The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a cost estimate for H.R. 3159, the Improving SCRA Benefit Utilization Act, legislation reported by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee aimed at increasing service member awareness and use of Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protections tied to financial and legal obligations during military service.
- Bill: H.R. 3159, Improving SCRA Benefit Utilization Act
- Focus: Improve awareness, outreach, and utilization of existing SCRA protections for eligible service members and families
- Committee: Reported by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (per CBO’s estimate)
- CBO action: CBO issued an analysis/cost estimate of the bill as reported by the committee
- Who could be affected: Active-duty service members, certain reservists on qualifying orders, and families managing leases, loans, interest-rate caps, court actions, and other covered obligations while the member is in service
- Budget impact: CBO’s report addresses expected federal budget effects; readers should consult the CBO estimate for any scored costs, implementation assumptions, and timing
- Status: The CBO estimate reflects the bill as reported by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee (not final enactment)
Brief context: The SCRA is a long-standing federal law that provides legal and financial protections to qualifying service members, including tools that can pause or limit certain civil obligations during periods of military service. H.R. 3159 is designed to improve how those protections are communicated and used—an approach that can matter most during deployments, PCS moves, mobilizations, or other periods when service members are more likely to face time-sensitive legal proceedings or higher-cost credit and housing decisions.
For service members and families, the practical impact of the bill—if enacted—would be less about creating new categories of relief and more about ensuring eligible people know what they can request and how to access it. That can affect day-to-day finances (for example, managing covered debt terms, housing arrangements, or civil court timelines) and reduce the risk of missed deadlines or avoidable penalties while on orders.
CBO’s analysis is intended to inform lawmakers about potential federal costs and administrative effects associated with implementing the bill’s requirements. The estimate accompanies the committee-reported version of H.R. 3159 and is used during House consideration and any subsequent legislative negotiations.
Source: CBO Reports