Medal of Honor Act
Raises the special pension paid to Medal of Honor recipients.
What this law changes
From a secondary sourceRaises the special pension paid to Medal of Honor recipients.
This account is written from the official description of the bill. We have saved the law's official text and have not finished checking the account against it.
Transparency Score
The Transparency Score is the share of this law’s dollars that goes to what the law says it is for.
Transparency Score
Share of the text within the stated purpose:Not checked yetThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount. The score is the share of its text within the stated intent. That share is "Not checked yet": no reading of this law is approved by a person yet. 1 dollar figures in the text are caps, thresholds, penalties or figures in other laws, and are not spending.
How this is counted
- Transparency Score: dollars in sections a person approved as within the stated intent, divided by total dollars in the law. Shown as a percentage. Higher means more of the money goes to what the law says it is for.
- Beside it, the same two numbers the other way round: total dollars divided by dollars within the stated intent. 1.00 means every dollar is within the stated intent. When no dollar is within the stated intent this ratio cannot be computed, and the answer says so.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars, read from the law's text by the rules below. Dollars in a section whose reading is unclear or was not read count in the total and are shown apart as unclear.
- A law whose text provides and authorizes no dollar amount reads "No money in this law". Its score is the share of its words that are in sections within the stated intent.
- The score reads "Not checked yet" until a person approves the law's reading of which sections are within the stated intent. The dollar totals need no reading and are shown before that.
- The dollar totals read "Not checked yet" when more than 10 percent of the dollars read could not be sorted by the rules.
- Every dollar amount in our saved text of the law is read: "$1,234,567", "$5 billion", "$2.5 million". Margin notes, page marks and the table of contents are left out. Each amount is kept with the words printed around it.
- Appropriated: the sentence says "there is appropriated", "is hereby appropriated" or "out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated"; or the amount is the one an appropriations paragraph ("For ..., $X") provides under an account heading of an appropriations act.
- Authorized: the sentence says "authorized to be appropriated". An authorization lets a later law provide the money. It provides none itself.
- A list under such a sentence ("there is appropriated the following: (1) ...; (2) ..."): an amount that begins an item is counted the same way as the sentence says, unless the sentence gives a total first. Then the items are parts of that total.
- "$X for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030" is counted as X times the number of years named (here 5). The yearly figure, the years and the product are all kept. "For each fiscal year" with no years named is counted once, and the answer says so.
- Open-ended: "such sums as may be necessary" names no amount. It is counted as an item and adds no dollars.
- Rescinded: "is hereby rescinded", "permanently cancelled", or an item of a list headed "the following funds are hereby rescinded". Shown apart. Not subtracted from the total.
- Not spending, and left out of the total: an amount after "not to exceed", "not more than", "up to", "less than", "in excess of" and like words; a fine or penalty; a limit the law raises ("the limitation is increased by $X"); a figure the law strikes from another law; and a figure inside words it writes into another law ("striking $X and inserting $Y"), unless the same sentence says the figure is authorized or appropriated.
- Counted once: an amount after "of which", after "Provided, That", or after "of the amounts made available" is a part of a total already counted. Where a paragraph ends "in all, $X", that total is counted and the amounts before it are its parts.
- An amount the rules cannot sort is "not classified". It is listed with its words and left out of the total. Nothing is guessed.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars. The two are also shown apart.
What the law says it is for
Confirmed from the official recordThese are the law’s own words, and the words of Congress’s records, about what the law is for.
Official title
“To amend title 38, United States Code, to increase the rate of the special pension payable to Medal of Honor recipients, and for other purposes.”
