Five Federal Measures Signed Into Law, Addressing Veterans’ Benefits, Education Costs, Fiduciary Fraud, National Recognition, and Federal Charter Governance

Washington, D.C.; December 13th, 2025.

On Friday, December 12th, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed 5 congressional measures into law, identified as H.R. 452, H.R. 970, H.R. 983, H.R. 1912, and S. 616; the actions were confirmed through an official signing statement released by THE WHITE HOUSE, which outlined the functional scope of each law and the specific administrative or commemorative changes now enacted.

Because these measures span multiple policy lanes, including veterans’ benefits administration, education cost protections for servicemembers, fiduciary misuse remediation, national historical recognition, and federal charter governance, this article is structured to present what each law does, based strictly on the text of the signing statement and official legislative summaries, followed by the direct, mechanical effects that flow from those written requirements, without speculation, interpretation of intent, or political framing.

H.R. 452, titled the “Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act,” authorizes the awarding of 3 Congressional Gold Medals to members of the 1980 United States Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey team; as described by THE WHITE HOUSE, this measure is commemorative in nature, and its direct effect is limited to formal congressional recognition of the team’s historical achievement, rather than the creation of any new regulatory or administrative obligations affecting the public at large.

H.R. 970, titled the “Fairness for Servicemembers and their Families Act of 2025,” places a new requirement on the Department of Veterans Affairs to periodically review the automatic maximum coverage levels under the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance program and the Veterans’ Group Life Insurance program; as written, this law does not mandate a specific increase or decrease in coverage amounts, rather, it establishes an ongoing administrative duty to re-evaluate the automatic maximum coverage framework at regular intervals, which, by its nature, creates review documentation, oversight visibility, and prevents static coverage thresholds from remaining unchanged without formal reassessment.

H.R. 983, titled the “Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserves Tuition Fairness Act of 2025,” requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disapprove courses of education offered by institutions that charge higher than in-state tuition to members of the Selected Reserves who reside in the same state; the enforcement mechanism described by THE WHITE HOUSE is tied to VA course approval status, meaning institutions that wish to maintain VA-approved programs are incentivized to treat in-state Selected Reserve students consistently with in-state tuition policies, rather than imposing higher rates on that specific population.

H.R. 1912, titled the “Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act of 2025,” addresses cases in which veterans’ benefits are misused by a fiduciary; as summarized by THE WHITE HOUSE, the law improves repayment for benefits misused under fiduciary control, which, based on the plain language, modifies the federal response to fiduciary abuse by strengthening the repayment pathway available to affected veterans, rather than altering eligibility criteria or benefit levels themselves.

S. 616, titled the “Foundation of the Federal Bar Association Charter Amendments Act of 2025,” revises the federal charter governing the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association by allowing certain corporate requirements to be determined through the organization’s bylaws; according to THE WHITE HOUSE, this change shifts governance authority away from fixed charter language and into internal bylaws, while CONGRESS.GOV confirms that the amendment removes specific statutory requirements, including incorporation and domicile mandates, and instead allows the organization’s board to set those parameters through its governing documents.

Taken together, the 5 enacted measures demonstrate a mix of commemorative action, administrative recalibration, and governance modernization; 3 of the laws directly affect veterans or servicemembers through insurance review mandates, tuition fairness enforcement, and fiduciary repayment improvements, while 1 provides national recognition for a historic athletic achievement, and another updates the governance framework of a federally chartered legal foundation.

As confirmed by THE WHITE HOUSE, all 5 measures were signed into law on December 12th, 2025, and are now enacted according to their statutory language; the effects described above follow directly from the functional requirements outlined in the official signing statement and legislative summaries, without extrapolation beyond what the written text supports.

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Sources

• THE WHITE HOUSE, “Congressional Bills H.R. 452, H.R. 970, H.R. 983, H.R. 1912, and S. 616 Signed into Law,” December 12th, 2025
• CONGRESS.GOV, S. 616, “Foundation of the Federal Bar Association Charter Amendments Act of 2025,” official bill information and summary