Department of Veterans Affairs: Burial Benefits and the National Cemetery Administration

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) within Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides eligible veterans and their next of kin monetary and non-monetary burial benefits upon the veterans’ deaths. Servicemembers and veterans have received non-monetary burial benefits since the Civil War and monetary burial benefits since World War I. Eligible veterans and active-duty servicemembers eligible for burial benefits can be interred in VA national cemeteries and can receive government-furnished headstones or markers, and in their honor, next of kin can receive presidential memorial certificates and burial flags. Spouses, minor children, and, under certain conditions, unmarried adult children may also be buried in national cemeteries. A deceased veteran interred in a private cemetery may be eligible for a medallion that can be affixed to a privately purchased headstone. Monetary burial benefits are partial reimbursements that an eligible veteran’s next of kin can receive for burial and funeral costs. The amount of the reimbursement depends on the manner of the veteran’s death: whether it was service-connected or was non-service-connected or occurred in a VA facility. The National Cemetery Administration (NCA) is responsible for maintaining VA national cemeteries and for providing grants to states or federally recognized tribal governments for establishing, expanding, or improving state, tribal, or territorial veterans cemeteries. The development of national cemeteries began as a result of the increasing number of Civil War casualties. The National Cemetery Act of 1867, the first major piece of legislation for national cemeteries, provided funds for, and directives about, national cemeteries. As of March 2021, there are 155 national cemeteries, along with 34 soldiers lots and monument sites, under VA’s jurisdiction. The Department of the Army oversees Arlington National Cemetery. This report provides a description of both VA’s monetary and non-monetary burial benefits and NCA’s national cemeteries. The report addresses topics frequently inquired about by congressional staff and constituents (among other things), such as: Who is eligible and ineligible to receive burial benefits? Who can be buried in a national cemetery? Who can be buried in a VA-funded state cemetery? How does VA decide to build new or expand existing national cemeteries? What legislative measures has Congress introduced to address burial benefits and national cemeteries? These issues may be of particular interest to Congress due to the aging of the veteran population; the recent transfer of 11 cemeteries from the Department of the Army to NCA; and the continuing discussions on expanding burial and cemetery benefits, addressing Confederate symbols on public land, and determining appropriate inscriptions and emblems on VA-provided headstones.