For years, thousands of combat-injured veterans have been forced to choose between two benefits they earned through sacrifice — military retirement pay and VA disability compensation. The House of Representatives just moved to change that.
On Thursday, the House passed the Major Richard Star Act, H.R. 2102, a bill that would allow combat-injured military retirees with fewer than 20 years of service to receive both their full military retirement pay and their VA disability compensation simultaneously — without the current dollar-for-dollar reduction that cuts into one benefit when the other is collected.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it must still be approved before it can be sent to the president to be signed into law.
How the Bill Got to the House Floor
Getting the Major Richard Star Act to a vote required a months-long legislative push. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, led the effort to force a standalone vote on the bill. On May 21, Takano and Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., launched a discharge petition — a procedural tool used to bring legislation to the floor without going through the typical committee process.
The petition needed 218 signatures to succeed. It crossed that threshold on September 15, when Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., added the decisive endorsement. On Thursday, the House adopted H. Res. 1247 by a 271-135 vote, clearing the path for final consideration of the Star Act.
The bill was originally introduced in 2020 by its Republican sponsor, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. Reps. Takano and Ruiz have been the leading Democratic advocates for its passage.
What Supporters Are Saying
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., who signed the discharge petition, called on the Senate to act without delay following Thursday’s vote.
“By finally passing the Major Richard Star Act, a bipartisan coalition just took a major step to follow through on that mission,”
Courtney said in a November 12 statement, urging senators to send the bill to the president.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars also weighed in. National Commander-in-Chief Corey Geisler made clear that reaching a vote was only part of the battle.
“Getting a vote is not the finish line,”
Geisler said.
“Passing the right bill is.”
The Wounded Warrior Project praised the House vote and echoed the call for Senate action. Jose Ramos, the organization’s senior vice president of government and community relations, issued a statement of support:
“We thank House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and Congressman Raul Ruiz for their efforts to advance the discharge petition, Congressman Gus Bilirakis for his longstanding commitment to the bipartisan Major Richard Star Act, and the members of the House of Representatives for taking an important step toward providing long-overdue relief for combat-injured veterans.”
What Happens Next
The Senate companion bill, S. 1032, remains before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Unlike the House, the Senate has no discharge-petition process to force a vote, and previous attempts to advance the legislation through unanimous consent have been blocked by objections. The bill’s fate now rests with Senate leadership and whether lawmakers choose to bring it to the floor for a vote.
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