H.R. 6377 — This act may be cited as the “Gold Star Siblings Educational Benefits Act

This section expands eligibility for the Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA) program—under which spouses, children, and now certain siblings may receive up to 45 months of educational assistance payments—to include siblings (defined as a brother or sister by blood, adoption, or through a recognized guardianship or family relationship) of (1) persons who died of a service-connected disability sustained during qualifying service, (2) active duty members listed as missing in action, captured in line of duty by a hostile force, or forcibly detained or interned in line of duty by a foreign government or power for more than 90 days, (3) persons with a total permanent service-connected disability sustained during qualifying service or veterans who died while such a disability existed, and (4) servicemembers hospitalized or receiving treatment for a total permanent line-of-duty disability likely to result in discharge or release from service.

This section expands eligibility for the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship—under which children and spouses of service members who died in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001, receive up to 36 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill educational assistance benefits—to include such service members' siblings. It defines "sibling," for these purposes, as a brother or sister by blood, adoption, or recognized guardianship or family relationship and specifies that "child" includes married individuals or those over age 23.

This section expands eligibility under the Post-9/11 GI Bill transfer authority (38 U.S.C. §3319) to include siblings of service members as eligible dependents, in addition to spouses, children, and other dependents previously defined under 10 U.S.C. §1072(2)(A), (D), and (I). (The program allows eligible service members to transfer up to 36 months of unused educational assistance benefits to dependents to promote recruitment and retention.) The section further (1) modifies revocation and modification rules in subsection (g) to treat siblings age 23 or older like spouses and siblings under age 23 like children; (2) modifies commencement-of-use rules in subsection (h) similarly, including for remarriage and divorce scenarios; (3) establishes in new subsection (h)(6) that transferred benefits for siblings generally may be used until the later of the 15-year delimiting date under 38 U.S.C. §3321 or age 26, with an exception extending use beyond age 26 for siblings who served as primary caregivers under 38 U.S.C. §1720G(a) for the length of their caregiving period (subject to regulatory feasibility determinations and inapplicable if designation is revoked); and (4) defines "sibling" in new subsection (m) as a brother or sister by blood, adoption, or recognized guardianship or family relationship.