Two days before Veterans Day, the House passed by voice vote a bill that would raise disability compensation for veterans and payments to their survivors by 3.6% starting Dec. 1. H.R. 8552 cleared the chamber at 4:40 p.m. Eastern on Monday, Nov. 9, and now goes to the Senate.
The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026 ties the raise to Social Security, so VA amounts go up by the same percentage as Social Security benefits on Dec. 1. For 2027 that is 3.6%, the increase the Social Security Administration has announced.
The raise covers disability compensation for service-connected conditions, the extra amounts paid for dependents and the clothing allowance. Survivors are included. Dependency and indemnity compensation, paid to surviving spouses and children of certain disabled veterans, rises by the same 3.6%.
What the new rates could look like
The VA has not published 2027 rates yet.
Applying 3.6% to the current VA rates for a veteran with no dependents gives these Edit USA estimates. The VA's official figures could differ by a few cents.
| Disability rating | Monthly rate since Dec. 1, 2025 | Estimated rate from Dec. 1, 2026 | Monthly increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 | $186.92 | $6.50 |
| 30% | $552.47 | $572.36 | $19.89 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 | $1,173.68 | $40.78 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 | $1,873.55 | $65.10 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 | $4,080.37 | $141.79 |
Veterans with a spouse, children or dependent parents start from higher base rates and get the same percentage on top. At 100%, a veteran with a spouse and no children now gets $4,158.17 a month, which would rise to about $4,307.86.
What happens next
Nothing changes yet. The Senate has to pass the bill and the president has to sign it before the VA can apply the increase, and the bill then requires the VA to publish the new amounts in the Federal Register, no later than the deadline for publishing the Social Security figures. Social Security's raise comes from a formula in the Social Security Act, the section this bill points to, while the VA raise needs this separate law.
