I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1826 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide payment of Medal of 
Honor special pension under such title to the surviving spouse of a 
deceased Medal of Honor recipient, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 18, 2019 
Mr. LAMB (for himself and Mr. MAST) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide payment 
of Medal of Honor special pension under such title to 
the surviving spouse of a deceased Medal of Honor re-
cipient, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Valuing Our 
Widows and Widowers Act’’ or the ‘‘Veterans VOW Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. MEDAL OF HONOR SPECIAL PENSION FOR SUR-
VIVING SPOUSES. 
(a) CODIFICATION OF CURRENT RATE OF SPECIAL 
PENSION.—Subsection (a) of section 1562 of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘$1,000’’ and 
inserting ‘‘$1,329.58’’. 
(b) SPECIAL PENSION FOR SURVIVING SPOUSES.— 
(1) SURVIVING SPOUSE BENEFIT.—Such sub-
section is further amended— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(a)’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the 
Secretary shall pay special pension under this section to 
the surviving spouse of a person who was awarded a Medal 
of Honor as described in section 1134a(b) of title 10. 
‘‘(B) No special pension shall be paid to a surviving 
spouse of a person under this section unless such surviving 
spouse was married to such person— 
‘‘(i) for one year or more prior to the veteran’s 
death; or 
‘‘(ii) for any period of time if a child was born 
of the marriage, or was born to them before the 
marriage.’’. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—Such section is amend-
ed— 
(i) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘or 
married to more than one person who has 
been awarded the Medal of Honor,’’ after 
‘‘Honor,’’; and 
(ii) in subsection (f)(1), by striking 
‘‘this section’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 
(1) of subsection (a), or under paragraph 
(2) of such subsection in the case of a 
posthumous entry on the Army, Navy, Air 
Force, and Coast Guard medal of Honor 
Roll,’’. 
(B) SPECIAL
PROVISIONS
RELATING
TO 
MARRIAGES.—Section 103(d)(5) of such title is 
amended by adding at the end the following 
new subparagraph: 
‘‘(E) Section 1562(a)(2), relating to Medal of 
Honor special pension.’’. 
(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 
by this subsection shall apply with respect to pay-
ment of pension under section 1562 of title 38, 
United States Code, for months beginning after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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