Congressman Keith Self Introduces the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee Oversight Act of 2025

Congressman Keith Self has introduced the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee Oversight Act of 2025. This legislation will modernize and consolidate advisory committees within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as part of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs’ broader effort to reauthorize long-overdue VA programs for the first time in three decades. 

“Congress has a responsibility to ensure that the VA’s advisory system provides real value to veterans, not just additional layers of bureaucracy,” said Congressman Self. “For too long, many of these advisory committees have operated without proper oversight or have sat idle while veterans face real challenges that demand attention. This bill creates a more targeted, accountable, and efficient advisory structure that reflects the needs of today’s veterans and upholds our duty to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

This bill would:

•    Centralize all statutory VA advisory committees under a single, unified subchapter to create consistent oversight and reporting.
•    Retires a wide range of legacy committees to eliminate redundancy, consolidating their functions into three new advisory committees focused on modern veteran needs:
   o    Veterans Health Advisory Committee
   o    Veterans Economic Opportunity & Transition Advisory Committee
   o    Advisory Committee on Veterans Special Populations
•    Standardize membership requirements, meeting frequency, and reporting timelines to ensure relevance and accountability.
•    Impose a uniform sunset date of 2026 for outdated or duplicative statutory committees unless Congress affirmatively renews them.
•    Require VA to report all inactive or lapsed committees to Congress within 30 days of enactment.
•    Ensure advisory bodies provide meaningful recommendations aligned with current veteran demographics, challenges, and policy needs.

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