Review Every Veterans Claim Act of 2025

The bill would prohibit the VA from denying a benefits claim on the sole basis that the veteran failed to appear for a VA-provided medical examination tied to that claim. It would also require the VA and the Board of Veterans' Appeals to track and annually report data on remanded claims, docket-advancement motions, dismissed appeals, and untracked claims stuck in the National Work Queue. The Board would gain new authority to aggregate appeals raising common legal or factual questions, and the Secretary would have to ensure "substantial compliance" with Board remand orders. The bill would further expand the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims' jurisdiction to include class-action-style claims and limited remands to the Board, create a Board quality-assurance and training program, commission an outside feasibility study on precedential Board decisions, and extend an existing statutory limit on certain pension payments from November 30, 2031, to December 31, 2034. It would not create new benefit categories or increase payment amounts.

Veterans with pending claims or appeals for VA benefits, particularly those who miss scheduled medical exams; the Veterans Benefits Administration and its adjudicators; the Board of Veterans' Appeals and its members and staff; the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; and veterans receiving pensions subject to the payment-limit provision.

Veterans who miss VA medical exams for reasons like transportation, health, or scheduling conflicts would no longer risk automatic claim denial. The added reporting, tracking, aggregation, and class-action authority are meant to reduce delays and inconsistency in a claims and appeals system veterans and advocates have long criticized as slow and opaque.

The VA and Board of Veterans' Appeals would need to build new tracking technology, issue implementing guidelines, and file a series of annual reports to the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees on remand times, docket motions, dismissed appeals, and Board decision quality. The Board would develop training and quality-assurance programs, the Secretary would contract with a federally funded research center to study precedential-decision authority, and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims would issue new procedural rules for class-action-style claims and limited remands, most within one year of enactment.