H.R. 659 · 119th Congress

Veterans Law Judge Experience Act of 2025

Introduced on Jan 23, 2025 by Julia Brownley (D-CA-26). 4 cosponsors, all from the sponsor's party. Latest action (Jan 26, 2026): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Jan 23, 2025
Cosponsors
4
0 from the other party
Policy area
Armed Forces and National Security
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals to give priority to individuals with certain professional experience in recommending such individuals to serve as members of the Board of Veterans' Appeals, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative remedies
  • Lawyers and legal services
  • Veterans' pensions and compensation

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Jan 23, 2025). Public domain.

Veterans Law Judge Experience Act of 2025

This bill requires the Chairman of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals to prioritize individuals with three or more years of legal professional experience in relevant legal areas when recommending individuals to the Department of Veterans Affairs to serve as members of the Board.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Julia BrownleyD-CA-26Sponsor

Democrats · 4

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jan 23, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Jan 23, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Jan 23, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  4. Mar 4, 2025 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
  5. Jun 24, 2025 · HouseSubcommittee Hearings Held
  6. Jul 3, 2025 · HouseSubcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Discharged
  7. Jul 23, 2025 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  8. Jul 23, 2025 · HouseOrdered to be Reported by Voice Vote.
  9. Sep 26, 2025Reported by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. H. Rept. 119-309.
  10. Sep 26, 2025 · HouseReported by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. H. Rept. 119-309.
  11. Sep 26, 2025 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 263.
  12. Jan 20, 2026 · HouseMr. Bost moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
  13. Jan 20, 2026 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H936-937)
  14. Jan 20, 2026 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 659.
  15. Jan 20, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H936)
  16. Jan 20, 2026 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H936)
  17. Jan 20, 2026 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  18. Jan 26, 2026 · SenateReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS6 reports
    $910.6K reported (all issues)
  2. National Organization of Veterans' Advocates, Inc.5 reports
    $335K reported (all issues)
  3. PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA5 reports
    $483.9K reported (all issues)
  4. AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO4 reports
    $1.8M reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.