H.R. 647, Ensuring Veterans’ Final Resting Place Act of 2025

Bill Summary

H.R. 647 would expand eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) memorial items such as urns and headstones for certain veterans, their spouses, and their dependents. It also would increase operating expenses at national cemeteries. Finally, the bill would extend the reduction of pension payments for veterans and survivors who reside in Medicaid nursing homes. Finally, the bill would increase spending subject to appropriation for operating expenses at national cemeteries.

Estimated Federal Cost

The estimated budgetary effect of H.R. 647 is shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget functions 550 (health) and 700 (veterans benefits and services).

Basis of Estimate

For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R. 647 will be enacted in fiscal year 2025 and that outlays will follow historical spending patterns for affected programs.

Direct Spending

H.R. 647 would increase burial benefits and reduce veteran and survivor pensions. Enacting the bill would decrease net direct spending by $4 million over the 2025-2035 period.

Urns and Plaques. H.R. 647 would increase the options for burial benefits available for deceased veterans. The costs of those benefits are paid from mandatory appropriations.

Under current law, veterans are eligible for one of the following options:

• Interment in a national cemetery,
• Placement of a VA-provided headstone or marker on a grave that is not in a national cemetery, or
• Provision of an urn or memorial plaque for cremated veterans whose remains are not inurned in a cemetery.

Under section 3 of the bill, families of cremated veterans who die after January 5, 2021, could receive an urn or memorial plaque in addition to one of the other two burial options.

CBO expects that under the bill, some families who would choose to bury a cremated veteran in a national cemetery or elect a headstone for placement at another cemetery also would request an urn or plaque. Using information about the number of veterans who receive burial benefits, CBO estimates that about 21,000 families would request 4,250 urns and 16,750 plaques each year after enactment. CBO also estimates that families of veterans who will have died between January 5, 2021, and the date of the bill’s enactment would request a total of 6,300 urns and 25,300 plaques. On average, urns cost $410, and plaques cost $210. Thus, providing additional urns and plaques would increase direct spending by $65 million over the 2025‑2035 period, CBO estimates.

CBO also anticipates that some families who would elect to receive urns and plaques under current law also would request burial in a national cemetery or a VA-provided headstone as a result of section 3. Using information about the number of families who elected urns or plaques instead of headstones under current law, CBO estimates that VA would provide burial benefits for about 1,750 additional veterans over the 2025-2035 period. Costs for additional internments, headstones, and other burial expenses would total $2 million, CBO estimates.

In total, enacting section 3 would increase direct spending by $67 million over the 2025‑2035 period.

Headstones for Families. Section 2 would authorize VA to provide veterans with headstones or markers for their deceased spouses or dependent children whose remains are unavailable if they died before November 11, 1998. Under current law, that benefit applies to deaths that occur after the specified date. Using information on burials of veterans’ family members, CBO estimates that about 2,000 families would request a headstone or marker at an average cost of $280. CBO expects that most of those families would request the headstone or marker by 2028. Payments for headstones and markers are paid from mandatory appropriations. As such, removing the date-of-death limitation would increase direct spending by about $1 million, CBO estimates.

Pension Reductions. Under current law, VA reduces pension payments to veterans and survivors who reside in Medicaid nursing homes to $90 per month. That required reduction expires November 30, 2031. Section 4 would extend that reduction for 18 months through May 31, 2033. CBO estimates that extending that requirement would reduce VA benefits by $10 million per month. (Those benefits are paid from mandatory appropriations and are therefore considered direct spending.) As a result of that reduction in beneficiaries’ income, Medicaid would pay more of the cost of their care, increasing spending for that program by $6 million per month. Thus, enacting section 4 would reduce net direct spending by $72 million over the 2025-2035 period.

Spending Subject to Appropriation

Because more veterans would be buried in national cemeteries as a result of H.R. 647, CBO estimates that the National Cemetery Administration would require additional resources to provide burials and maintain internment sites. Burial and maintenance costs at national cemeteries are paid from discretionary appropriations. Using information about those expenses, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 647 would increase spending subject to appropriation by less than $500,000 over the 2025-2035 period.

Pay-As-You-Go Considerations

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or revenues. The net changes in outlays that are subject to those pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in Table 1.

Increase in Long-Term Net Direct Spending and Deficits

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 647 would not increase net direct spending by more than $2.5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2036.

CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 647 would not increase on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2036.

Mandates

The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

Federal Costs: Logan Smith

Mandates: Grace Watson

Estimate Reviewed By

David Newman
Chief, Defense, International Affairs, and Veterans’ Affairs Cost Estimates Unit

Kathleen FitzGerald
Chief, Public and Private Mandates Unit

Christina Hawley Anthony
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis