H.R. 3132 – A Bill That Harms Veterans
The byproduct of any government menagerie is inefficiency. The solution? Congress has provided folks like me—agents and attorneys—be allowed to represent Veterans; help them navigate the complicated maze and red tape in order to secure benefits to which they are rightfully entitled. In exchange for a fee, the Veteran gets his or her benefits, I earn a modest living. There is also a safety net—if a Veteran believes I have pulled a fast one, they have a venue to be heard, to ask the VA to reduce my fee. Congress is trying to end that safety net. That’s bad for you, it’s bad for me.
The History of Paid Representation
Congress has consistently regulated who, under what terms, and how much someone can charge when they represent Veterans. Fee restrictions began with an 1862 law that prohibited attorneys from charging Veterans more than $5 to help with their claims. Congress saw that wasn’t quite working. Two years later, they amended the fee cap to a grant total of $10. I guess inflation isn’t new. This limit remained in place for over a century, even surviving a challenge at the Supreme Court in in Walters v. National Association of Radiation Survivors (1985). The Walters decision said that “Congress’ principal goal” with the fee limitation was “wanting the [V]eteran to get the entirety of the award.”
Congress first sought judicial assistance in affording Veterans relief when it adopted the Invalid Pensions Act of 1792, which provided “for the settlement of the claims of widows and orphans...and to regulate the claims to invalid pensions”. The Veterans Administration was created in 1930 when Congress consolidated the Bureau of Pensions, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau into one agency. In 1988, Congress passed the Veterans’ Judicial Review Act (VJRA)—which, on top of creating the Veteran’s Court—allowed attorneys to charge fees for work on a claim after the Board made a final decision in the case. The sun had finally set on the $10 fee cap. Before the VJRA, for nearly 60 years, VA rules, regulations, and decisions lived in “splendid isolation,” generally unconstrained by judicial review. See Brown v. Gardner, 513 U.S. 115, 122, (1994) (Souter, J.).
Then again in 2006, Congress changed the rules again—this time permitting fees for work performed before the Board’s decision but after a Veteran filed a Notice of Disagreement to the Board. See 38 U.S.C § 5904(c)(1) (Supp. IV 2017). Are you seeing the pattern? Congress, each time, is shifting the entering point for paid representation—but never has Congress said “anyone can represent a Veteran.” Most recently, Congress let the horse out of the gate even earlier with the newest version of § 5904—now allowing fees for work performed after the initial decision.
The Train Came off the Tracks
Somewhere along the way, Congress removed something important from the statute, something I force myself to believe was unintentional. They removed criminal penalties for charging Veterans fees outside the bounds of Title 38. This is where the train fell off.
Since that removal, a multi-million dollar industry has emerged— “claim consulting.” Folks providing legal advice, assisting in claims preparation, the whole 9 yards.
All this is going on outside the bounds of law. No recourse for Johnny Vet who thinks he was overcharged. No recourse for bad advice from someone that doesn’t know you know what from Shinola (a phrase coined during WW II for you history buffs). So, the VA and DOJ are powerless to hold accountable someone charging illegal fees or giving advice without the prerequisite VA accreditation (equivalent of being a member of the “Veteran’s Bar,” so to speak). Quite the industry has popped up. Make no mistake, these “consulting” companies have raked in millions from Veterans. Lady justice wears a blind, but not so she can turn an eye to this sort of predatory game. Let’s call it what it is. People taking advantage of vulnerable Veterans trying to navigate one of the largest bureaucracies in the world. It is hard to blame Veterans to turning to them for what they think is help.
How They Operate
These companies market themselves as consultants. What they are really doing is the unauthorized practice of law. They review your records, examine you from head to toe, fill out claims forms, and file you for 20 + conditions. Their “fee,” which they aren’t authorized to be charging you to begin with, is generally the difference in your monthly increase times 6-12. Often times, my fee of 20% would be thousands less. Sounds like a used care salesman if you ask me.
Copy of The War Horse article explaining this better than I can.
The problem with this method? For one, I must state the obvious. Money makes the world go round. When a Veteran hires me, aside from the pure joy I get in battling the VA, I have a business incentive to get every damn penny from the VA. Heck, I have even filed appeals over $1,000. That ended up costing the government around $15,000. But that’s another story. If a Veteran is owed tens of thousands of dollars from a decision the VA got wrong years ago, I have an incentive (and legal obligation) to pursue that. And I do. This year, I secured back-pay for a Korean War Veteran—going back to 2008. These companies, with zero legal education, not only don’t know how to make that happen, they have no business incentive to make it happen.
So, you hired one of these companies. What happens when you get wise that you are being scammed? They sent you a bunch of paperwork for you to fill out on your own (they can’t put their John Hancock on any of it, they aren’t accredited), sent you a 30 minute “coaching” video, and that is it. You start doing your own research to get your benefits. Maybe you even hire someone like me. You finally get your increase. 100%! Success. No way you owe those jokers $15,000. They won’t even know unless you tell them—after all, they aren’t accredited, so they can’t access your records.
Wrong. These companies will use your information to call the VA, log into your VA.gov account to discover you got an increase, then the invoices, threats, and hounding begins. What if you disagree with the fee? They didn’t really help or do anything for you. Well, because they operate outside the bounds of the law, you have no governing body to dispute to. Unlike when I represent a Veteran. They are given 60 days to contest a fee paid to me and the VA will withhold that fee from me until I prove I earned that fee in a good workman like fashion. But, for now, the VA and DOJ are powerless to do anything about it.
One of these kind companies even wrote me a cease and desist letter, a self described “invitation” of sorts. Don’t talk about us! They sent it on the Fourth of July. How fitting. I just sent an e-mail back with a generous invitation of my own.
Getting the Train Back on Track
To remedy this, there is a current bill, H.R. 3132—the CHOICE for Veterans Act of 2025, and it has 37 co-sponsors. This bill though, doesn’t get the train back on the tracks. It finishes the derailment. It harms Veterans. Here are my thoughts that I shared with my Congressman. I work everyday in the trenches of the VA. I see firsthand what Veterans are faced with—the red tape and bureaucracy that comes with a claim for benefits—even those Congress has declared are presumptive disabilities. Cancer, multiple sclerosis, ALS, all the nasty ones. Like any bill, the goal of its drafters is well intended.
Congress is trying to fix a broken system, but this legislation will only break it further and, in doing so, will cause profound and lasting harm to the very Veterans it claims to help.
Copy of Letter to Congressman Austin Scott.
The phrase "Delay, deny, and hope they die" is an unfortunate but accurate summary of what many Veterans experience when seeking compensation from the VA. H.R. 3132 is presented as a compromise to fix this, but it is a deeply flawed bill that will hurt Veterans and reduce their choices. Worse, it problematically grants amnesty to these bad actors and allows fees on initial claims. Its provisions for Supplemental Claims are even more disastrous. You must ask yourself, if the application for VA accreditation is free, why have these bad actors refused to apply for accreditation? This bill contains provisions that will systematically dismantle the ability of accredited professionals, like myself, who operate within the bounds of law, to represent Veterans. This in turn keeps Veterans from securing the benefits Congress has promised them.
It removes the incentive to take complex cases: The bill caps fees on Supplemental Claims (appeals) at $12,500. This may sound like a lot, but for profoundly disabled Veterans—such as those who are bed-bound with end-stage Parkinson's or who have had limbs amputated from diabetes—these cases require enormous resources, multiple rounds of appeals, and coordination with medical experts. This cap ensures that accredited agents and attorneys will be forced to lose money on the most difficult cases, removing any incentive to take them on.
It bans the use of medical experts: Inexplicably, H.R. 3132 bans outright the practice of attorneys and agents working with doctors and other medical experts. This forces advocates to fight with one hand tied behind their back and makes it impossible to properly document complex claims, all but guaranteeing a denial for the Veteran, which in turn forces deserving Veterans to wait longer and longer for their benefits.
It creates a "presumptive condition" trap: The bill prohibits fees on new or supplemental claims for issues that are "presumptively" service[-]connected. In reality, the VA denies and underrates presumptive issues daily. These cases often require days of archival research to prove. If an accredited representative cannot charge for this work on a Supplemental Claim, they are left with two bad options: abandon the Veteran or file a new appeal with the already-overwhelmed Board of Veterans Appeals, thus delaying justice even further. Just this past month, I represented the widow of a Vietnam Veteran who was denied death benefits for—you guessed it—a presumptive condition. If this bill, as written, were to become law, representatives like myself would be less inclined to represent this deserving widow.
In the end, H.R. 3132 will drive qualified, accredited attorneys and agents out of this field. It will leave Veterans with fewer options, not more, and will leave the VA even less accountable.
The goal of unaccredited companies is to expand their own profits. On the other hand, accredited representatives like myself work within a system of accreditation that works. Our fees are regulated. We help Veterans. We make a modest living doing so. If a Veteran disagrees with a fee I charge, they have options to dispute that fee. It is a win-win for the Veteran and the accredited representation structure.
Bad actors don’t want accountability, so they refuse to apply for accreditation. With the application free, why have they refused to apply?
This bill incentives their behavior.
Yes, Veterans need access to representation and the ability to easily get help. They also need access to qualified representation. Someone who has the ability to view their VA records in real time, contact the VA legally on their behalf. They need someone who has an incentive to look for old errors to maximize backpay. What they don’t need is someone charging fees outside the bounds of law with no venue to dispute the validity of that fee.
Contact your Congressman. Say no to H.R. 3132.
Godspeed.