The words under "An Act", Public Law 119-43, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 0d7b5802fd5edf26
Short title
“Medal of Honor Act”
The sentence that names the Act, Public Law 119-43, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 0d7b5802fd5edf26
Findings or purpose section
“Congress finds the following: (1) The Medal of Honor is the highest and most prestigious military decoration of the United States. (2) To earn the Medal of Honor ``the deed of the person . . . must be so outstanding that it clearly distinguishes his gallantry beyond the call of duty from lesser forms of bravery''. (3) The actions of Medal of Honor recipients inspire bravery, and the willingness to give all, in those who serve in the Armed Forces and those who will serve in the future. (4) Those listed on the Medal of Honor Roll exemplify the best traits of members of the Armed Forces, a long and proud lineage of those who went beyond the call of duty. (5) Pursuant to section 1562 of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall pay monthly to each living person whose name has been entered on the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard Medal of Honor Roll a special pension. (6) Recipients of the Medal of Honor have earned a substantial and historic increase to such special pension in recognition of their conspicuous gallantry, unwavering commitment, and heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty.”
Section 2: FINDINGS, Public Law 119-43, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 0d7b5802fd5edf26
Congress's summary · Congressional Research Service
“Medal of Honor Act This act increases the monthly special pension for living Medal of Honor recipients. The act also prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs from increasing the amount of the pension for inflation if the amount was already increased during such year. Additionally, the act extends a limitation on the pension paid to veterans who reside in Medicaid nursing homes and have no spouse or child. Currently, such pensions are limited to $90 per month through November 30, 2031. The act extends this limitation through January 31, 2033.”
Summary of the version: Public Law, Congressional Research Service summary: Public Law · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 00b32a7c2d1fbe45
The bill's record names no committee report.
Dollars in this law
Confirmed from the official recordThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount.
Left out of the total
- 1 figure is removed from another law.
Sentences with dollar figures in Congress’s summary
These sentences come from the summary of this law by the Congressional Research Service, a part of the Library of Congress.
“Currently, such pensions are limited to $90 per month through November 30, 2031.”
Source: Congressional Research Service summary: Public Law · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 00b32a7c2d1fbe45
Source: Public Law 119-43, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 0d7b5802fd5edf26
Other measures
Each measure has its own status. None is added into the score.
- Dollars in sections added along the way
- No money in this law
- Member-requested dollars as a share of appropriated dollars
- Not checked yet
No list of member-requested spending is printed in the 10 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
- Open-ended amounts (“such sums as may be necessary”)
- 0 passagesConfirmed from the official record
- Other bills whose text this law contains
- 0 billsConfirmed from the official record
- How the House passed it
- Recorded vote: 424 Yes, 0 No, 0 Present, 9 Did not vote, February 26, 2025Confirmed from the official record
- How the Senate passed it
- Unanimous consent, November 7, 2025Confirmed from the official record
- Committee report saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no committee report.
- Hearing saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no hearing.
A voice vote or unanimous consent leaves no record of how each member voted.
How these are counted
- Added along the way, sections: sections of the final law marked "added later", divided by the sections compared.
- Added along the way, words: words in those sections, divided by the words in the sections compared.
- Each text is read as a list of words. A run is 5 words in a row. For each section of the final law we count the share of its runs that appear anywhere in the first published text of the bill. 90 percent or more: in the first text. From 20 to 90 percent: changed. Under 20 percent: added later. A section with fewer than 20 words is not compared.
- Sections outside the stated intent: sections a person approved as outside the stated intent, divided by the sections read. The same count is given in words.
- Member-requested spending: the number of items in the lists Congress printed for the law, and the sum of their dollar amounts.
- A part that is not checked yet is shown as "Not checked yet". It is never counted as zero. No single blended number is given.
Time to read before the House vote
How long the text is public before the House votes on it. This measure is not added into the score.
- House
- 190 hours 39 minutes (7 days 22 hours)Confirmed from the official record
The House Clerk posted the text on February 18, 2025 at 5:56 p.m. Eastern. The House voted on February 26, 2025 at 4:36 p.m. Eastern.
6 pages: H.R. 695, Engrossed in House. The page count GovInfo gives for this text. The copy posted for the floor can be laid out on a different number of pages.
