Congress remains largely on pause during the pre-election period.

The Senate is holding only brief pro forma sessions, with no legislative business expected, and is scheduled to return to regular business on November 9. Senate Democrats

So once again, there was no breakthrough this week on the major veterans legislation we have been following.

No resolution of the broader veterans-benefits package.

No resolution of the proposed changes affecting some future disability ratings.

And no resolution of the proposed increase in the VA streamline-refinance funding fee.

But veterans’ benefits, health care and mortgages do not stop because Congress is away.

Neither does the Department of Veterans Affairs.

And this week there were several developments worth knowing about.

VA Processed a Record 3.11 Million Disability Claims

VA announced October 15 that it processed 3,111,399 disability compensation claims during fiscal year 2026, topping the previous record of just over 3 million in fiscal 2025.

VA also reports that its disability-claims backlog has fallen by more than 70% since January 2025, current claims-processing accuracy is approximately 94%, and more than 60% of claims submitted by veterans are being granted. Those are the department’s own reported performance figures. VA News

For veterans, however, the number that matters most is not how many files Washington moved.

It is:

How long do I have to wait to find out whether the benefit I earned has been approved?

Faster is good.

Accurate and fair is even more important.

Veterans deserve all three.

VA Also Put Another $2.68 Billion Into Its Facilities

VA approved $2.681 billion in infrastructure-improvement projects during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026.

Those projects are funded through VA’s $4.8 billion fiscal-year maintenance budget, which the department says is the largest non-recurring maintenance budget in its history. VA News

That money goes into the things hospitals and medical facilities need to function: building repairs, equipment, electrical systems, elevators, boilers, technology and modernization.

It may not generate the most exciting headline.

But veterans receiving care inside those facilities probably care considerably more about whether the elevator, electrical system and medical infrastructure work than whether the project produces a good press conference.

And there is an important distinction here.

This is not proposed spending waiting for another congressional vote.

These projects have been approved for funding.

Veteran Homeowners Have a November 28 Date Worth Knowing

There is also an approaching deadline that matters to veterans having difficulty with a VA mortgage.

The new VA Loss Mitigation Waterfall and VA Partial Claim Program became effective June 15.

The Loss Mitigation Waterfall is essentially a structured process mortgage servicers use to determine which foreclosure-prevention alternatives may be available to an eligible veteran who has fallen behind.

A partial claim may allow certain delinquent amounts to be moved into a separate obligation so the primary mortgage can be brought current.

VA has now reminded mortgage servicers that they must have the new system fully implemented no later than November 28, 2026. Benefits

That does not mean a veteran experiencing difficulty should wait until November 28.

Quite the opposite.

If you are struggling to make your VA mortgage payment, contact your mortgage servicer as early as possible.

And remember: a partial claim is not debt forgiveness. It can be a valuable home-retention tool, but the amount placed into the partial claim remains an obligation.

Understand the solution before agreeing to it.

VA Rate Watch

Starting with this edition, VA Rate Watch will become a regular part of The Give and Take.

I want veterans to have a useful reference point for where the VA mortgage market actually stands — without using advertised rates from a retail lender competing for their business.

For that reason, our benchmark will be the Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices, published through the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Optimal Blue calculates its indexes using actual mortgage rate locks representing more than one-third of mortgage transactions nationwide. In other words, these are rates borrowers actually locked, rather than teaser rates from an advertisement. FRED

This Week’s VA Market Benchmark

30-Year Fixed VA: 6.90%

As of October 15, 2026

One week earlier, on October 9, the same VA index stood at 7.129%.

That means the VA benchmark improved by approximately 23 basis points over that period. FRED

That is a meaningful move.

But it needs to be put into context.

What 6.90% Does — and Does Not — Mean

The 6.90% figure is a national market benchmark, not an individual mortgage quote.

It also does not mean that every VA transaction is being offered at 6.90%.

A VA purchase, an Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL) and a VA cash-out refinance can price differently.

