S. 3119, Fisher House Availability Act of 2026

Bill Summary

S. 3119 would expand eligibility for temporary lodging provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through the Fisher House Foundation to certain active-duty service members, veterans, and accompanying family members.

Estimated Federal Cost

The estimated budgetary effects of S. 3119 are shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 700 (veterans benefits and services).

Basis of Estimate

For this estimate, CBO assumes that S. 3119 will be enacted in fiscal year 2026 and that outlays will follow historical spending patterns for affected programs.

Provisions That Affect Direct Spending and Spending Subject to Appropriation

The bill would expand eligibility for temporary lodging provided by VA through the Fisher House Foundation to certain active-duty service members, veterans, and family members traveling long distances for care.

VA Fisher Houses currently have the capacity to accommodate more guests in existing facilities; thus, CBO expects that implementing the bill would increase costs associated with greater use, such as cleaning, utilities, and administrative support. On the basis of information from VA on current vacancy rates and costs per night of similar types of lodging, CBO estimates that the bill would result in approximately 10,000 additional nights of lodging annually at an average cost of about $60 per night. In total, providing those additional nights of lodging would cost $6 million over the 2026-2036 period.

VA uses several appropriation accounts to pay for the costs of health care, disability claims processing, medical research, and information technology (IT) modernization. One of those accounts, the Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF), is a mandatory appropriation that can be used to pay for some of the costs of those activities if they support veterans who were exposed to toxic substances or environmental hazards.^[1] The other accounts are discretionary appropriations. S. 3119 would affect health care that benefits veterans with and without toxic exposures; therefore, enacting the bill would increase direct spending from the TEF as well as spending subject to appropriation. CBO allocates the estimated costs of legislation between the TEF and the discretionary appropriation accounts on the basis of the portion of all funding for those activities that are projected, in CBO’s baseline, to come from the TEF.

On that basis, CBO estimates that over the 2026–2036 period, expanding the eligibility for temporary lodging under S. 3119 would increase direct spending by $2 million and spending subject to appropriation by $4 million.

Pay-As-You-Go Considerations

The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or revenues. The net changes in direct spending outlays that are subject to those pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in Table 1.

Increase in Long-Term Net Direct Spending and Deficits

CBO estimates that enacting S. 3119 would not increase net direct spending by more than $2.5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037.

CBO estimates that enacting S. 3119 would not increase on‑budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2037.

Mandates

The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

Previous CBO Estimate

On March 23, 2026, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 3726, the Fisher House Availability Act of 2026, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on February 12, 2026. Both H.R. 3726 and S. 3119 would expand eligibility for temporary lodging provided by VA through the Fisher House Foundation to certain service members, veterans, and accompanying family members. H.R. 3726 also would extend a limitation on certain pension payments for veterans and survivors residing in Medicaid nursing homes, which would reduce direct spending. S. 3119 would not affect those payments; thus, the net effect on direct spending from enacting S. 3119 would be greater.

Estimate Prepared By

Federal Costs:

Noah Callahan (for veterans’ health care)
Mandates: Brandon Lever

Estimate Reviewed By

David Newman
Chief, Defense, International Affairs, and Veterans’ Affairs Cost Estimates Unit

Kathleen FitzGerald
Chief, Public and Private Mandates Unit

Christina Hawley Anthony
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis

Estimate Approved By

Phillip L. Swagel

Director, Congressional Budget Office