A disabled veteran said he lost more than $150,000 over nearly two decades because of how the federal government calculates disability and retirement benefits, as legislation to address the issue stalls in Congress.
Last June, the Major Richard Star Act, which was introduced by Senator Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat who chairs the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, advanced out of the House Armed Service Committee. But no congressional action has been taken since.
The bill would help nearly 50,000 veterans by allowing those with a combat-related disability who served fewer than 20 years to receive both retirement pay and disability compensation without any reductions.
Currently, veterans who were forced into early retirement because of injuries get their full retirement pay and full disability benefits only if they have a disability rating of at least 50 percent. A disability rating is based on the severity of a service-related condition.
However, injured veterans forced into early retirement who have a disability rating under 50 percent have their retirement pay reduced by a dollar for every dollar of disability compensation they receive.
Navy veteran Bob Carey, the executive director of the National Defense Committee, a military personnel and veterans’ advocacy organization, said that given how the law works now, he loses out on $723 a month.
“I’ve had my disability rating since 2005. So that’s $158,000 I’ve lost over the years because the federal government says, ‘You don’t need all that money,'” he said. “And we’re the only federal employees who have our retirement reduced that way.”
The bill, which was named after an Army veteran who died from lung cancer in 2021, has been stalled because of concerns over government spending and just simple inaction in Congress. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill could cost $9.75 billion in mandatory spending over the next decade.
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Advocates of the bill, however, have remained hopeful, gathering at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to show their support for the legislation.
“This is long past time,” Tester told the crowd, according to Miltary Times. “We need to make sure leadership puts this on the floor.”
Tonya Star, the wife of the late Richard Star, thanked people for their support, saying at a news conference: “By far, Richard’s greatest goal was to pass this. These men and women, who earned their retirements the hard way, and Richard made myself, along with many of you, promise that we would not stop until we get this done.”
Senator Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said at the rally: “The Major Richard Star Act would correct a severe injustice by providing combat-wounded veterans with less than 20 years of service both their disability compensation and retirement pay without reduction.”
“We’re not going to rest until we pass the Richard Star Act,” Representative Gus Bilirakis, a Florida Republican and House sponsor of the bill, said at the rally. “This is a righteous cause.”
Newsweek reached out to the offices of Tester, Crapo and Bilirakis via email for further comment.
The bill has over 70 co-sponsors in the Senate and more than 320 co-sponsors in the House. Supporters of the legislation hope to have it included in the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2025 fiscal year. The NDAA is an annual bill that allocates funds to the Department of Defense.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.