Who is engaged, and where it stands

Why does the GOP HVAC majority move fast and aggressively on some categories of veteran financial harm while refusing to engage the foreclosure crisis at all? Rep. Van Orden's own legislative record answers that question more clearly than any external analysis.

Test Case #1, George Washington University Investigation (May 8, 2026). On 8 days noticeRep. Van Orden launched a formal HVAC Economic Opportunity Subcommittee investigation into George Washington University, sending a letter to GWU President Granberg and a letter to VA Inspector General Cheryl Mason demanding a full investigation. The trigger: student veterans were being told days before summer classes started that they must pay $14,000–$20,000 out-of-pocket because GWU allegedly mismanaged Yellow Ribbon Program funds. Van Orden's quote: "Student veterans will now be forced to pay thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses... I am concerned that this issue may have occurred in previous years, but was not brought to the attention of the Committee or appropriate entities until now."

Test Case #2, H.R. 984, the Expedited Equitable Relief Act (originally introduced April 12, 2024 with Rep. Pappas as H.R. 7971 in the 118th Congress; reintroduced as H.R. 984 on February 5, 2025 in the 119th, currently pending in HVAC). Van Orden authored a bipartisan bill requiring VA to deliver equitable relief no later than 120 days after any administrative error is identified. The bill changes the operative verb from "may" to "shall", making the 120-day timeline mandatory. This is the same mandatory-language convention Van Orden used in the version of H.R. 1815 that became law: Section 3(h)'s administrative-guidance authority also uses "shall." Van Orden has championed the "shall, not may" enforcement principle across two consecutive Congresses and two separate veteran-protection bills. Quote at introduction: "We have a duty to take care of our veterans. The last thing they should be worried about is unexpected or incorrect issuances of thousands of dollars of debt. The Expedited Equitable Relief Act will ensure that no one else will be held accountable for VA's errors besides VA and that they must rectify those mistakes in a timely manner."

The foreclosure cohort fits exactly the category Van Orden's own H.R. 984 was written for and exactly the procedural toolkit he deployed against GWU within 8 days. In one documented cohort case: Freedom Mortgage never submitted the loan to VALERI; the VA never evaluated the loan for VASP per a VA loan specialist's written confirmation; the foreclosure was completed without the mandatory mitigation sequence Section 3(h) of Van Orden's own H.R. 1815 requires. In the broader cohort: 35,000+ veterans received erroneous foreclosure notices (the Pappas–Takano–Budzinski letter to Sec. Collins, September 2, 2025, remains unanswered 263 days later); 15,000+ families have been displaced since VASP termination; 90,000 more are in foreclosure right now. This is precisely the category of "administrative error causing thousands of dollars of debt to a veteran family" that Van Orden's own bill says VA must resolve within 120 days. The procedural toolkit that resolved the GWU question within 8 days, letter to the institution, letter to VA OIG demanding investigation, public hearing, would apply identically to Freedom Mortgage and the broader servicer pattern.

The accountability ask is therefore not partisan. It is a request for logical consistency with documented prior action: "Rep. Van Orden, you sponsored H.R. 984 (Expedited Equitable Relief Act) which requires VA to deliver equitable relief within 120 days of any administrative error. You moved within 8 days to launch a formal investigation into George Washington University with letters to the institution and to VA OIG when student veterans faced $14,000–$20,000 in out-of-pocket harm. Will you apply your own bill's 120-day standard to the 35,000-veteran wrongful-notice cohort? Will you send letters to mortgage servicers responsible for the wrongful-notice cohort and to VA OIG demanding the same investigation you launched into George Washington University?"

The bipartisan frame already exists, foreclosures are the missing piece. Protecting veterans from predatory mortgage servicers, claim sharks, and benefit-targeting fraud is not a partisan position. Sec. Doug Collins has stated on the record in oversight testimony that protecting veterans from predatory actions, fraud, and scams is a priority for the Department. The VFW's National Legislative Service (Kristina Keenan, Director) has actively pushed the bipartisan claim-shark agenda this Congress, with formal coverage in Stars and Stripes (March 3, 2026). The Predatory Lending Elimination Act (S. 3793, 119th Congress) and parallel House counseling and disclosure bills move on a bipartisan track. The CFPB has formally designated specific VA-program mortgage servicers as "repeat offenders" across consent orders in 2019, 2023, and 2024, with a DOJ False Claims Act settlement in 2016 and multiple state attorney general actions including Washington State (DFI, 2009) and New Jersey (AG, 2024). The foreclosure crisis is the same predatory-actor pattern bipartisan legislation is already addressing. What is missing is the application of that bipartisan principle to the families already being foreclosed on. The principle the Secretary has publicly endorsed (protect veterans from predatory actors) cannot logically stop at the mortgage door.

