H.R. 3715 would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to allow interment, funeral, and memorial services to be performed on weekends (other than federal holidays) at national cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In addition, the bill would require that any grants provided under the Veterans Cemetery Grant Program (VCGP) to state cemeteries be conditioned on those cemeteries also allowing such weekend burials. VA also would be required to provide notice to all applicants for burials in a VA cemetery that the option for a weekend burial is available. CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3715 would cost $2 million over the 2017-2021 period; that spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Enacting H.R. 3715 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
VA reports that weekend services and interments are conducted at national cemeteries on a case-by-case basis and for exceptional circumstances, including religious or cultural reasons and for service members who are killed in action. In addition, VA conducts burials on the three-day weekends associated with federal holidays. Of the about 131,000 burials VA conducted in 2015, 260 occurred on weekends.
Based on information from VA, CBO estimates that, under H.R. 3715, VA would conduct an additional 1,050 weekend burials per year over the 2017-2021 period. While those burials do not represent an increase in the total number of burials that would be performed in a year, the need to pay overtime for work on the weekends means that the cost of those interments would increase.
