H.R. 5539

Summary

H.R. 5539, the POW Priority Care Act of 2025, was introduced in the House on Sep 19, 2025 by Rep. Tim Walberg (R) with 2 co-sponsors. It was referred to Subcommittee on Health, and last saw action on Oct 15, 2025: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Record

Text

H.R. 5539 has 2 co-sponsors.

119 HR 5539 IH: POW Priority Care Act of 2025
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2025-09-19
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 I  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  H. R. 5539  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   September 19, 2025   Mr. Walberg  (for himself,  Mr. Krishnamoorthi , and  Mr. Gottheimer ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on Veterans' Affairs    A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to assign the highest priority status for hospital care and medical services provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans who are former prisoners of war.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   POW Priority Care Act of 2025  .
2.
Highest priority status for enrollment of former prisoners of war in health care system of Department of Veterans Affairs
(a)
Enrollment
Section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1)
in paragraph (1)—
(A)
by striking  and veterans  and inserting  , veterans ; and
(B)
by striking the period at the end and inserting  , and veterans who are former prisoners of war. ; and
(2)
in paragraph (3), by striking  who are former prisoners of war or .
(b)
Extended care services
Section 1710B(c)(2)(D) of such title is amended by inserting  a veteran who is a former prisoner of war or  before  a veteran who .
(c)
Applicability
The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to veterans who are former prisoners of war before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Tracker

The tracker indicates the progress of this legislation as it moves through the legislative process.

To amend title 38, United States Code, to assign the highest priority status for hospital care and medical services provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans who are former prisoners of war.

Sponsors

Rep. Tim Walberg (R) sponsors H.R. 5539, and 2 members have co-sponsored it, all of them from the day it was introduced.

Tim Walberg

Rep. · R–MI-5 · Sponsor

Introduced Sep 19, 2025

Josh Gottheimer

Rep. · D–NJ-5 · Co-sponsor

Joined Sep 19, 2025 · Original

Raja Krishnamoorthi

Rep. · D–IL-8 · Co-sponsor

Joined Sep 19, 2025 · Original

Show 3 of 3 rows

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Committees

H.R. 5539 went before 2 committees: Health Subcommittee and Veterans' Affairs.

Health Subcommittee

Health Subcommittee

Referred to · Oct 15, 2025 · 143 Bills

Veterans' Affairs

Veterans' Affairs

Referred To · Sep 19, 2025 · 285 Bills

Actions

H.R. 5539 has taken 3 actions since Sep 19, 2025, the latest on Oct 15, 2025.

Votes

H.R. 5539 has not gone to a roll call.

Titles

H.R. 5539 goes by 3 titles, 1 of them short titles.

• POW Priority Care Act of 2025 — Display Title
• POW Priority Care Act of 2025 — Short Title(s) as Introduced
• To amend title 38, United States Code, to assign the highest priority status for hospital care and medical services provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans who are former prisoners of war. — Official Title as Introduced

Lobbying

5 clients hired 6 firms and 31 registered lobbyists who named H.R. 5539 in 16 quarterly filings, 2025 to 2026. Reported under the Lobbying Disclosure Act; a filing’s income covers everything its registrant worked that quarter, so the amounts below are the filings’, not this bill’s.

Filed under Health Issues, Medicare/Medicaid, Trade (domestic/foreign), Copyright/Patent/Trademark, Manufacturing, Taxation/Internal Revenue Code, Veterans, Defense.

Clients

Who paid to be heard, by how many filings named the bill.

Firms

Registrants who filed on the bill, by filings.

Lobbyists

Named on the filings that cite the bill. The 20 named most often, of 31.

Filings

The documents themselves, on the Senate’s Lobbying Disclosure site, largest reported first.

Classification

The Congressional Research Service files H.R. 5539 under Armed Forces and National Security, one of its 31 policy areas.

CRS Subjects

CRS assigns every bill one policy area from its 31; H.R. 5539’s is Armed Forces and National Security.

Source: congress.gov · legiscan.com