House Passes Veterans Bill to Restore Full Pay for Combat-Injured Retirees
The House of Representatives passed a sweeping package of veterans legislation on Veterans Day, moving tens of thousands of combat-injured retirees a step closer to receiving their full military retirement pay alongside their disability compensation.
The package, H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, cleared the House by voice vote at about 2:46 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, 11 November. It now heads to the Senate, where its fate is far from certain. The vote came on Veterans Day, as ceremonies were held at Arlington National Cemetery and across the country.
What the Star Act would change
At the centre of the package is the Major Richard Star Act, a long-campaigned-for measure named for Maj. Richard Star. Under current law, service members who are medically retired because of combat-related injuries, with fewer than 20 years of service, lose part of their military retirement pay when they also receive Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation. The Star Act would end that offset, allowing them to collect both in full, a principle known as concurrent receipt.
The Associated Press reported that the package’s centrepiece would help an estimated 58,000 veterans who are medically retired because of combat-related injuries. Military.com put the figure at about 54,000, while the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said more than 60,000 combat-wounded, medically retired veterans would be covered. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the change would be worth about $1,450 a month on average to those affected.
“The long-overdue Major Richard Star Act provides veterans injured in combat with full retirement pay,” Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) said in a statement released after the vote.
A package of more than 60 bills
The Star Act is one of more than 60 bipartisan provisions in the package, sponsored by House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.). According to the committee, the wider bill expands rural and urban health care access, education and job opportunities, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and support for Gold Star families, while cutting red tape at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The House also passed H.R. 8552, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, in the same week.
How the package would be paid for
The bill’s funding mechanism proved controversial. Republicans proposed paying for the income boost in part by changing how the VA rates tinnitus and sleep apnea, two of the most commonly claimed conditions. Democrats and veterans service organisations criticised the offset, arguing that it funded new benefits by reducing earned benefits for other veterans.
The way the vote was taken also drew criticism. The package passed by voice vote rather than a recorded roll call, in a noisy and crowded chamber, and Democrats said they were caught off guard. The House also held a 245-175 procedural vote on a standalone version of the measure, H.R. 2102, the same day, according to the House Clerk’s record.
What happens next
The bill is not yet law. The Senate must take it up, and Democrats have their own version of the measure, which was expected to be voted on in the House on Thursday. If that version passes, the Senate could choose between the two, pick neither, or leave the issue for a Democratic-controlled Congress in the new year.
Advocates for the Star Act have pressed for the change for years, and the Veterans Day timing gave the vote added symbolism. For the veterans it would help, the question now is whether the Senate acts before the 119th Congress runs out of time.
