Veterans VOW Act

Bill: 115-hr-6679
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Lamb, Conor [D-PA-18]
Introduced: 2018-08-24
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Congressional tributes

Military personnel and dependents

Veterans' pensions and compensation
Latest action: action_date: 2018-08-24
text: Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2018-08-24
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Veterans Valuing Our Widows and Widowers Act or the Veterans VOW Act</b></p> <p>This bill requires the payment of a Medal of Honor special pension to the surviving spouse of a deceased Medal of Honor recipient if that person was married to the recipient for (1) at least one year prior to the veteran's death; or (2) any period of time if a child was born of the marriage or was born to them before the marriage.</p> <p>The bill increases the special pension for a living Medal of Honor recipient to $1329.58 per month. </p>

tv_txt: I 115th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6679 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 24, 2018 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 recipient, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Veterans Valuing Our Widows and Widowers Act or the Veterans VOW Act . 2. Medal of Honor special pension for surviving 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 subsection 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 (A) In general Such section is amended— (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 payment of pension under section 1562 of title 38, United States Code, for months beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.