<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="119" measure-type="hr" measure-number="39" measure-id="id119hr39" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2025-01-03" update-date="2025-02-19">
        <title>Original Honoring Our WWII Merchant Mariners Act of 2025</title>
        <summary summary-id="id119hr39v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2025-02-19">
            <action-date>2025-01-03</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Original Honoring Our WWII Merchant Mariners Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to distribute a payment of $25,000 to U.S. merchant marines who engaged in qualified service during World War II. To be eligible, an individual must apply for the benefit and must not have received benefits under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. The bill sets forth what constitutes qualified service, including time frame of service and licensing requirements.</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
