The Honoring Our Heroes Act of 2025 temporarily expands the VA's authority to provide headstones or markers for certain eligible veterans and extends the expiration date for specific pension payment limitations.
Timothy Kennedy
Representative
NY-26
The Honoring Our Heroes Act of 2025 temporarily expands the VA's authority to furnish headstones or burial markers for certain veterans who died after December 7, 1941, provided a marker has not already been placed. Additionally, this Act extends the expiration date for specific limitations on veteran pension payments by three months, from November 2031 to February 2032. The VA must also update its website to reflect these changes in eligibility.
| Party | Total Votes | Yes | No | Did Not Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Democrat | 213 | 204 | 0 | 9 |
Republican | 219 | 209 | 0 | 10 |
VA Gets 7-Year Window to Provide Markers for Veterans Who Died After Pearl Harbor; Pension Limit Extended 3 Months
The “Honoring Our Heroes Act of 2025” is a piece of legislation focused primarily on cleaning up some administrative gaps for veterans’ benefits, specifically around burial markers and pension limits. It’s a classic example of policy that doesn’t make headlines but makes a huge difference to specific families.
Clearing the Way for Final Honors
This bill grants the Secretary of Veterans Affairs a temporary, seven-year authority to provide headstones, markers, or medallions for certain deceased veterans. Why the temporary fix? Because of a specific roadblock created by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. That old law sometimes prevents the VA from furnishing a marker if certain conditions aren’t met.
Under Section 2 of this new Act, the VA can now bypass that old restriction for seven years, if the veteran meets three criteria: they were eligible for burial in a national cemetery, they died on or after December 7, 1941 (the date of the Pearl Harbor attack), and the VA hasn’t already placed a marker on their grave. Essentially, this is a time-limited fix designed to ensure that veterans who served during the modern era, but whose families might have missed out on a VA marker due to administrative red tape, can finally receive that honor. The VA is also required to update the National Cemetery Administration’s website to clearly explain this new, expanded eligibility, so families know exactly how to apply.
The Three-Month Pension Tweak
Section 3 addresses a much more technical, administrative detail concerning VA pension payments. Currently, there’s a rule in Title 38, Section 5503(d)(7) that places a limit on certain pension payments. This limit is currently set to expire on November 30, 2031. This bill simply pushes that expiration date back three months, to February 29, 2032. For the average person, this change has no immediate impact, but it maintains the status quo for a specific fiscal control mechanism for an extra quarter. It’s a small adjustment that keeps an existing administrative boundary in place just a little longer, likely to align with future budget cycles.