Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act

Sponsored by Rep. Robert P. Bresnahan (R-PA) · 18 active : 14 Republicans, 4 Democrats

Latest action: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Read the summary

Where it standsPassed House, now in the Senate

Passed House

House: passedMay 19, 2025
Senate: next
President: not yet

8 senators score as swing votes

Summary

, via Congress.gov

Summary on Congress.gov

Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to seek to enter an agreement with a federally funded research and development center to assess the forms that the VA sends to claimants. The center must submit a written assessment to the VA that includes recommendations on how the VA may make the forms clearer and more organized.

The VA must implement certain recommendations in the assessment within two years after the assessment is received.

How the projections held up

Each member’s recorded vote compared with their swing projection from before the vote. A member by voting against most of their own party.

House

On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as AmendedPassed386 yea, 1 nayMay 19, 2025 · Roll call 133

How members in each band voted on this House vote, by their projection before the vote
BandBand before the vote	VotedVoted yea or nay	BrokeBroke with party	Share
Swing	30	0	0%
Middle	188	0	0%
Entrenched	98	1	1%

Committees and subjects

Committees

House Committee on Veterans' Affairs · HouseReported by · Markup by · Referred to
Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs · HouseReported by · Markup by · Hearings by (subcommittee) · Referred to
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs · SenateReferred to

Subjects

Congressional oversight
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Research and development
Veterans' pensions and compensation

Senate · 100 House · 433

Model

v3defaultv2

Directional: count only breaks toward the other party Why do scores change?

How the House breaks down

50Swing 70–100
255Middle 30–70
126Entrenched 0–30
2Insufficient data not ranked

Members fall into . 2 representatives don’t have enough data yet and are marked “insufficient data”. Non-voting delegates are not counted. The bill is not before the House right now; these scores show where members would stand.

Key players in the House

Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v3, directional

: only movement toward the other party counts, so members who sit further from the center than their party no longer score as swing votes.

Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, , and the . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.

Similar past votes, House

Earlier behind swing-v3’s input

Similar votes count toward swing-v3 in the House: total similarity weight 69.5 (needs 5.0).

H.R. 1041 · May 21, 2026 · Roll call 550On PassageVeterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act
PassedShared subjects×1.0
H.R. 8800 · Jul 22, 2026 · Roll call 638On PassageNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
PassedSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 22, 2026 · Roll call 636On Agreeing to the Amendment
FailedSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 22, 2026 · Roll call 635On Agreeing to the Amendment
Agreed toSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 22, 2026 · Roll call 634On Agreeing to the Amendment
FailedSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 22, 2026 · Roll call 633On Agreeing to the Amendment
Agreed toSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 21, 2026 · Roll call 629On Agreeing to the Amendment
FailedSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 21, 2026 · Roll call 628On Agreeing to the Amendment
Agreed toSame policy area×0.5

Show 17 more

H.R. 8800 · Jul 21, 2026 · Roll call 627On Agreeing to the Amendment
Agreed toSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 21, 2026 · Roll call 626On Agreeing to the Amendment
FailedSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 21, 2026 · Roll call 625On Agreeing to the Amendment
Agreed toSame policy area×0.5
H.R. 8800 · Jul 21, 2026 · Roll call 624On Agreeing to the Amendment
FailedSame policy area×0.5

Cosponsors

18 active

Show all 18 cosponsors

David G. Valadao (R-CA-22)
Donald G. Davis (D-NC-1)
Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19)
Josh Harder (D-CA-9)
Mike Bost (R-IL-12)
Daniel Meuser (R-PA-9)
August Pfluger (R-TX-11)
Barry Moore (R-AL-1)
Glenn Thompson (R-PA-15)
Monica De La Cruz (R-TX-15)
Pete Stauber (R-MN-8)
Steve Womack (R-AR-3)
Darrell Issa (R-CA-48)
Susie Lee (D-NV-3)
J. French Hill (R-AR-2)
Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23)
Roger Williams (R-TX-25)
Michelle Fischbach (R-MN-7)

How the swing score works

Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.

Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.

Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.

Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.

Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.

Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.

All voting members	380	1	0%

1
Jared F. GoldenDemocrat · Maine 2nd · Lean R+4On the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 24% of 137 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
94Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected: 94 Swing
ContactCall 202-225-6306 Website
2
Marie Gluesenkamp PerezDemocrat · Washington 3rd · Lean R+2On the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 25% of 137 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
93Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected: 93 Swing
Contact
3
Brian K. FitzpatrickRepublican · Pennsylvania 1st · Lean D+1On the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 39% of 137 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
93Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected: 93 Swing
Contact
4
Jennifer A. KiggansRepublican · Virginia 2nd · Lean EVENHouse Committee on Veterans' AffairsOn the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
Committee
Broke with party on 10% of 137 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
Today92Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:Not voting
5
Michael LawlerRepublican · New York 17th · Lean D+1On the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 19% of 137 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
92Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected: 92 Swing
ContactCall
6
Henry CuellarDemocrat · Texas 28th · Lean R+2On the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 33% of 138 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
91Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected: 91 Swing
ContactCall
7
Maggie GoodlanderDemocrat · New Hampshire 2nd · Lean D+2House Committee on Veterans' AffairsOn the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
Committee
Broke with party on 7% of 43 similar votes
Today91Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected at the vote: Insufficient data
8
Don BaconRepublican · Nebraska 2nd · Lean D+3On the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 14% of 138 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
Today90Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected at the vote: 85 Swing (today: 90)
9
Thomas H. KeanRepublican · New Jersey 7th · Lean EVENOn the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 15% of 133 similar votesTopic-matched scorecard: Heritage Action, LCV
90Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected: 90 Swing
ContactCall
10
Adam GrayDemocrat · California 13th · Lean R+1On the ballot
Ideology gap
Scorecard gap
Cross-pressure
Similar votes
CommitteeNo committee seatBroke with party on 33% of 42 similar votes
Today89Swing
Vote on passage, May 19, 2025:YeaProjected at the vote: — Insufficient data (today: 89)
Contact