---
title: House Passes Major Richard Star Act to End the Pay Offset for 58,000 Combat-Injured Veterans
description: The House passed the Major Richard Star Act 392-18. Who would get full retirement and VA disability pay, how much more, and what the Senate must still do.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-11-13T21:15:05.237Z
updated: 2026-11-13T21:15:05.258Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/what-is-the-major-richard-star-act
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-a-scenic-view-of-the-iconic-us-capitol-building-symbolizing--32177182.jpg
categories: Politics
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

The House on Thursday [passed the Major Richard Star Act, 392 to 18](https://democrats-veterans.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-passes-major-richard-star-act-ending-the-wounded-veterans-tax), voting to end a rule under which about 58,000 combat-injured veterans give up a dollar of military retirement pay for every dollar of disability compensation they receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill still has to pass the Senate and be signed by the president before it becomes law, so no veteran's payment changes for now.

The veterans affected have combat-related disabilities and were medically retired under Chapter 61, the military's disability retirement chapter, before reaching 20 years of service. Retirees who served 20 years collect both, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Democrats said. The Military Officers Association of America, which backs the bill, calls them "two different payments for two different purposes, one recognizing years of service and the other providing disability compensation", and says the offset leaves some medically retired veterans with no retirement pay at all. Wounded Warrior Project and Stars and Stripes put the number near 60,000, against the Congressional Budget Office's count of about 58,000, and advocates call the offset the "wounded veteran tax".

In an estimate dated Oct. 27, the CBO said those veterans' combined pay would rise by an average of $1,450 a month, about $17,400 a year, if the bill becomes law, though individual amounts vary. Under current law the average offset is $2,275 a month, the CBO said. Military.com reported that the bill is projected to cost $12.75 billion over 10 years and that it does not raise disability ratings or apply to every disabled veteran. If it is enacted, the change takes effect on the first day of the first month after signing, so a bill signed in December would apply to January payments.

The yes votes came from 210 Democrats, 181 Republicans and one independent. All 18 no votes came from Republicans.

## Takano's Discharge Petition Reached 218 Signatures in September

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, filed a discharge petition on May 21 to force a floor vote without the leadership's backing. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) gave it the 218th signature on Sept. 15. On Wednesday the House approved the motion bringing the bill to the floor, 245 to 175. Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Mike Bost voted against that motion, then voted for the bill on Thursday.

"Six years ago, Major Star asked Congress to fix this. He died before we could," Takano said. "It took a discharge petition and 218 signatures, and it took veterans who refused to quit, but combat-injured veterans will finally keep what they earned."

Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), who has sponsored the bill with Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), called the vote "a historic victory for combat-wounded veterans and their families."

## Congress Has Considered the Bill Since 2020 Without a Floor Vote Until Now

Richard Star was an Army combat engineer in the U.S. Army Reserve. He was medically retired after he developed terminal cancer, which Stars and Stripes reported was linked to burn pit exposure during his deployment to the Middle East. Bilirakis first introduced the bill in February 2020, and Star argued for it in public while he was ill. He died on Feb. 13, 2021, at 51.

Bilirakis and Ruiz have reintroduced the bill in every Congress since. In September 2021 the House Rules Committee blocked it as an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill because it had no offset to cover its cost. In 2023 it had 290 House cosponsors and was added to the Consensus Calendar, but it never got a floor vote. The current version, H.R. 2102, and its Senate companion, S. 1032, were introduced in 2025 and drew more than 330 cosponsors in the House and 79 in the Senate.

Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, The American Legion and Wounded Warrior Project are among the groups backing it. Wounded Warrior Project leads the Star Act Alliance, a coalition of more than 25 organizations, and has made the bill its top priority across several Congresses.

## Republicans Would Pay for Their Version Partly by Changing Tinnitus and Sleep Apnea Ratings

On Wednesday, Veterans Day, the House passed the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, H.R. 9237, by voice vote. Republican leaders introduced the package on June 10, and Bost and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chair of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, have championed it. It combines more than 60 veterans measures covering retirement pay, survivor benefits, [caregiver help](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/military-caregivers-14-million-count), health care access and the VA itself, and it includes its own version of the Star Act, which House Veterans' Affairs Committee Democrats call "a lesser version" of the bill. Military.com described that provision as covering about 54,000 combat-injured retirees. Takano, Ruiz and Disabled American Veterans oppose the package over how it is funded and over the cuts and caps it contains.

Section 108 of the package would change how the VA rates certain service-connected conditions for future claims, including tinnitus and obstructive sleep apnea, which are among the most common disability claims. Stars and Stripes reported that those changes would help cover the cost of the Star Act provision. The VFW and DAV say Section 108 could reduce compensation for some future claimants. DAV cites a VA analysis estimating that the changes could affect up to 1.5 million veterans and cut compensation payments by as much as $57 billion over 10 years.

"This proposal should be dead on arrival in the Senate," said Cory Geisler, the VFW's commander-in-chief.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a medically retired Navy SEAL who abstained on the Star Act vote, called current VA compensation for tinnitus and sleep apnea "absurdly high", Stars and Stripes reported, citing The New York Times.

The package also includes the Love Lives On Act, which the survivor group TAPS says would let more than 30,000 surviving military families remarry without losing benefits.

## Republican Senators Have Blocked the Standalone Bill Six Times

Both bills now wait for Senate votes. Republican senators have blocked the standalone bill six times, Military.com reported, and the Senate has no procedure like the House discharge petition for forcing a vote. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) leads S. 1032 and said in a statement on Wednesday that the Republican package "will be defeated in the Senate." Moran said he looks forward to the package becoming law, according to The Hill.

Jose Ramos, Wounded Warrior Project's senior vice president of government and community relations, said: "For too long, these veterans have been forced to forfeit a portion of the retirement pay and disability compensation they earned through their service and sacrifice." He urged "the Senate to swiftly pass this legislation."

Any bill that has not passed both chambers [when this Congress ends on Jan. 3](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/us-midterms-2026-democrats-win-house-senate) has to start over.

## FAQ

**Q: Who qualifies for the Major Richard Star Act?**
Combat-injured veterans medically retired under Chapter 61 with fewer than 20 years of service qualify; veterans whose disabilities are not combat-related do not. An earlier draft would also have covered about 255,000 more Chapter 61 retirees, which the Military Officers Association of America said took the Congressional Budget Office's score to $78 billion over 10 years. The version the House passed is limited to combat-related disabilities.

**Q: What is Combat-Related Special Compensation?**
Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) is a tax-free payment for retired veterans with combat-related disabilities whose retirement pay is reduced by their VA disability payments, applied for through your uniformed service. It does not end the offset: the Military Officers Association of America says medically retired veterans eligible for CRSC still cannot receive both payments in full. The Star Act would make them eligible for Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay, and MOAA says some may choose to keep their existing tax-free CRSC instead.