Military Financial Literacy Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8056 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8056

 To expand credentialed, personalized financial and housing counseling
to members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty or transitioning
                 from service, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2026

   Ms. McDonald Rivet (for herself and Mr. Harrigan) introduced the
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To expand credentialed, personalized financial and housing counseling
to members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty or transitioning
                 from service, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Military Financial Literacy Act of
2026''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF PERSONALIZED FINANCIAL AND HOUSING COUNSELING FOR
              MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) In General.--Section 992 of title 10, United States Code, is
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and (E) as
                subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the
                following new subparagraph:
            ``(D) practices relating to financial management, home
        buying and selling, renting during changing permanent station,
        rental planning, home loans available through the programs of
        the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other financial
        services that are routinely offered to private sector home
        loans;'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (d) through (f) as
        subsections (e) through (g), respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new
        subsection:
    ``(d) Individualized Financial and Housing Counseling.--(1) Not
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this subsection,
the Secretary of Defense shall establish a program in accordance with
this section and Department of Defense Instruction 1322.34, or any
successor guidance, to provide one-on-one counseling tailored to the
needs of each member of the armed forces on the following topics:
            ``(A) Credit management.
            ``(B) Budgeting.
            ``(C) Anti-predatory lending practices.
            ``(D) Changes of permanent station and rental planning.
            ``(E) Home loans available through the programs of the
        Department of Veterans Affairs.
            ``(F) Protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
        (50 U.S.C. 3901 et seq.) and section 987 of this title.
    ``(2) For the purposes of carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary
shall seek to enter an agreement with a counseling service organization
that--
            ``(A) is a HUD-approved counseling agency (as defined in
        section 106(h) of the House and Urban Development Act of 1968
        (12 U.S.C. 1701x(h)));
            ``(B) is organized as a tax-exempt entity under section
        501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, defined by the
        Internal Revenue Service as a Veteran Service Organization
        serving the military-connected community;
            ``(C) has expertise in financial literacy, housing
        stability, and home loan benefits for veterans; and
            ``(D) is capable of developing, administering, maintaining,
        and providing specialized training and certification for HUD-
        Certified Housing Counselors serving members of the armed
        forces, veterans, and their families.''.
    (b) Regulations.--The Secretary of Defense may prescribe such
regulations as are necessary to carry out the amendments made by
subsection (a).
    (c) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date on which the
services required under subsection (d) of section section 992 of title
10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), are established,
the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed
Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the
implementation of such services, including--
            (1) the number of members of the Armed Forces who received
        counseling for housing stability, home loan benefits for
        veterans, or rental planning;
            (2) the rate of completion of the counseling services
        offered under the pilot program; and
            (3) indicators of financial stress and housing instability
        for members of the Armed Forces participating in the pilot
        program and any metrics for mitigating risks to the members
        participating.
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