House passes a 3.6% VA disability pay raise, and the Senate still has to act

About 25,000 Alaska veterans with service-connected disabilities would get a 3.6% increase in their VA disability payments under a bill the U.S. House passed Monday. The Senate still has to pass it, and the increase is set to take effect Dec. 1, less than three weeks away.

The bill ties the raise to Social Security's cost-of-living adjustment, which is 3.6% starting with December benefits. It covers disability compensation, extra pay for dependents, the clothing allowance and survivor benefits for spouses and children of certain veterans.

For a veteran rated 100% disabled with no dependents, who now gets $3,938.58 a month under the VA's current rates, that would be about $142 more a month. At a 10% rating, it would be about $6.50 more.

"I don't think enough people know that our veterans don't get an automatic cost-of-living adjustment for their pay like somebody on Social Security," Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, the Democratic lead on the bill, said on the House floor. Congress has to pass the increase each year, he said, and it has never failed to.

"This year, we are cutting it awfully close to the deadline to get this passed through the House, through the Senate, and on to the President for his signature," McGarvey said.

The VA counted 25,184 Alaska veterans on its compensation rolls at the end of fiscal year 2025, more than a third of the state's estimated 69,063 veterans, according to its annual benefits report. Their payments added up to an estimated $663 million a year. At those 2025 levels, a 3.6% increase would add roughly $24 million a year.

Rep. Morgan Luttrell, a Texas Republican, introduced the bill April 28 with McGarvey. The House passed it by voice vote two days before Veterans Day.

"Many disabled veterans rely on their benefits to help keep their personal finances in order, such as paying for necessities like mortgages and groceries," Luttrell said.

Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas introduced a Senate version May 11, and it was sent to the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.