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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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