The Briley and Edmundson families chose to publish their case in Stars and Stripes on May 18, 2026 specifically to drive national attention to the long-term cost of military sacrifice on surviving spouses and catastrophically injured veterans. Two days later, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Republican press operation reproduced the full op-ed on the official HVAC GOP press page (DocumentID=7914, May 18, 2026), using the families' own framing as the official advocacy material to advance H.R. 6047. In their op-ed, the families wrote:

"The folded flag did not close a chapter; it began a lifetime of responsibility... We are grateful, for survival, for sacrifice, for the honor of loving those who served. But gratitude does not pay a mortgage. It does not fund adaptive equipment. It does not replace lost earning power... Service members are not wounded as Republicans or Democrats. They are wounded as Americans. The promise to care for them, and for those who live with the lifelong consequences of their service, should rise above party lines just as clearly."
Sharri Briley (Gold Star widow) and Edgar "Ed" Edmundson (father of severely wounded Iraq War veteran Eric Edmundson), Stars and StripesMay 18, 2026, full text reproduced by HVAC GOP at DocumentID=7914

This is the framing the families themselves chose and that the HVAC GOP committee staff officially amplified to advance their own bill. The line "gratitude does not pay a mortgage" applies with identical accuracy to the foreclosure-track families whose mortgage payments the same federal government, through VASP termination, Section 3(h) inaction, and the new H.R. 6047 funding-fee hike, has made structurally unaffordable. The leadership trio's refusal to apply consistent logic to both fights is the strongest internal evidence we have of the asymmetric pattern. The families being foreclosed on right now deserve the same official committee amplification, and the same legislative urgency, the HVAC GOP press operation extended to the Briley and Edmundson families on May 18.

The H.R. 6047 fight has been framed in the press as binary, support the bill or oppose it. The actual VSO landscape is three positions, and the distinction matters for understanding who is publicly accountable for what:

• Position 1, Support the bill, decline to take a public position on the funding-fee offset. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation (5/21 press release), the bill's namesake families Sharri Briley and Edgar "Ed" Edmundson (Stars and Stripes op-ed, 5/18), and Wounded Warrior Project (5/21 press release) all applauded House passage without addressing Sections 3 and 4. That is a deliberate institutional posture, not silence by accident. These are organizations whose mission requires bipartisan workability with whoever holds the gavel.
• Position 2, Support the benefits, oppose the offset. The VFW (Kristina Keenan testimony. The funding-fee hike would "break the longstanding promise" per VFW December 2025 pending-legislation page), the American Legion (Resolutions 314 and 38 opposing Section 4), Common Defense ("Bost Home Tax" and "VA: Not For Sale" campaigns), Mission Roll Call (Desmond HVAC 5/20 testimony on housing-instability-to-suicide pathway), and the National Consumer Law Center (Alys Cohen HVAC EO testimony, March 26) have publicly opposed the funding-fee offset on the record. DAV, PVA, MOAA, and IAVA have publicly supported the broader bill; their specific public position on the funding-fee mechanism is being verified against their written testimony for the May 20 HVAC legislative hearing.
• Position 3, Defend the offset as necessary. The House Republican leadership trio (Bost, Van Orden, H.R. 6047 sponsor Rep. Tom Barrett) has defended the funding-fee mechanism as the only fiscally acceptable path. At Rules Committee on May 19, Chairman Bost called the Takano amendment to strike the fees a "poison pill" for the bill and refused to make it in order (Rules Cmte 5/19, ~0:38:55).

Bost conceded on the record that the VSO letter does not support the offsets specifically. When Rules Cmte Ranking Member McGovern read the 19-VSO letter Bost submitted for the record, he pointed out that the letter says nothing about the offsets, only the legislation. Bost's response: "It does say they support for legislation. Correct? Okay. I did say offset because the legislation includes the offsets." (Rules Cmte 5/19, ~0:32:21) This is verbatim documentation that VSO support for the bill does not extend to support for the funding mechanism.

