Congress should pass the Major Richard Star Act to keep its promise to combat-injured veterans

John Donovan

Submitted photo/DAV

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OPINION — When Americans are injured in combat, we have a responsibility to make sure they receive the benefits they earned through their service and sacrifice. For tens of thousands of veterans, we are falling short of that promise.

Under current law, many veterans who were forced to retire from the military because of combat-related injuries must give up a portion of their military retirement pay in order to receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Major Richard Star Act would change that.

The bipartisan legislation would correct what Disabled American Veterans and other veterans organizations have long called the “wounded veteran tax.” It would allow eligible combat-injured veterans to receive their full military retirement pay along with the VA disability compensation they earned because of their service-connected injuries.

More than 50,000 combat-injured military retirees could be affected by this change.

For them, this is not an abstract debate over federal spending. These are benefits that can help pay the rent, put food on the table, cover medical expenses, provide transportation or purchase adaptive equipment. For veterans living with serious service-connected disabilities, compensation can help make independence possible.

And these veterans have waited long enough.

The Major Richard Star Act has strong bipartisan support and when the House returns from recess in November, lawmakers are expected to vote on it. The vote follows a rarely used process known as a discharge petition, which reached the 218 signatures needed from members of Congress to move the legislation toward the House floor after it had otherwise stalled. 

But there is another proposal before Congress, and the difference matters.

A scaled-down version of the Star Act was included in the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, a broader package of veterans legislation. That version would place limits on the retirement benefits some combat-injured veterans could receive.

Even more concerning, TCAVA includes a provision that would reduce future disability compensation by $57 billion for up to 1.5 million veterans over the next 10 years. Veterans should not be forced to lose benefits so others can finally receive what they earned.

Correcting one injustice should not require creating another.

The full Major Richard Star Act offers a better path. The House can move the bill forward without requiring cuts elsewhere to pay for it. That means Congress can address this longstanding inequity without reducing benefits for other veterans.

DAV and our fellow veterans’ organizations have spent years advocating for the Major Richard Star Act. Its progress demonstrates what is possible when lawmakers from both parties come together around a shared responsibility to those who served.

When the House returns, members will have the opportunity to take the next — and most important — step: vote to pass the Major Richard Star Act and finally address a problem that has gone unresolved for too long.

DAV will continue standing with the veterans who have spent years fighting for this change. They answered their country’s call, sacrificing their health and, in many cases, their military careers in service to our nation.

They should not have to keep fighting for the benefits they earned.

Congress will soon have its chance to act. Americans can make their voices heard by contacting their representatives and urging them to pass the full Major Richard Star Act when it reaches the House floor for a long-overdue vote.

John Donovan is the national commander of the Disabled American Veterans and a service-connected disabled Navy veteran. He served 24 years in the U.S. Navy and previously held the position of adjutant for DAV’s Department of Arkansas. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.