Legislative Updates
May 1st, 2026
The 119th Congress is now past its midpoint, but there is still much to accomplish. Like the work of a GVSO, the work of your legislative and policy team is never finished.
In the second half of the 119th session, NACVSO’s leadership and legislative team have been very active. On March 3rd, President Andrew Tangen testified before a joint session of the Senate and House Committees on Veterans’ Affairs. NACVSO members may be growing accustomed to having a seat at this table, but it was only a few years ago that we did not have a voice there.
President Tangen’s testimony was developed collaboratively with NACVSO’s legislative team, including members of the Executive Board. It focused on improving the transition from military to civilian life. Specifically, the message emphasized that transition does not end with TAP—it continues for life. Many of the gaps veterans experience stem from a lack of continuity across the veteran services space. GVSOs are uniquely positioned to provide that continuity, if Congress and VA fully support and engage the GVSO model.
This message is beginning to gain traction in Washington and within VA. That growing awareness was evident during an April 30th Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, when Secretary Doug Collins raised the question of the value of outreach from county and tribal veterans service officers. His response: it could be a matter of life or death. That statement reflects what we have long known: the work of GVSOs is vital.
NACVSO’s legislative team will continue to look for opportunities to strengthen support for that work.
The 6th Annual Leadership Summit, held in Washington, D.C., this past March, remains one of the most effective ways to advance that effort. This year’s summit brought together NACVSO leaders, delegates, and state presidents from across the country to engage Congressional leaders and VA officials and reinforce NACVSO’s legislative and policy priorities.
One of those priorities has been securing federal funding support for GVSO offices. After nearly 20 years of advocacy, Congress passed the CVSO Act on January 2, 2025, as part of the Dole Act. While this was a major milestone, the work is not finished.
The next step is full funding, implementation, and extension of the Act. The CVSO Act authorizes $10 million in grant funding for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. However, due to the rulemaking and implementation process, grants are not expected to be available for application until FY 2027. At the same time, Congress has yet to fully fund the authorized amount.
Our partners at VA are supporting this effort by including a $10 million request in their FY 2027 budget submission. NACVSO members can help by engaging with their congressional offices and emphasizing the importance of fully funding the CVSO Act.
NACVSO leadership, alongside our partners at NASDVA, is also working to extend the CVSO Act for at least three additional years. This extension is critical to properly assess the impact of federal investment in GVSO offices and veteran service delivery.
In the meantime, this is the opportunity for us to continue providing world-class advocacy to every one of our veterans, demonstrating that NACVSO members are the gold-standard of service to those who served.
NACVSO’s strength has always been its membership. Your voice brought us to this point, and it will carry us forward. If you have a legislative idea or a bill you believe NACVSO should support, we encourage you to speak up and engage.
Your input drives NACVSO’s work. As author Ken Blanchard said, “None of us is as smart as all of us.”
Semper Fi,
Michael McLaughlin
1st Vice and Legislative Director, NACVSO
Annual Leadership Summit
WASHINGTON DC—The 2026 NACVSO Leadership Summit, held March 23–25 at the Washington Marriott Georgetown in partnership with ZeroMils and the unTAPped Change Forum, reinforced the organization’s growing role in shaping national conversations on veteran policy, partnership, and service delivery.
Bringing together leaders from Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and private industry, the three-day event focused on a central theme: aligning systems to reflect how veterans experience life after service.
Veterans do not experience life as a series of disconnected programs, but as a continuous journey and this framing was evident from the outset. While some attendees initially questioned the relevance of TAP-framing to communities without nearby military installations, Summit programming emphasized that TAP, itself, was not the focus but, rather, a was a framework for a larger discussion. The familiar categories of education, employment, health care, housing, and transition were used to illustrate a broader point: transition is not an event anchored solely to separation from service, but an ongoing process that continues throughout a veteran’s life. For GVSOs, those categories are daily realities that veterans bring through the door.
The Summit opened with a legislative update and roundtable featuring staff from both the House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, signaling strengthened engagement between NACVSO and congressional partners. Discussions emphasized the importance of grounding policy decisions in frontline experience and improving coordination across systems that too often operate in disconnected silos.
Federal leadership remained central throughout the event. Remarks from VA Deputy Secretary Dr. Paul R. Lawrence and Under Secretary for Health John Bartrum provided insight into enterprise-wide priorities, while sessions led by Veterans Benefits Administration Principal Deputy Under Secretary Margarita Devlin and Board of Veterans’ Appeals Acting Chairman Kenneth Arnold explored benefits and appeals.
Operational collaboration was also a key focus. A panel featuring NACVSO partners—including Optum Serve, Maximus VES, and Leidos QTC—examined the Medical Disability Examination (MDE) process and opportunities to improve the veteran experience within them. The discussion highlighted the importance of coordination between public and private stakeholders in delivering timely and accurate services.
The Summit also addressed broader system transformation, including the impact of electronic health record implementation and leadership perspectives from Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Telita Crosland on navigating complex health systems.
A defining addition to this year’s event was the unTAPped Change Forum, presented in partnership with ZeroMils. Designed as a full-day extension of the Summit, the forum shifted the conversation from systems to lived experience—exploring transition, wellness, and long-term success through a cross-sector lens.
Opening with a fireside chat titled “It’s Transformation, Not Transition,” the forum challenged traditional assumptions about how veterans move into civilian life. Sessions throughout the day explored underrepresented pathways in education, employment, and entrepreneurship, the role of technology in shaping the future of care and transition, and the critical role families play in the process.
A culminating discussion on a National Veterans Strategy Act reinforced a theme carried throughout the Summit: meaningful progress requires alignment across federal, state, and local systems—and it needs more input from those working with veterans every day.
Taken together, the 2026 Leadership Summit and unTAPped Change Forum signaled a continued shift for NACVSO. The organization is not only elevating the voice of Governmental Veteran Service Officers, but also leading coordinated, forward-looking conversations across the veteran landscape.
As that work continues, NACVSOs message echoes at the highest levels: when systems are aligned around continuity instead of categories, outcomes improve. Once that happens, veterans will experience support the way that they live: connected, consistent, and built to last.
