WASHINGTON — Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina introduced a bipartisan bill on the eve of Veterans Day that would have the Department of Veterans Affairs offer free, voluntary help to veterans buying a home with a VA-backed loan or trying to keep one.
The VA Home Loan Navigator Act would create a VA program in which designated organizations help borrowers understand their benefits, navigate the mortgage process, resolve loan servicing problems and explore options to avoid foreclosure, according to the senators’ Nov. 10 announcement. The bill would also set training and conflict-of-interest requirements for those organizations and require the VA to evaluate the program and report to Congress every two years.
“We have an obligation to do more than say thank you to those who served our country,” Alsobrooks, a Democrat, said in the release. “Our veterans deserve access to affordable, quality health care, to be able to afford groceries and gas, and be able to buy a home.”
Tillis, a Republican, said the bill “will provide veterans with free, trusted guidance to help navigate the homebuying and mortgage process, understand their benefits, and address challenges that could put their homes at risk.”
How the program would work
Under the bill, the VA secretary would partner with nonprofit organizations that would be trained on the loan process, The Hill reported, citing the bill text. Certified providers could offer individualized counseling on loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention, coordinate among borrowers, mortgage servicers and the VA, and help with loan eligibility questions. The services would be voluntary and free to borrowers.
The VA home loan program dates to 1944. The Hill reported that foreclosure rates have risen as pandemic-era assistance programs ended, and that at least six other bills addressing VA home loans have been introduced in the 119th Congress. One of them, the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act, became law in July and set up a limited payment assistance program meant to help veterans avoid foreclosure on their primary homes, the paper said.
Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) introduced a House bill of the same name earlier this year. The Hill reported that the two versions are not identical but share the approach of working through outside organizations.
The bill follows another veterans’ push by Maryland’s delegation. On Nov. 6, all 10 members of the state’s delegation, joined by Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, asked the VA and the Pentagon to make Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda a demonstration site for expanded veterans’ care under the fiscal 2026 defense law, as The Washington Inquisitor reported Tuesday.
Vindman heart-screening bill
Across the Potomac, Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) on Tuesday introduced the Cardiovascular Disease Early Detection and Prevention Act. It would require group health plans, individual insurance, Medicare and Medicaid to cover Lp(a) and ApoB blood tests without cost sharing for people with certain risk factors, such as a family history of early heart disease, a prior heart attack or stroke, high LDL cholesterol, diabetes or obesity.
Vindman’s office said he introduced the bill after hearing from Johnny Boatman, a constituent and Army veteran who lives with cardiovascular disease and advocates with the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health. “I served 25 years in the Army, and I learned that the threats you see coming are the ones you can defeat,” Boatman said in the release.
“Too many Americans face serious health consequences because cardiovascular risks go undetected until it’s too late,” Vindman said. The office said the bill is endorsed by the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health and the Family Heart Foundation, and that it was co-drafted with leaders of Heart Sistas, Inc.
The current Congress ends on Jan. 3, and any bill that has not passed by then must be reintroduced in the new Congress to stay alive.
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