Actual pricing can be affected by:

• Credit profile
• Loan amount
• Property and occupancy
• Equity and loan-to-value
• Whether the transaction is a purchase, IRRRL or cash-out refinance
• Points or lender credits
• Lock period
• Other borrower and transaction characteristics

Optimal Blue’s public VA index does not give us three separate national averages for purchase, IRRRL and cash-out.

Rather than make up precision that the data does not support, I will use the overall VA market benchmark each week and explain the direction in which the VA market is moving.

What This Week’s Rate Movement Means

The direction this week was favorable.

The national VA locked-rate benchmark moved from roughly 7.13% to 6.90%.

That does not automatically mean someone should buy a house or refinance.

It does mean VA borrowers should pay attention.

For a veteran considering a purchase, a lower rate can improve the monthly payment and purchasing power.

For a veteran with an existing higher-rate VA mortgage, falling rates can move an IRRRL closer to the point where the monthly savings justify the transaction.

And for someone considering a VA cash-out refinance, the interest rate is only part of the analysis because increasing the loan balance and accessing equity have to make financial sense as well.

That is exactly why I want to include this number every week.

Not to tell veterans:

“Rates are down. Go get a loan.”

But to help answer:

“Has the market moved enough that it might be worth evaluating my situation?”

Those are two very different questions.

Meanwhile, the Proposed IRRRL Fee Increase Has Not Gone Away

That rate discussion also brings us back to something we have been following closely in Congress.

Legislation already passed by the House would increase the VA funding fee on an IRRRL from 0.50% to 1.42% for veterans who are not exempt from paying the funding fee.

That increase has not taken effect.

But the proposal remains unresolved.

And as we have discussed previously, the concern goes beyond simply charging a veteran more money.

A higher funding fee can increase the amount financed into the new mortgage and reduce some of the monthly benefit created by obtaining a lower interest rate.

In practical terms, it can raise the threshold at which an IRRRL becomes financially worthwhile.

That becomes increasingly relevant when rates begin moving down.

If veterans finally get an opportunity to reduce the cost of mortgages originated during a higher-rate period, making the streamline-refinance program substantially more expensive could reduce the number of veterans for whom the transaction actually makes sense.

That is why we will continue watching this provision when Congress returns.

And Congress?

The congressional scoreboard this week remains simple:

No change.

The major veterans package remains unresolved.

The IRRRL funding-fee proposal remains unresolved.

And the Senate is not scheduled to resume regular legislative business until November 9. Senate Democrats

Sometimes knowing that nothing changed is valuable information too.

Veterans should not make financial decisions based on a proposal as though it were already law.

What The Give and Take Is Supposed to Do

The purpose of this weekly update is not to manufacture political theater when Washington is quiet.

It is to answer a few much more useful questions:

What did Washington promise veterans?

What actually happened?

What changed?

What didn’t?

And what should veterans know because of it?

This week gives us a pretty good example.

Congress did essentially nothing on the veterans legislation we have been monitoring.

Meanwhile, VA processed a record number of disability claims, approved billions of dollars in medical-facility improvements and continued implementing a new mortgage-retention system for veterans experiencing financial hardship.

And in the mortgage market itself, the national VA rate benchmark moved approximately 23 basis points lower in less than a week.

Those developments matter to actual veterans.

The Bottom Line

There is not much give or take from Congress this week because Congress is not conducting normal legislative business.

But there is plenty happening in the systems veterans depend upon.

VA says it processed a record 3.11 million disability compensation claims during fiscal 2026. VA News

VA approved $2.681 billion of additional infrastructure projects during the fourth quarter. VA News

Mortgage servicers are approaching the November 28 deadline to fully implement the new VA foreclosure-prevention framework. Benefits

And our new VA Rate Watch shows the national 30-year VA locked-rate benchmark at 6.90%, down about 23 basis points from October 9. FRED

That rate does not tell an individual veteran whether it is time to buy, refinance or take cash out.

But the direction is worth watching.

And from now on, we will.

Because The Give and Take should not merely tell veterans what Washington is debating.

It should also give them useful information about the VA financial benefits they earned and the market in which they are trying to use them.

Congress will eventually come back.

Until then, we will keep watching what actually changes.

Not because Washington deserves our attention.

Because veterans do.

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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.