A veteran rated 100 percent disabled, with no spouse, children or dependent parents, gets $3,938.58 a month from VA today. That rate took effect December 1, 2025. If Congress passes the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2026, the same veteran would go from $3,939 to $4,080 a month on December 1, 2026.

The $4,080 figure is a projection, not a rate VA has published. It comes from the bill’s own formula applied to Social Security’s new cost-of-living number. Neither chamber has passed the bill, so no veteran’s payment changes on the strength of it yet.

Where the $4,080 comes from

VA’s published rate table lists $3,938.58 a month for a veteran at the 100 percent rating with no dependents. The Senate bill, S. 4487, ties the VA increase in its section 2 to the same percentage as the Social Security increase. The Social Security Administration certified a 3.6 percent increase for 2027 on October 14, 2026.

Multiply $3,938.58 by 1.036 and the result is $4,080.37. VA rounds down to the whole dollar, which gives $4,080. That is about $141 more a month than today, or roughly $1,700 over a year, and every dollar of it assumes the bill passes as written.

Who the $4,080 describes

Only one group fits that number: veterans at the 100 percent rating who have no dependents. Veterans with a spouse, children or a lower rating are paid on other lines of VA’s table, and the projection here does not cover their amounts. So the answer to whether a veteran’s compensation will rise on December 1 is that it could, but only if the bill becomes law first, and for now the payment stays at the current rate.

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VA’s table separates a veteran alone from a veteran with a spouse, with children or with a dependent parent, and each of those situations has its own monthly amount. “No dependents” in the headline means the first line only. A veteran at the same rating with a spouse is paid more today, and the projection above says nothing about that higher line.

December 1 belongs to the bill, not to Social Security

December 1, 2026 is the effective date the bill text itself sets in section 2. It is not the date Social Security uses for its own raise. Social Security says its increased benefits begin in January 2027, and the 3.6 percent figure is only the yardstick the bill borrows for VA.

The gap in timing matters in a household that draws both. A veteran who also collects Social Security would see two separate changes on two schedules: the VA change on December 1 if the bill passes, and the Social Security change in January.

What an extra $141 does to a monthly budget

For a veteran living alone at the top rating, compensation is the base of the monthly budget, and a 3.6 percent change adds roughly $141 to it. Spread over twelve months that is about $1,700. The same percentage on a smaller check adds less, which is why the dollar gain varies so much from one rating to the next.

That is also why the exact starting number matters. The $3,939 in the headline is $3,938.58 rounded to the dollar. Anyone planning a household budget should work from the $3,938.58 VA publishes, not from a rounded figure or from the projected one.

The gap between the two numbers is $141.42 a month. That is the whole value of the bill for this one rate line, and it arrives only if the percentage in the final law matches the one Social Security certified. A different percentage in a rewritten bill would give a different dollar amount.

How close the bill is to passing

Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, introduced S. 4487 on May 11, 2026, and it was referred to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that day. It has 15 cosponsors, and the referral is the only action on it. The House version, H.R. 8552 from Rep. Morgan Luttrell, a Texas Republican, got further: a subcommittee sent it to the full House Veterans’ Affairs Committee by voice vote on June 30. That bill has 4 cosponsors. Before the vote, the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs held a hearing on June 25 and a markup session on June 30.

Veterans who want to see the numbers for their own situation can open VA’s rate table and read the line that matches their rating and family. The two bill pages list any new action as soon as one is recorded, and for now neither shows a vote by a full committee or a full chamber.

Nothing has been recorded on either bill since. With December 1 about five weeks away, a raise on that date would need both chambers to act, and the 119th Congress ends in early January. Whether VA pays $4,080 on December 1, later, or not at all is still an open question.

Planning around a December 1 raise?

A veteran who budgets for $4,080 on December 1 and sees $3,938.58 instead is short about $141 a month, and neither bill has moved in months.

This bill covers disability compensation. The Veterans Benefits Action Kit covers the neighboring question many wartime veterans and surviving spouses with limited income face next: the three VA pension levels including Aid & Attendance, and how to file for free (VA Form 21P-527EZ).

It runs eight parts, with a chapter on disability compensation, a claim tracker and a deadline calendar, so the household money plan does not hang on one bill.

Get the VA pension levels and free-filing steps in one kit →

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.