On Wednesday, veterans with combat-related injuries gathered near the U.S. Capitol to push lawmakers to finally act on a long-stalled proposal—the Major Richard Star Act. This legislation aims to grant all veterans full access to military retirement pay and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability benefits.
The Major Richard Star Act: A Long-Delayed Proposal
Despite enjoying broad bipartisan support, the Major Richard Star Act has been stuck in legislative limbo for years. This delay has increasingly frustrated veterans who are missing out on thousands of dollars in benefits crucial for their support and that of their families.
"Even before I medically retired, I got another job because I needed to provide for my wife, and at that time, we welcomed our first child right after I retired," said Ryan Kules, an Army veteran who lost his right arm and left leg in an improvised explosive device blast in Iraq in 2005. "If I had had that additional income that I had earned, I would have been able to take some more time to adjust, but I didn't have a choice."
Kules, who now works at Wounded Warrior Project, spoke to Military.com after a news conference hosted by his organization and other veterans' groups. They urged Congress to incorporate the Major Richard Star Act into the Senate's annual defense policy bill as an amendment.
Current Restrictions and the Need for Change
Currently, veterans with fewer than 20 years of service and a disability rating of less than 50% have their retirement pay reduced by a dollar for every dollar of disability pay they receive. These restrictions mean an estimated 50,000 retirees are ineligible for concurrent benefits, with the average offset around $1,900 per month in 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The Major Richard Star Act would eliminate these restrictions, allowing all retirees with combat-related disabilities to collect their full retirement and disability benefits.
A Legacy of Advocacy
The bill is named after Major Richard Star, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran forced to retire before 20 years of service after being diagnosed with lung cancer due to burn pit exposure. Star died from cancer in 2021, but his legacy continues through this crucial legislation.
With over 300 co-sponsors in the House and more than 70 in the Senate, the bill has significant support but remains stalled. The primary challenge is that the legislation would increase mandatory spending, and congressional rules typically require balancing such increases elsewhere in the budget.
Calls for Action
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., criticized the mandatory spending debate as "an excuse" for inaction. "This is the cost of war," Tester said at Wednesday's news conference. "If that shouldn't be mandatory spending, what the hell should?"
Tester and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, plan to introduce the measure as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act later this week. Whether the amendment will be voted on remains uncertain, but veterans argued that it's long past time for Congress to act.
"We've been talking about this for 19 years amongst the veterans, my brothers and sisters," said Danielle Green, an Army veteran who lost her dominant left arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq 15 months after enlisting. "There are thousands, we have 53,000 veterans that earned these benefits that could benefit from this that have endured in hardship. So, we got to make this right, Congress."
The time is now, lawmakers need to pull their heads out of their a** and pass this legislation.
John Reuter
The Veteran Realtor
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