Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC) Chairman Jon Tester, U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, and SVAC Ranking Member Jerry Moran have introduced S. 344, The Major Richard Star Act. Retired Army Major Richard Star, whom this bill is named in honor of, lost his battle with cancer on February 13, 2021.
The legislation will authorize concurrent receipt of DoD retired pay and VA disability for those injured in a combat zone and forced to medically retire under Chapter 61. Before Star lost his long-fought battle with cancer, he wanted to make sure his fight for concurrent receipt continued. “He made me promise him to continue to work with members of Congress to get this bill passed, and help the 42,000 families that would desperately benefit from it,” his widow, Tonya, said. “It is my honor to carry on this effort in his memory.”
The Major Richard Star Act would qualify approximately 42,000 military retirees with combat-related injuries to concurrently receive both military retired pay and Veteran Affairs (VA) compensation. More specifically, this legislation would provide for total offset relief to veterans who suffered combat injuries or illnesses who were medically retired with less than twenty years of service.
Senators are growing bipartisan support for this legislation – part of an incremental strategy to chip away at the larger concurrent receipt problem that has an associated $33 billion price tag. “When it comes to our nation’s disabled veterans, we’ve got to cut through the bureaucratic red tape that’s prevented them from getting the full benefits they’ve earned,” Tester said. “The Major Richard Star Act would fix the unfair offset that prevents thousands of veterans living with the wounds of war from accessing both their disability benefits and retired pay. And it honors the service and sacrifice of Major Richard Star, whose legacy lives on in our continued fight to ensure our men and women in uniform get the assistance they deserve.”
All servicemembers, active and retired, “deserve to receive the full care and benefits they have earned, not just fragments offset by government red tape,” said Crapo. “The Major Richard Star Act will ensure medically retired and combat-injured veterans receive both military retired pay and disability compensation earned through their service to our nation. I join the nation in mourning the recent loss of Major Richard Star, and I remain dedicated to improving veterans benefits, including fixing unfair discrepancies such as this, to honor his legacy.”
Contact your state legislators today and track this bills progress by clicking CONGRESS.GOV.