[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8056 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8056

 To expand credentialed, personalized financial and housing counseling 
to members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty or transitioning 
                 from service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2026

   Ms. McDonald Rivet (for herself and Mr. Harrigan) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To expand credentialed, personalized financial and housing counseling 
to members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty or transitioning 
                 from service, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Military Financial Literacy Act of 
2026''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF PERSONALIZED FINANCIAL AND HOUSING COUNSELING FOR 
              MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) In General.--Section 992 of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and (E) as 
                subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the 
                following new subparagraph:
            ``(D) practices relating to financial management, home 
        buying and selling, renting during changing permanent station, 
        rental planning, home loans available through the programs of 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other financial 
        services that are routinely offered to private sector home 
        loans;'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (d) through (f) as 
        subsections (e) through (g), respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(d) Individualized Financial and Housing Counseling.--(1) Not 
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 
the Secretary of Defense shall establish a program in accordance with 
this section and Department of Defense Instruction 1322.34, or any 
successor guidance, to provide one-on-one counseling tailored to the 
needs of each member of the armed forces on the following topics:
            ``(A) Credit management.
            ``(B) Budgeting.
            ``(C) Anti-predatory lending practices.
            ``(D) Changes of permanent station and rental planning.
            ``(E) Home loans available through the programs of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs.
            ``(F) Protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
        (50 U.S.C. 3901 et seq.) and section 987 of this title.
    ``(2) For the purposes of carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary 
shall seek to enter an agreement with a counseling service organization 
that--
            ``(A) is a HUD-approved counseling agency (as defined in 
        section 106(h) of the House and Urban Development Act of 1968 
        (12 U.S.C. 1701x(h)));
            ``(B) is organized as a tax-exempt entity under section 
        501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, defined by the 
        Internal Revenue Service as a Veteran Service Organization 
        serving the military-connected community;
            ``(C) has expertise in financial literacy, housing 
        stability, and home loan benefits for veterans; and
            ``(D) is capable of developing, administering, maintaining, 
        and providing specialized training and certification for HUD-
        Certified Housing Counselors serving members of the armed 
        forces, veterans, and their families.''.
    (b) Regulations.--The Secretary of Defense may prescribe such 
regulations as are necessary to carry out the amendments made by 
subsection (a).
    (c) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date on which the 
services required under subsection (d) of section section 992 of title 
10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), are established, 
the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed 
Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the 
implementation of such services, including--
            (1) the number of members of the Armed Forces who received 
        counseling for housing stability, home loan benefits for 
        veterans, or rental planning;
            (2) the rate of completion of the counseling services 
        offered under the pilot program; and
            (3) indicators of financial stress and housing instability 
        for members of the Armed Forces participating in the pilot 
        program and any metrics for mitigating risks to the members 
        participating.
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