VA home loan benefit a second time, (or more) simply because they don’t receive disability or DIC benefits. Penalizing one earned benefit to fund the increase of another doesn’t math for the watchdogs and advocacy groups.

What the Bill Does Not Change

The substitute does not amend the statutory funding-fee waiver in 38 U.S.C. §3729(c). Under current law, the VA cannot charge the fee to several groups, including:

• Veterans receiving VA disability compensation
• Certain surviving spouses receiving DIC
• Active-duty Purple Heart recipients
• Some Veterans eligible for compensation but receiving retirement or active-duty pay instead

Those exemptions remain part of the statute unless Congress separately changes them.

Why Veterans Groups Are Pushing Back

Some Veterans organizations support increasing survivor benefits but oppose the funding mechanism. In testimony to Congress, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) said it backs improving DIC but warned against raising costs for other veterans to pay for it.

“The VFW cannot support reducing the benefits of one group of Veterans in order to expand benefits for another,” the organization told lawmakers.

Why the Debate Has Become Confusing

Part of the confusion comes from the fact that the bill changed during the legislative process. The original version introduced in 2025 included language that would have applied funding fees to some disabled Veterans who had previously been exempt.

But the committee substitute adopted in 2026 removed that provision and instead raised several entries in the statutory funding-fee table, subsequently impacting unaffected Veterans taking advantage of another earned benefit.

The Bigger Question Congress Now Faces

For survivor families, the bill represents one of the most significant potential increases to DIC benefits in decades. But the debate surrounding it has revived a deeper question inside the Veterans community,

Should one earned Veterans benefit help finance another?

That policy fight is much bigger than the underlying case for helping survivors, and it may ultimately determine whether the legislation becomes law.

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