On May 26, 2026, Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH-1), Ranking Member of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, led 27 colleagues, 28 signers in all, in a letter demanding that the VA immediately implement a targeted foreclosure moratorium on VA-guaranteed loans until the Partial Claim Program is fully operational and deployable by mortgage servicers.

• First letter to cite the VA's existing authority. The letter rests the moratorium ask on the VA's current statutory authority to act, not only the additional authority Congress granted in the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act (H.R. 1815) in July 2025.
• Written response required by June 2, 2026. The letter requires the VA to answer, in writing, whether it will implement a moratorium and, if not, to "identify what legal, statutory, or other constraints it believes prevent VA from doing so, and state whether VA has conducted a formal legal analysis of its authority to implement a moratorium (and if so, provide that analysis)."
• Key line: "If a veteran has a reasonable opportunity to have their home saved through the [Partial Claim Program] under development, it would be cruel to foreclose on that veteran today."
• The letter cites the NPR investigation (Arnold et al., April 2, 2026) and the documented scale as of that date: more than 10,000 veterans already lost homes since VASP ended in May 2025 (the figure as of that letter). The current figure is 15,000+ (per Sen. Blumenthal, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, May 20, 2026), with 90,000 more in foreclosure right now.
• Washington signer: Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02). Read the letter and press release.

This is the strongest congressional push to date because it converts the moratorium from something the VA might choose to do into something it already has the authority to do and is declining to do, and forces that legal position onto the record by June 2. Outcome: no public response from the Department has been identified as of August 7, 2026, more than two months past the required date. UNVERIFIED · HELD

How to read this: Day counts increment from the date Sec. Collins made the verbal commitment, not from when the member first requested the information. In most cases, members had been formally asking VA for foreclosure data, partial-claim timelines, or constituent answers for weeks or months before Sec. Collins offered a verbal "we'll get back to you." The day counts above understate the wait. The pattern repeats at every hearing, and at the May 20 SVAC hearing, Sen. Duckworth publicly called Sec. Collins out for showing up empty-handed on commitments he had previously promised her under oath in February (now three months overdue). June 15 is a forward-looking deliverable, counter shows days remaining. Verbatim quotes are sourced from C-SPAN transcripts, official Senate and House records, congressional press releases, and member statements.

On May 19, 2026, the House Rules Committee considered H.R. 6047 and voted 7–3 along party lines to advance the bill to the floor. Rep. Mark Takano filed two amendments at Rules; both were "not made in order" on the same party-line 3–7 vote:

• Takano Amendment #4, strike Sections 3 & 4 of H.R. 6047 (the provisions that raise VA home loan funding fees). Goal: remove the offset entirely.
• Takano Amendment #5, strike Sections 3 & 4 AND replace the offset with an estate-tax-exemption reduction. Goal: keep the benefit increases but pay for them by reducing the estate-tax exemption rather than by raising veterans' loan fees.

Both amendments targeted the bill's funding-fee offset, not a foreclosure-prevention mechanism directly. The connection to the foreclosure crisis is Takano's substantive argument: the IRRRL fee that H.R. 6047 increases falls on "veterans in financial distress"Takano's exact phrase, who use the refinance program to lower their payments and stay in their homes. Raising the cost of that program directly undercuts foreclosure prevention. He laid out the argument on the record. Verbatim:

"H.R. 6047 increases benefits for veterans and survivors, but only at the expense of deepening the Trump administration's veteran foreclosure crisis."

"If we are to honor veterans with any sincerity, we must move beyond this paradigm of forcing one group of veterans to pay for the benefits of another group."

"[The bill makes it] more expensive for veterans in financial distress to access the Interest Rate Reduction Loan program known as IRRRL, which is one of the last available lifelines to help veterans stay in their homes."

Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA-39), HVAC Ranking Member
House Rules Committee, May 19, 2026

Takano directly named Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), the sponsor of H.R. 6047, on the record. His framing: "The choices Republicans and Representative Barrett have made have left me only with one choice, which is to oppose these bills. I reject the cynicism that permeates this legislation."

