HB 2625, the VERY Act of 2025, is a targeted, twilight-step bill that amends Title 38 of the United States Code to replace the terms "employment handicap" and "employment handicaps" with "employment barrier" and "employment barriers" throughout the statute. \n\nSection 1 provides the act’s short title, permitting citation as the VERY Act of 2025 or the Veterans Employment Readiness Yield Act of 2025. Section 2 performs the terminology update across Title 38, without altering program authority, funding, or policy outcomes.
The bill is deliberately narrow: no new programs are created, no funding is authorized, and no regulatory powers are expanded. The change is strictly linguistic, intended to standardize terminology used in federal veteran-employment provisions.
At a Glance
What It Does
Section 1 sets the short title of the act; Section 2 amends Title 38 to strike 'employment handicap' and 'employment handicaps' in favor of 'employment barrier' and 'employment barriers'.
Who It Affects
Federal agencies implementing Title 38, including VA offices, regulators, and any official materials referencing veteran employment terminology; compliance officers updating guidance and communications.
Why It Matters
Creates a uniform, modern terminology base across federal veteran-employment law, reducing ambiguity and potential stigma in official documents and communications.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The VERY Act of 2025 is a compact, purely terminological reform. It updates the language used in Title 38 to describe employment barriers experienced by veterans, replacing the older terms with more contemporary wording.
The act designates a formal short title—“Veterans Employment Readiness Yield Act of 2025” (also abbreviated as the VERY Act of 2025)—and then makes a straightforward textual update in the U.S. Code. There are no new programs, no funding changes, and no expansion of authorities tied to veteran employment.
The practical effect is to ensure that all references in Title 38 use the same language when describing employment barriers faced by veterans, aiding clarity for agencies, service providers, and veterans themselves.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill creates the VERY Act of 2025 as the short title for citation.
It amends 38 U.S.C. to replace 'employment handicap' with 'employment barrier' throughout Title 38.
It also replaces 'employment handicaps' with 'employment barriers' in all relevant references.
The act does not authorize new programs, funding, or policy changes beyond terminology.
No explicit effective date is provided in the text; updates would take effect upon enactment.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Section 1 designates the act’s official short title as the Veterans Employment Readiness Yield Act of 2025, with the commonly used acronym VERY Act of 2025. This creates a formal naming convention that practitioners and agencies can reference in reg guidance and cross-references.
Update of terminology regarding veteran employment
Section 2 amends Title 38 by striking the terms 'employment handicap' and 'employment handicaps' wherever they appear and inserting the corresponding 'employment barrier' and 'employment barriers'. The change is applied across the statute to standardize language used in all veteran-employment provisions without altering statutory authorities or programs.
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Explore Veterans in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Veterans seeking employment benefit from clearer, less stigmatizing language in government materials and communications.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs gains a uniform terminology baseline for regulations, guidance, and public-facing documents.
- Veteran service organizations and advocacy groups benefit from consistent language in official materials they reference or produce.
- Employers and HR professionals working with veterans face clearer government guidance on terminology used in compliance materials.
- Regulators and codifiers benefit from reduced ambiguity when drafting and updating references in federal law.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal agencies (e.g., VA) incur minor administrative costs to locate and replace outdated terminology in regulations, forms, and guidance.
- Regulatory staff and publishers may need to update internal materials, public documents, and cross-references.
- IT teams may incur small costs to reflect terminology changes in digital forms, databases, and websites.
- Training programs and compliance teams may need brief updates to reflect the new terminology in policy briefs and manuals.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is whether to modernize terminology across a large statutory code immediately, accepting short-term implementation costs and potential transitional inconsistencies, versus delaying changes to minimize disruption while gradually aligning related language elsewhere.
Because the change is strictly terminological, the act does not create new programs, funding, or policy authorities. The primary implementation challenge lies in achieving universal adoption across all references to the affected terms within Title 38, which may require coordinated updates to regulations, guidance, and public materials.
Inconsistent usage during the transition could momentarily obscure policy scope or create cross-referencing gaps if some sections are updated while others are not. Agencies will need to publish transitional guidance to minimize confusion and preserve legal clarity.
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