H.R. 1685 119th Congress House

Justice for ALS Veterans Act of 2025

Official title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to extend increased dependency and indemnity compensation paid to surviving spouses of veterans who die from amyotrophic… Show full official titleShow less

Introduced: February 27, 2025 Introduced by: Brian K. Fitzpatrick Republican · Pennsylvania See on congress.gov

Armed Forces and National Security Marriage and family statusNeurological disordersVeterans' pensions and compensation

Everywhere this bill has been 4 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Feb 3, 2026

Subcommittee Hearings Held

Mar 27, 2025

Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

Feb 27, 2025

Introduced in House

Feb 27, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

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What's happening now February 3, 2026

Subcommittee Hearings Held

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Justice for ALS Veterans Act of 2025

This bill extends increased dependency and indemnity compensation to the surviving spouse of a veteran who dies from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) regardless of how long the veteran had such disease prior to death. Under current law, such compensation is paid for a service-connected disability that was rated totally disabling for a continuous period of at least eight years immediately preceding death.

For purposes of compensation for a surviving spouse of a veteran who dies from ALS, the spouse must have been married to the veteran for a continuous period of eight years or longer prior to the death of the veteran.

Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must report on service-connected disabilities the VA determines should be treated in the same manner as ALS for purposes of dependency and indemnity compensation.

Related & companion bills 4

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 2

Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee
House of Representatives · subcommittee of Veterans' Affairs Committee
Veterans' Affairs Committee
House of Representatives

Lobbying activity 29

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

THE ALS ASSOCIATION
for THE ALS ASSOCIATION · Virginia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA
for PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
I AM ALS
for I AM ALS · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS
for DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS
for DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2025 (July 1 - Sep 30)
DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS
for DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
29 filings
SENATE
29 filings
Labor, Dept of (DOL)
16 filings
Veterans Affairs, Dept of (VA)
16 filings
Veterans Employment & Training Service
16 filings
Defense, Dept of (DOD)
14 filings
Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
12 filings
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
9 filings

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 29 filings →

Cosponsors 32

DeSaulnier, Mark

California · Aug 17, 2026

Kean, Thomas H.

New Jersey · Jul 30, 2026

Tokuda, Jill N.

Hawaii · Jul 22, 2026

Larsen, Rick

Washington · Jul 13, 2026

DelBene, Suzan K.

Washington · Jul 9, 2026

Magaziner, Seth

Rhode Island · May 29, 2026

Schneider, Bradley Scott

Illinois · Apr 13, 2026

Kelly, Mike

Pennsylvania · Feb 5, 2026

Hunt, Wesley

Texas · Nov 17, 2025

Mills, Cory

Florida · Oct 31, 2025

Riley, Josh

New York · Oct 10, 2025

Matsui, Doris O.

California · Sep 23, 2025

Norton, Eleanor Holmes

District of Columbia · Sep 23, 2025

Calvert, Ken

California · Sep 19, 2025

Ross, Deborah K.

North Carolina · Sep 19, 2025

Houlahan, Chrissy

Pennsylvania · Sep 17, 2025

Quigley, Mike

Illinois · Sep 16, 2025

Brownley, Julia

California · Sep 15, 2025

Panetta, Jimmy

California · Sep 15, 2025

Gottheimer, Josh

New Jersey · Aug 22, 2025

Crow, Jason

Colorado · Aug 15, 2025

Vasquez, Gabe

New Mexico · Aug 8, 2025

Lofgren, Zoe

California · Aug 5, 2025

Baumgartner, Michael

Washington · Jul 25, 2025

Lee, Susie

Nevada · Jul 21, 2025

Neguse, Joe

Colorado · Jun 20, 2025

Pettersen, Brittany

Colorado · Jun 20, 2025

Vindman, Eugene Simon

Virginia · Jun 20, 2025

Balint, Becca

Vermont · Jun 17, 2025

Van Drew, Jefferson

New Jersey · Jun 12, 2025

Budzinski, Nikki

Illinois · Apr 9, 2025

Pappas, Chris

New Hampshire · Feb 27, 2025

Cite this page click to expand

APA

U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 1685: Justice for ALS Veterans Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1685/

MLA

"H.R. 1685: Justice for ALS Veterans Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1685/.

Bluebook (legal)

H.R. 1685, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1685/.

Markdown link

[H.R. 1685: Justice for ALS Veterans Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1685/)