focused on lowering costs for veteran families — but the session arrived shadowed by a Republican-backed proposal that would have done the opposite.

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Why It Matters

The House Veterans' Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee held a VA home loan hearing on March 26, 2026,The hearing coming weeks after *The New York Times* reported that a Republican proposal to raise VA home loan funding fees was being scaled back after significant blowback. That controversy handed Democrats a ready-made attack line heading into a hearing nominally about *reducing* veteran housing costs.

The administration's posture is broadly supportive. President Trump signed H.R. 1815, the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act, into law in July 2025, creating a permanent partial claims program to help veterans avoid foreclosure. But the administration also shut down the Biden-era Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program — the very foreclosure relief tool H.R. 1815 was designed to replace.

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The Big Picture

How This Hearing Fits Into a Decade of VA Mortgage Oversight

This hearing was the latest chapter in sustained congressional scrutiny of the VA Home Loan Program. The most consequential prior hearing — a 2018 session on predatory loan churning — produced immediate Ginnie Mae administrative restrictions and contributed to enacted federal legislation tightening VA refinance standards.

More recently, a June 2024 "Sink or Swim" hearing produced sharp exchanges over the VASP program's fiscal implications, with then-Subcommittee Chair Van Orden warning VA officials the program could "destroy the second-best program the VA has ever created." A December 2025 hearing on H.R. 6047 added another flashpoint: a proposed expansion of veteran survivor benefits funded by raising VA loan fees for disabled veterans — drawing fierce opposition from the VFW, which called it a breach of an "80-year promise."

The VA also shed approximately 40,000 employees under DOGE-era cuts, according to a Democratic Senate report covered by *Government Executive* — raising pointed questions about whether the Veterans Benefits Administration has the administrative capacity to deliver on new program commitments.

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What They're Saying

VA Home Loan Benefits Under the Microscope

The witness panel brought together the full ecosystem of VA mortgage stakeholders: two Veterans Benefits Administration officials — Patrick Zondervan and Terry Rouch — defending the program's administration; Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center pressing for stronger borrower protections; Owen Lee of the Mortgage Bankers Association representing lenders and servicers; and Kurt Thompson of the National Association of Realtors speaking for the real estate market.

The NCLC's pre-hearing announcement framed Cohen's testimony as urging the VA to "act quickly to help veterans struggling with their mortgages and to prioritize affordability" — and specifically to reinstate some form of forbearance protection while the new partial claims program is stood up. In prior testimony on servicer failures, Cohen has stated:

*"When veterans face financial hardship, their options for saving their home should be at least as good as those available to other borrowers with government-backed mortgages."*

The MBA, meanwhile, has backed the partial claims framework while also calling for the VA to delegate appraiser panel management to lenders — a structural change that would speed closings and make VA offers more competitive in tight markets.

The NAR's own data underscored the awareness gap: only about one-third of veterans and active-duty service members know they can buy a home with no money down.

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Political Stakes

Veterans Housing Committee Hearing Tests Republican Brand

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI-3), the subcommittee chair and author of H.R. 1815, arrives at the hearing from a position of legislative strength — his bill is law. His "Kitchen Table Issues" branding is deliberately populist, designed to show Wisconsin voters he is focused on tangible economic relief. But the funding fee controversy — which Van Orden did not author but which originated in his party's budget math — creates a narrative vulnerability Democrats have already exploited.

Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH-1), the Ranking Member, has been the most vocal pre-hearing voice on access gaps. In a March 18 press release, he highlighted that only 13 percent of eligible veterans use the VA Home Loan program, and 33 percent of non-users say they were unaware of it. His VA Home Loan Awareness Act — included in the Senate-passed bipartisan housing package — would require lenders to inform veterans of the benefit at closing.

For the VA witnesses, the stakes are institutional. DOGE-era workforce reductions at the Veterans Benefits Administration have drawn congressional scrutiny over whether the agency has the staffing to administer the new partial claims program effectively.

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The Other Side

VA Mortgage Policy Faces Pushback From Multiple Directions

The hearing's consensus framing — that the VA Home Loan program needs to be made cheaper and more accessible — masks real disagreements about *how*.

The MBA and NAR support delegating VA appraiser panel management to lenders, arguing it would speed closings. The NCLC opposes any weakening of appraisal independence, which it views as a consumer protection. The VFW has drawn a hard line against using VA loan fee increases to fund other veteran benefits — a position that leaves the H.R. 6047 survivor benefit expansion in legislative limbo.

Auction.com and the National Association of Mortgage Brokers submitted statements for the record — signaling that the downstream consequences of VA loan foreclosures, and broker access to VA lending, remain unresolved pressure points.

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What's Next

The hearing is expected to generate pressure on the VA to finalize durable loss mitigation rules — and potentially produce oversight letters or legislative referrals on servicer accountability. H.R. 1814, the Restoring the VA Home Loan Program in Perpetuity Act, remains pending. The Senate-passed bipartisan housing package — including Pappas's awareness provision — awaits a House floor vote that Pappas has been publicly demanding.

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The Bottom Line Republicans and Democrats both want more veterans in homes — but the funding fee controversy, VASP's abrupt end, and DOGE-driven VA staffing cuts have given Democrats a sustained argument that the party in power has made it harder, not easier, to get there.

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