The bigger frame Takano laid out, "fiscal conservatives" only when veterans are paying

The sharpest part of Takano's argument was not the amendment math. It was a sustained critique of the GOP's claim to be the "party of fiscal responsibility" while expecting veterans to pay for veterans' benefits. Direct quotes from his Rules Committee exchange:

"I'm looking at the reconciliation bill that I'm sure that all of my friends here, all the great fiscal conservatives will end up supporting … most of it's not offset. The Senate bill that right now, according to CBO, is $72 billion. The war is not paid for. Nobody is talking about an offset for the war. The big ugly bill that you all supported added $3 trillion to the debt."

"There's money for these wars, there's money for tax cuts for the millionaires and billionaires, money for ballrooms. But when it comes to minor benefit increases for disabled veterans … [the offset is loaded onto veterans]."

Rep. Mark Takano, House Rules Committee, May 19, 2026

The point Takano made repeatedly: the GOP majority has had no problem passing trillions in unfunded spending on tax cuts, wars, and other priorities, but treats a few billion in benefit increases for catastrophically disabled veterans as something that must be paid for by raising fees on other veterans. This is the pattern, not a one-off.

Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), Rules Committee Ranking Member, echoed Takano's framing in the same hearing: "We have another veterans bill that helps disabled veterans, but pays for it by taking the money from other veterans." Later in the markup, on his own amendment, McGovern added: "Under this Republican-controlled government, there's always money to spend when it comes to giving tax cuts to the rich and funding illegal wars … Republicans spent $4.7 trillion on tax cuts that were not offset. But when it comes to this veterans bill, Republicans say we have to pay for it by jacking up fees on veterans who want to refinance their VA home loans."

Takano's prior record on VASP / foreclosure prevention, context for the pattern

Takano's H.R. 6047 fight is consistent with his work over the past year on the VA foreclosure crisis. After the VA terminated VASP in May 2025, Takano introduced legislation to reinstate the program, the FAIR Act (Foreclosure Assistance Immediately Reinstated), calling the termination "reckless" and "cruel" and noting that VASP had helped more than 15,000 veterans avoid foreclosure before it was cancelled (source: Congressional Record, 2025). H.R. 1815 (the partial claim law signed in July 2025) ultimately addressed part of the gap, but the VA has yet to implement it. (Note: The FAIR Act's exact introduction date and vote history have not been independently verified for this page; the framing here reflects Takano's documented Congressional Record remarks and the v2 SourcePack's confirmed-Congressional-Record entry. Verify the FAIR Act text against Congress.gov before citing it in a filing.).

The pattern Takano has been making visible: each time GOP leadership has had an opportunity to approve veteran foreclosure-prevention measures or block fee hikes that increase foreclosure risk, they have declined. The May 19, 2026 Rules Committee vote on H.R. 6047 was one more instance of that pattern.

The "Connected fight this week, H.R. 6047 and disabled-veteran funding fees" card below has the full context, including the two Takano amendments that failed 3–7 in the Rules markup and the prior HVAC committee markup amendment Takano offered on the same bill.

Sources: Takano press release on H.R. 6047 funding-fee offset · Stars and Stripes, May 19 Rules Committee coverage · Rules Committee video (5/19) · HVAC legislative hearing event page (5/20) · The Hill livestream of SVAC hearing (5/20) · C-SPAN program 679573, SVAC hearing record · Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee official hearing page

Bipartisan congressional voices, nonpartisan policy experts, federal watchdogs, mortgage-industry leadership, major VSOs, and national press have all named the same gap. This is what the public record looks like, in order.