The vote: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 424 - 0 (Roll no. 51). (text: CR H857)
Posted: House Clerk, bills to be considered, week of 2025-02-24 · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint 5b0292e93144cd11
Voted: Actions on H.R. 695, Congress's data service · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint bc595e8586629c19
Pages: GovInfo's record of BILLS-119hr695eh · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint c8d9f7670ea92f46
How the time zone is checked
- The action's time read as Eastern time is the same moment as the recorded vote's own time in UTC.
- The file's own update stamp read as Eastern time is the same moment as the Last-Modified time (GMT) the file was served with.
- Senate
- Not published yet
The Senate publishes no time stamp for when the text of a bill is posted, so no time to read is given for the Senate.
How this is counted
- Posted: the moment the last file of the floor item became public on the House Clerk's weekly list of bills, before the vote. A file is public from the first time the list was published at or after the moment the file was added.
- A floor item lists the bill text and can list papers that go with it, such as an explanatory statement. The list does not say which file is which. So the count runs from the last file made public before the vote, and the moment the item was first listed is shown beside it. The count is never longer than the real time to read.
- Voted: the time of the House floor action in Congress's data service. When the House voted on the bill more than once, the last vote is used: that is the vote on the text that went on to become law.
- Time to read: voted minus posted, in hours and minutes. Both are Eastern time.
- Pages: the page count GovInfo gives for the text of the bill as the House voted on it. The copy posted for the floor can be laid out on a different number of pages.
- Which floor item: the one that names the bill. When several name it, the one whose words name the same kind of vote. When the House voted on the bill more than once that week and the list does not tell the votes apart, no figure is given.
- A floor item taken off the list, two floor items that fit, a text made public only after the vote, or a time zone check that shows another time zone: the figure reads "Not checked yet".
Congressional Budget Office cost estimates
Congress’s data service lists no Congressional Budget Office cost estimate for the bill behind this law.
H.R. 695, Congress's data service · Saved October 8, 2026 · Fingerprint ba943ce47adf86b7
Added along the way
Confirmed from the official record1 of the 3 sections compared is added after the first published text of the bill. 1 is changed. 1 is in the first text. 1 heading or short section is too short to compare.
A section counts as added later when under 20 percent of its wording appears in the first published text.
The first published text (Introduced in House, January 23, 2025): H.R. 695, Introduced in House · Saved October 7, 2026 · Fingerprint 3d78d90e948c2a05
Published texts of this bill, in order: Introduced in House (January 23, 2025), Engrossed in House (February 26, 2025), Referred in Senate (February 27, 2025), Enrolled Bill.
Sections added later
1 section
- Section 3: INCREASE IN DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SPECIAL PENSION PAYABLE TO MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS171 words
Amendments adopted
The record lists no adopted amendment to this bill.
Other bills whose text this law contains
The Congressional Research Service marks no other bill as one whose text this law contains.
Member-requested spending
No list foundNo list of member-requested spending is printed in the 10 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
Sections outside the stated intent
Not checked yetA person reviews each reading before it appears here.
What this law changes in taxes
This law changes no tax.
Our reader went through the full text. It found no sentence that amends the Internal Revenue Code, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule or the Tariff Act of 1930, and no sentence that names a tax, a tariff or the Internal Revenue Service.
How we read a law for this section
- A provision is one sentence of the law that says a part of a tax law "is amended" or "is repealed". The words are quoted from our saved copy of the law. Words inside text the law inserts into another law are not read as provisions.
- A sentence counts when it names the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or title 26 of the United States Code; when it says "such Code" and the last Code named in that section of the law is the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; when the law says that its amendments are to be read as amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the sentence names no other law; or when the sentence names no law at all and the amending sentence before it, in the same section of the law, amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
- A sentence that amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States or the Tariff Act of 1930 is listed under "Tariffs and customs duties".
