For the first time in several weeks, there is no need to ask which half of Congress is working.

Neither one is conducting regular legislative business.

The House left Washington on September 16 and is not scheduled for regular voting until after the November election. The Senate finished its pre-election work September 30 and, other than brief pro forma sessions where no business is expected, will not return to regular legislative business until November 9. AP News

So for the next several weeks, most major veterans legislation is effectively parked.

Unfortunately, veterans’ needs are not.

The Big Veterans Package Is Still Sitting There

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act remains unfinished.

That is the broad legislation containing more than 60 provisions involving veterans’ health care, disability compensation, caregivers, surviving families, combat-disabled retirees and other programs.

The House’s last action on the bill was July 16, when further proceedings were postponed after a motion to send the legislation back for changes failed by a single vote.

Nothing happened to it before lawmakers left for the election recess. House Rules Committee

So the major disagreement we have been following remains unresolved.

There are benefits in the legislation that enjoy substantial support.

There are also controversial ways of paying for some of them, including proposed changes affecting future disability ratings for conditions such as tinnitus and sleep apnea.

And there is the issue that directly affects VA homeowners.

The Proposed VA Refinance Fee Increase Is Still Alive

Separate House-passed legislation would increase the VA funding fee on an Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, or IRRRL, from the current 0.50% to 1.42% for veterans who are not otherwise exempt from the funding fee.

That bill, H.R. 6047, has been sitting in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee since June 2.

There was no further action before the Senate left town. GovInfo

So let me repeat the important part:

The IRRRL funding fee has not increased.

The proposal remains unresolved.

We have discussed why that matters. The problem is not simply that a veteran could pay a larger fee.

If the fee is financed, it increases the new mortgage balance and reduces some of the benefit created by the lower interest rate. That can raise the threshold at which refinancing becomes economically worthwhile.

For veterans who financed homes when rates were above 7%, that is something we will continue watching when Congress returns.

But Congress Did Get One Veterans Bill Across the Finish Line

There was one encouraging example this week of what can happen when the parties agree on something specific.

The Senate unanimously passed H.R. 10159, a bipartisan measure allowing approximately 20 acres of federal property near Fort Bragg to be transferred to North Carolina for construction of a new State veterans home.

The House had already passed the measure by voice vote on September 14.

The Senate passed it without amendment by unanimous consent on September 29, sending the legislation to the president. GovInfo

This is not a sweeping national benefits package.

But it is real.

It is bipartisan.

And unlike many of the proposals we discuss here, it actually made it through both chambers.

Sometimes Washington can still simply identify a need, agree on a solution and move it forward.

I wish we saw more of that.

A Sobering VA Report This Week

Outside Congress, VA released its 2026 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.

The report uses 2024 data, which is the latest year available.

VA reported 6,488 veteran suicides in 2024, an average of 17.7 per day.

Perhaps the most significant finding is where many of those veterans were not.

VA reports that 62% of veterans who died by suicide in 2024 had not received VA health care during the year they died or the preceding year. VA News

There was an important difference between veterans connected with the VA health system and those who were not.

From 2023 to 2024, VA reported that the suicide rate among veterans enrolled in VA health care declined 4.8%, while the rate among unenrolled veterans increased 3.7%. Those are VA’s reported figures and should be understood in the context of its annual statistical analysis. VA News

Those numbers reinforce a point that goes beyond politics:

Connecting veterans with services matters.

$112 Million Is Going Into Community Suicide Prevention

VA also announced $111.9 million in grants to 191 community organizations through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program.

The grants become available in fiscal year 2027 and are intended to reach veterans through community organizations, state and local governments, tribal organizations and other groups—including veterans who may not currently be using VA health care. VA News

VA says approximately 17,000 veterans, servicemembers and family members received assistance from organizations participating in the program during 2025.

Again, this is an important distinction for The Give and Take.

This is not somebody announcing a bill.

The money has actually been awarded.

Veterans Are Also Getting More Information About Medications

VA made another policy change this week that deserves mention.

Beginning in 2027, VA plans to expand informed-consent requirements involving certain psychiatric and pain medications.

Among the changes will be signed consent before simultaneously prescribing opioids and benzodiazepines, signed consent before prescribing an antidepressant to a veteran younger than 30, and standardized education about risks, benefits, alternatives and safely discontinuing certain medications. VA News

Whatever treatment a veteran and physician ultimately choose, providing more information before that decision is made is meaningful.

So Where Does This Leave Us?

Congress is gone until after the election.

The major veterans benefits package remains unresolved.

The proposed VA streamline-refinance fee increase remains unresolved.

But one bipartisan veterans-home measure did make it through both chambers.

And while Congress closed up shop, VA announced almost $112 million for community suicide-prevention programs and released new information showing just how important reaching veterans outside the VA health system may be.

That is the real Give and Take this week.

The Bottom Line

It would be easy to make this week’s story simply:

Congress went home.

But that would miss part of what happened.

Congress left a great deal of veterans business unfinished.

That deserves scrutiny.

But lawmakers also demonstrated with the Fort Bragg veterans-home legislation that bipartisan veterans legislation can still move quickly when there is agreement.

And the Department of Veterans Affairs continued operating and implementing programs regardless of whether Congress was in Washington.

Veterans do not stop needing medical care because there is an election.

They do not stop making mortgage payments.

Disabilities do not take a recess.

Families do not stop needing benefits.

So neither will The Give and Take.

We will continue watching what Washington promises, what it actually delivers and what veterans may be asked to give up in return.

Because veterans earned more than campaign-season promises.

They earned our attention to what actually gets done.

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If you are a veteran in crisis, or concerned about one, the Veterans Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day. Call 988 and press 1, text 838255, or use the Veterans Crisis Line online chat. VA News

About the Author

Clay Edmonds is the Corporate Educator and Complete Mortgage Advisor at Complete Mortgage LLC in Hollywood, Florida, and the creator of MortgageSimplified.net. With more than four decades of experience in real estate finance, Clay focuses on simplifying the mortgage process and helping veterans, borrowers and real estate professionals make smarter financing decisions.