• Apr 9, 2025CONGRESS, 22 House members (including Rep. Maxine Dexter, OR-3) send a letter urging the Secretary to reverse the VASP closure decision.
• May 1, 2025NONPARTISAN, Center for Responsible Lending (Mike Calhoun): "It's a bedrock principle of federal housing policy that borrowers with a financial hardship should be able to bring their loans current and avoid foreclosure." (responsiblelending.org)
• May 5, 2025VA SECRETARY, Sec. Collins, formal response to the 22-member letter: "Serving as a mortgage loan restructuring service is not VA's core mission, and VA was not given the authority from Congress to do so." Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs formal designation: Unsatisfactory. Congress passed P.L. 119-31 explicitly conferring that authority 86 days later. (veterans.senate.gov)
• Jul 2025CONGRESS, BIPARTISAN. Senate + House VA Committee leadership (Sen. Moran R-KS, Sen. Blumenthal D-CT, Rep. Bost R-IL, Rep. Takano D-CA), joint statement on H.R. 1815 passage: "No veteran should fall through the cracks or risk losing their home while a last-resort program is being implemented." (veterans.senate.gov)
• Aug 2025NONPARTISAN, Urban Institute: "Nearly 90,000 VA loans are seriously past due, 33,000 of which are already in foreclosure." Multiple analyses confirm VA borrowers lack deferral and affordable-modification options available to FHA and GSE borrowers. (urban.org)
• Dec 23, 2025LEGAL, 9th Circuit affirms Powers v. Collins (No. 24-6576; C.D. Cal. 2:22-cv-08357), Public Counsel's parallel litigation on VA non-implementation in the homeless-veteran-housing context. The same theory of unreasonable agency delay applies directly to the H.R. 1815 implementation gap.
• Mar 4, 2026NONPARTISAN, NASDVA (President Terry Prince), joint House-Senate VA Committee testimony: "VBA has not yet promulgated the regulations necessary to implement these measures. Consequently, the process remains opaque to Veteran borrowers seeking to apply for and use HLPRA's partial claim structure." (testimony PDF)
• Mar 26, 2026CONGRESS, H.R. 1815 SPONSOR. Rep. Derek Van Orden (R-WI), HVAC Economic Opportunity Subcommittee opening: "I am looking forward to full implementation of this partial claims program that will put the V.A. home loan program on par with other federal home loans in terms of options to mitigate foreclosure." Same hearing: asks the VA on the record to pause foreclosures until the replacement program is operational. (HVAC release)
• Mar 26, 2026NONPARTISAN, NCLC (Alys Cohen), HVAC testimony: "Veteran borrowers facing financial hardship should have at least the same access to workout options…as borrowers with loans backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA." (nclc.org)
• Mar 26, 2026INDUSTRY, MBA (Owen Lee, Chair-Elect), HVAC testimony: VA should "prioritize options that avoid increasing monthly payments." Confirmed partial claim ETA June 2026. (MBA Newslink)
• Mar 30, 2026FEDERAL WATCHDOG. GAO-26-107517: 174,045 veterans not referred to HUD-VASH supportive housing between 2020 and 2024. In 151,296 cases (87%), VA did not document any reason for the missed referral. (gao.gov)
• Apr 2, 2026PRESS, NPR (Chris Arnold + Quil Lawrence): "VA Loan Calamity", 10,000+ homes lost confirmed (ICE Mortgage Technology). Syndicated to 40+ NPR affiliates. (npr.org) Same day: ABA Banking Journal confirms 10,000+ veterans lost homes. (bankingjournal.aba.com)
• Apr 6, 2026PRESS, Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC): ~20-minute segment on the veteran foreclosure crisis. (YouTube)
• Apr 11, 2026PRESS, Rolling Stone (Michael Embrich): "Veterans Are Facing a Housing Crisis. Trump Is Making It Worse." (rollingstone.com)
• Apr 12, 2026PRESS, MS NOW / MSNBC Weekend Primetime (Max Rose): third national outlet to broaden the footprint of the story.
• Apr 21, 2026VSO, Veterans of Foreign Wars (Patrick Murray, Director of National Legislative Service), HVAC Democratic-led roundtable: publicly demands VA implement H.R. 1815 and pause foreclosures. "Yesterday is too late." Same event: NCHV characterizes H.R. 1815 implementation as "low-hanging fruit". The policy fix is straightforward; the gap is implementation.
• Apr 22, 2026PRESS, LA Times (Doug Smith): "Trump's big promise for veteran housing is AWOL in VA budget proposal." Quotes Mark Rosenbaum (Public Counsel) tying the systemic pattern to the Powers v. Collins precedent. (latimes.com)
• Apr 2026CONGRESS, INVESTIGATION. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Minority (Ranking Member Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT): SVAC Minority oversight team opens active investigation into the veteran-foreclosure cohort. Congressional Brief v9 (27-page case packet documenting the cohort and the regulatory pattern) delivered to SVAC Minority on May 6, 2026.
• Apr 30, 2026CONGRESS, INVESTIGATION. House Veterans' Affairs Committee opens a higher-level review on the veteran-foreclosure cohort, coordinated through the Elizabeth Dole Foundation (VP Government Affairs Meredith Beck) and HVAC majority staff. Cohort case packet (Congressional Brief v9) on file with EDF May 5 and forwarded to HVAC May 6. Review is active.
• Apr 30, 2026CONGRESS, ACCOUNTABILITY. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA, Senate Appropriations MilCon-VA Ranking Member), April 30 Subcommittee hearing on VA's FY27 budget request: secures Secretary Collins's verbal commitment to work on foreclosure-prevention and veteran-homelessness-prevention programs. Same day: House Appropriations Committee reports out H.R. 8469 (FY27 MilCon-VA bill) with House Report 119-622, directs VA to answer five oversight questions on a 90-day reporting clock, encourages the Secretary to continue granting equitable relief in administrative-error cases, and ties foreclosure outcomes to suicide-prevention data reporting.
• Spring 2026VSO, RESOLUTION, American Legion FL local post: passes a local-level resolution on the VA foreclosure crisis. Next step: review at the FL Department (state-level) conference, approximately June 15, 2026, for possible state-level passage. Carries institutional weight at major-VSO level.
• May 2, 2026PRESS, Newsweek (Aliss Higham): "Veterans Lose Homes as VA Relief Ends and Housing Plans Stall." (newsweek.com)
• May 8, 2026CONGRESS, ACCOUNTABILITY (filed; not floor-considered). Rep. Maxine Dexter (OR-3) files Amendment #60 V2 to H.R. 8469, bars use of any funds for the VA Secretary's travel budget until (1) the Secretary directs servicers to operate the targeted-moratorium framework already laid out in VA Circular 26-24-12, and (2) the Partial Claim Program is fully implemented under 38 U.S.C. § 3737 or six months after enactment, whichever is later. Update 5/13: the Rules Committee did not make the amendment in order under H. Res. 1275; it did not receive a House floor vote. The mechanism, pairing VA's own May 2024 Circular framework with a Secretary-level implementation incentive, remains available as a model for Senate-side action on the FY27 MilCon-VA bill.
• May 13, 2026CONGRESS, OVERSIGHT HEARING. HVAC oversight hearing on the West LA VA campus + the National Center for Warrior Independence. Three on-record moments from this hearing:
  