- The tax type comes from the number of the Code section the sentence names. Sections 1 to 5, 21 to 26, 32, 35, 36, 36B, 62, 63, 67, 68, 151 to 153 and 211 to 224 apply to individuals: "Individual income tax". Sections 11, 12, 59A, 241 to 250, 301 to 385, 531 to 565 and 1501 to 1564 apply to corporations: "Corporate income tax". Every other section from 1 to 1400Z and 1411 to 1564 is "Income tax, individuals and businesses". Sections 1401 to 1403 and 3101 to 3512: "Payroll taxes". Sections 2001 to 2801: "Estate and gift taxes". Sections 4001 to 5891: "Excise taxes". Every other section, such as the rules on returns, penalties and trust funds: "Other tax law".
- A sentence that names a chapter or subtitle of the Code and no section is sorted by that chapter or subtitle. A sentence that adds a new section is sorted by the new section's number.
- "Old and new" is shown only where the law says both: "striking X and inserting Y". Other dollar amounts and percentages in the sentence are listed as printed.
- A change to a table of contents or a change headed "Conforming" or "Clerical" is listed apart.
- A law reads "This law changes no tax" only when our saved copy reaches the end of the law, no sentence above is found, the text does not name the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Internal Revenue Service, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, a tariff, a duty or a named tax, and the margin of the official print cites title 26 of the United States Code nowhere.
- Nothing here says how much tax anyone pays. That takes figures the law's text does not state.
Read from: Public Law 119-43, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 0d7b5802fd5edf26
On the record
On the record: Not started.
Press releases by members of Congress
From a secondary sourceThese are press releases from members' official websites that name this law. We save a copy of each one.
4 press releases
-
Congressman Van Drew Celebrates Medal of Honor Act Being Signed into Law
“Click here to read H.R. 695, the Medal of Honor Act.”
-
“WASHINGTON, D.C. —Congressman Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22) released the following statement after his bill, H.R. 695, the Medal of Honor Act, passed the United States Senate:”
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Webster Votes to Increase Pensions for Medal of Honor Recipients
“Washington, D.C. — Florida Congressman Daniel Webster, R-Clermont, voted to pass H.R. 695, the Medal of Honor Act, legislation that increases the special pension awarded to America’s Medal of Honor recipients.”
-
House Passes Nehls’ Bill to Increase Pension for Medal of Honor Recipients
“WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22) announced that his bill, H.R. 695, the Medal of Honor Act, passed the United States House of Representatives unanimously. Congressman Chris Pappas joined Congressman Nehls in introducing this bill in the 118 th and 119 th Congress.”
Read from 539 of 539 members' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
Press releases by organizations
No saved press release from these organizations names this law.
Read from 510 of 510 organizations' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
What it touches
Kind of law: New or changed rules. Budget effect: Changes payments to people.
Government
- Grants, benefits and subsidies
- Honors, names and commemoration
The economy
- Federal spending
Daily life
- Veterans and military families
- Remembrance and honors
Agencies it funds or directs
Dollar amounts:Not checked yetHow it passed
The House passed it 424 to 0 on February 26, 2025, with 9 members who did not vote.
The Senate passed it without objection on November 7, 2025. No individual votes are recorded.
The question on the official record: House, “On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended”.
| Chamber and party | Yes | No | Present | Did not vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House Republicans | 213 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| House Democrats | 211 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
How each member votes
The Senate passed this law without objection, so only House members have a recorded vote.
Pick a state to see how its members vote on this law, or show all states. Enter a ZIP code to see your own officials first.
Lobbying reports that name this bill
Confirmed from the official record1 saved lobbying report names H.R. 695. The amount is what the report gives for the whole quarter: everything the registrant did for that client, all issues together. A linked name opens that organization’s page on this site.
| Registrant | Client | Amount for the whole quarter | Quarter | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS | DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS | $149,180.00reported as expenses | April to June 2026 | Open the report |
See the lobbying page for H.R. 695
Senate Office of Public Records cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from LDA.gov.
Lobbying Disclosure Act reports, LDA.gov. This copy was read October 7, 2026 at 10:39 PM Eastern.
Where this comes from
We saved our own copy of each official vote file listed here before writing this page. A code beside a file is its fingerprint, a short code that changes if the file's contents change.