Together with more than 50 other Military and Veterans Service Organizations, BVA continues to carefully monitor the progress of the Major Richard Star Act, proposed bipartisan legislation to provide combat-injured veteran retirees with their full benefits.

S. 1032, introduced in the 119th Congress by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), now has 76 bipartisan co-sponsors. The House companion version of the bill, introduced by Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12) and Raul Ruiz (D-CA-25), now has 280 co-sponsors.

At present, only veterans with disability ratings above 50 percent and more than 20 years of service are eligible to receive the full amount of their Department of Defense (DOD) retirement and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability payments. This regulation leaves behind more than 50,000 combat-injured military retirees.

S. 1032 and H.R. 2102 will modify this unjust policy for retired combat veterans, providing them with their full VA disability and DOD retirement payments.