Does the conservative Project 2025 initiative to reshape the U.S. government propose cutting billions of dollars from veterans' benefits and disability compensation? No, that's not true: The four policies listed in a post on Facebook do not appear in the Heritage Foundation's policy agenda. However, the purported "PROJECT 2025 VETERANS CUTS" do come from the organization's "Budget Blueprint for Fiscal Year 2023." That's separate from Project 2025 and forecasts savings based on their annual government policy recommendations.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on July 5, 2025. The post's caption said:
Project 2025 Veterans Cuts . Y'all better wake up .
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Jul 16 15:14:11 2024 UTC)
The post provided no evidence to substantiate its claim that billions of dollars of veterans' benefits and disability compensation would be cut as a part of "Mandate for Leadership," the official name of the 887-page Project 2025 initiative. The section on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) begins on page 641.
Additionally, the four policies highlighted in the social media post above do not appear in Project 2025, a Lead Stories review found.
Budget Blueprint for Fiscal Year 2023
While the policies don't appear in Project 2025, they do show up in the Heritage Foundation's "Budget Blueprint for Fiscal Year 2023," which are recommendations for policies to implement during fiscal years 2023 through 2032.
Lead Stories was able to sort through the group's 229 policy recommendations by selecting "Veterans Affairs." A screenshot of the page (shown below) lists the four policies included in the social media post (shown above), plus one more:
(Source: Heritage Foundation screenshot taken on Tue Jul 20:42:54 2024 UTC)
This is how the blueprint spells out each proposed policy change, which forecasts budgetary savings totaling more than $286 billion over 10 years:
1. Eliminate Concurrent Receipt of Retirement Pay and Disability Compensation for Veterans:
The Veterans Administration should eliminate concurrent eligibility for both service-related disability benefits and military retirement benefits, which would reduce mandatory outlays by at least $160 billion during the FY 2023-FY 2032 period.
2. End Enrollment in VA Medical Care for Veterans in Priority Groups 7 and 8:
The Veterans Administration should not provide medical benefits to veterans categorized as low priority (groups 7 and 8), which would reduce discretionary budget authority by $69 billion during the FY 2023-FY 2032 period.
3. Narrow Eligibility for Veterans Disability by Excluding Disabilities Unrelated to Military Duties:
The Veterans Administration should preclude disability benefits for conditions that cannot be related to military service, which would reduce mandatory outlays by at least $37.6 billion during the FY 2023-FY 2032 period.
4. Put a 10-Year Time Limit on Initial Applications for Disability Compensation for Veterans:
The Veterans Administration should limit service-related disability claim applications to 10 years after leaving active duty, which would reduce mandatory outlays by $20 billion during the FY 2023-2032 period.
5. Cap GI Bill Flight Training Benefits:
The tuition subsidy for flight training at public universities should be capped at the same amount as the cap for private universities, which would reduce mandatory outlays by $137 million during the FY 2023-FY 2032 period.
Project 2025
While the Project 2025 agenda would make sweeping changes to the federal government if implemented, none of the "PROJECT 2025 VETERANS CUTS" included in the social media post are part of this particular initiative by the conservative policy group.
Project 2025 included the following as part of its mission statement for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under its policy proposal:
The VA must continually strive to be recognized as a 'best in class,' 'Veteran-centric' system with an organizational ethos inspired by and accountable to the needs and problems of veterans, not subservient to the parochial preferences of a bureaucracy.
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Other fact check agencies have reviewed similar claims, including VERIFY and The Dispatch.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving Project 2025 can be found here.
