A bipartisan group of U.S. senators wants to make it easier to exhume and remove the remains of veterans convicted of serious crimes from national cemeteries.

“The burial grounds of our national cemeteries should be reserved for the bravest and most honorable among us,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in a statement announcing the bill introduced Tuesday. The legislation would give the Department of Veterans Affairs extended authority to disinter the remains of any “disgraced veteran” who wouldn’t be deemed eligible for burial under the standards and practices of current law, Cornyn said.

Under current law, the VA can only reconsider a veteran’s eligibility for burial in national cemeteries for cases dating back to 2013. Families and victims’ advocates who want the VA to disinter someone

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