  Chairman Bost (R-IL): "I am happy to see the oversight plan from V.A. that shows how the Department will comply with President Trump's Executive Order to transform this campus. However, this report was 248 days delayed. The Department owes this Committee a clear path forward." Same opening: "Oversight does not mean standing in the way. It means making sure the Department has the tools, authority, and direction to fix what has been broken." (Direct parallel: H.R. 1815 is at Day 289 since signing with no operational Partial Claim Program, 41 days past the 248-day benchmark Bost set this week.)
  
  Ranking Member Takano (D-CA): opens by naming Jeffrey Powers, the lead plaintiff in Powers v. McDonough (now Powers v. Collins under the current Secretary): "Jeffrey has repeatedly asked why VA continues to drag on its appeal, and when will VA finally do the right thing and implement Judge Carter's order? I share Jeffrey's frustration." The same theory of unreasonable agency delay applies directly to the H.R. 1815 implementation gap.
  
  Rep. Van Orden (R-WI), H.R. 1815 sponsor, on the West LA budget request: "There's no way in hell you're going to come here and say $500 million is a down payment. You can't tell me what the actual cost is. You're going to come back for more stuff. That is absurd... I think that this really is a gross demonstration of what we call corruption and it's been going on since 1888 and it's unacceptable and it's stopping." Same hearing, same H.R. 1815 sponsor whose 3/26 ask the VA is still ignoring 50 days later. This is bipartisan oversight tone, not partisan.
  
  Sources: HVAC majority release (Bost opening) · docs.house.gov event page · full hearing video.
  
  Same day: H. Res. 1275 (rule providing for consideration of H.R. 8469, FY27 MilCon-VA bill) agreed by the House 214-208. Floor consideration of H.R. 8469 followed on 5/13–5/14, with the bill passing the House ("First FY27 Bill" per House Appropriations Republicans). 51 amendments were considered (mix of D + R); Dexter Amendment #60 V2 was filed but not made in order by Rules under H. Res. 1275, so it did not receive a floor vote.
  
• May 14, 2026VSO, VFW National Headquarters sends Secretary Collins a letter calling for a foreclosure moratorium pending Partial Claim Program implementation.