Lawmakers propose elevating POW benefit eligibility and offering a citizenship path for immigrant service members

A pair of House bills introduced last week seek to change how the Veterans Affairs Department assesses health care benefits for one group of service members and offer a path to citizenship for others. 

The bills — the POW Priority Care Act (H.R. 5539) from Rep. Mark Walberg, R-Mich., and the Veteran Service Recognition Act (H.R. 5535) from Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., — propose changing the VA eligibility requirements for veterans who were former prisoners of war and offering noncitizens serving in the Armed Forces an opportunity at naturalization, respectively.

Walberg’s bill — cosponsored with Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and introduced on Sept. 19 to commemorate POW/MIA Recognition Day — would elevate former POWs’ priority level for receiving VA benefits, which is determined by factors like service-connected disabilities, income and special circumstances. 

Former POWs are currently assessed in Priority Group 3 of the VA’s tiered system for determining how much veterans may pay for coverage. That group also includes Purple Heart recipients and veterans with a 10% or 20% service-connected disability rating. At that level, veterans are responsible for paying copays for things like certain medications and other services for non-service connected conditions. 

The POW Priority Care Act would instead move those veterans into Priority Group 1, which does not require copays for various inpatient and outpatient health care services. 

"Prisoners of War have endured the unthinkable to defend our freedoms and deserve access to timely and quality care," said Walberg in a statement. "As we commemorate POW/MIA Recognition Day, I am proud to partner with my colleagues on this bipartisan effort to provide the highest level of care at the VA to the men and women who have carried the weight of sacrifice with unyielding courage. We must keep our promises to our nation's heroes." 

Meanwhile, Takano’s bill — offered with a companion Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. — represents a third attempt to advance the proposal to allow noncitizen service members the chance to apply for naturalization during basic training and provide noncitizen veterans who have been removed or ordered removed from the country the opportunity to obtain legal residence, pending a review and if they have not been convicted of a serious crime. 

“If you are willing to raise your right hand, put on the uniform, and defend this country, you should have a clear path to citizenship,” said Takano, the ranking member on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, in a statement. “The Veteran Service Recognition Act makes good on that promise, and it gives us a way to bring home veterans who served honorably but were deported.”

Takano’s bill previously passed the House in 2022, but stalled in the Senate during the waning days of the 117th Congress. Padillia also offered a companion bill that year, but it never made it out of committee. 

Both bills have been referred to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, while Takano’s bill is also under consideration in the House Judiciary Committee.