Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act

Sponsored by Rep. Elise M. Stefanik (R-NY) · 2 active : 2 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: passedFeb 2, 2026
Senate: next
President: not yet

9 senators score as swing votes

Summary

, via Congress.gov

Summary on Congress.gov

Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act

Read full summary

This bill establishes procedures for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to issue a pension that was due but unpaid at the time of a veteran’s death. Specifically, if the VA issues a decision awarding entitlement to a pension to a veteran prior to the veteran’s death but issues the payment after the veteran dies, the pension must be paid to the first available recipient on the following list: (1) the veteran’s living spouse; (2) the veteran’s living children; (3) the veteran’s living dependent parents; or (4) the estate of the veteran, unless the estate will escheat (i.e., transfer to the state). To be eligible for such pension payments, a claimant of accrued benefits must file an application within one year after the veteran's death.

If no application for accrued benefits is filed within one year following the death of the veteran, the pension must be paid to the veteran’s estate unless the estate will escheat.

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 AmendedPassed405 yea, 1 nayFebruary 2, 2026 · Roll call 50

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	50	0	0%
Middle	200	1	1%
Entrenched	152	0	0%
All

Committees and subjects

Committees

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

Subjects

Family relationships
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

44Swing 70–100
205Middle 30–70
182Entrenched 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-v2, 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, . 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

2 active

Show all 2 cosponsors

Ro Khanna (D-CA-17)
Susie Lee (D-NV-3)

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.