What is the official federal name of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs?

The official federal name is the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, commonly shortened to the Department of Veterans Affairs or VA.

The department provides federal services for eligible veterans, including health care, disability compensation, education benefits, home-loan assistance, and burial services. Its work gives Veterans Day a practical connection beyond ceremonies: the holiday highlights the people served by this cabinet-level department.

The VA was established as a cabinet department in 1989. Before that, veterans’ services were administered by the Veterans Administration, an independent agency created in 1930 by combining several earlier programs.

The Veterans Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs are therefore related but not identical names. The modern department’s official title uses “Affairs,” not “Administration.”