Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R) is pushing a new bill to allow all veterans to collect both retirement and disability benefits, as many are currently unable to do so.
The Major Richard Star Act removes restrictions that force veterans with combat-related injuries who served fewer than 20 years to give up a dollar of retirement pay for every dollar of disability compensation they receive, enabling all medically retired soldiers to collect both payments.
“The Major Richard Star Act will ensure that more than 50,000 combat-injured veterans receive the benefits they rightfully deserve by correcting the injustice of concurrent receipt. I will never stop fighting for our heroes.” Rep. Bilirakis said in a statement.
The bill, named for Maj. Richard Star, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who lost his life to service-connected cancer in 2021, has received widespread bipartisan support with over 300 co-sponsors in the House and 75 in the Senate.
Bilirakis is “hopeful” that if the bill reaches the House floor, it will pass with little issue.
Critics of the bill point to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the measure would cost nearly $10 billion over 10 years; however, Bilirakis is quick to point out that this act “isn’t an entitlement program, but a promise to care for our veterans.”
Previously, in 2022, Congress expanded compensation for service members who had been exposed to burn pits, like Maj. Richard Star, with the passage of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, but debate on “concurrent receipt” of retired pay and disability benefits stalled.
With the Major Richard Star Act, and its discussion brought to the House floor again, if the bill were to pass, veterans who are eligible for disability pay would receive an estimated $1,200 more each month on average.
