Senator blocks veterans benefits bill over cost in ‘dollars and cents’

For several years, veterans groups have been pushing for legislation that would allow those wounded in combat to receive both disability benefits and retirement pay. However, a bill intended to do just that — the Major Richard Star Act — recently stalled in the Senate.

Named for an Army reserve major who died of lung cancer linked to burn pit exposure, the legislation took aim at a federal rule against “double-dipping” — one that veterans’ advocates argue has wrongly been applied to two different federal benefits.

But the legislation has faced an uphill battle in Congress, and most recently, it failed to advance after a lone senator blocked a procedural move that would have allowed the Senate to pass the bill.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on the Senate floor that his objection to the bill came down to “dollars and cents.”

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“We can’t just come down here and talk about how much we love vets and how we want to support them,” Johnson said on March 3. “We also have to look at the reality of the situation in dollars and cents. We are $39 trillion in debt. Over the next decade, we’ll probably go to $60 trillion. We have to look at the dollars and cents.”

Johnson said he was reminded about how the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, or PACT Act, is now expected to cost much more than originally anticipated. He added that he voted for the law, which established 23 health conditions linked to toxic substance exposure during military service and expanded care for Vietnam veterans who are ill due to Agent Orange.

“The current 10-year window is over $700 billion,” Johnson said. “That’s not chump change. That’s approaching $1 trillion over 10 years.”

This latest setback for the Major Richard Star Act drew swift condemnation from Carol Whitmore, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“This is not double-dipping,” Whitmore said in a statement. “This is double sacrifice. Veterans have fulfilled their obligation. Now, the country must honor the contract. Not partially, not eventually, not someday, but today, fully and faithfully.” 

Veterans are pushing for Congress to take up a bill that would give injured veterans full retirement pay and disability compensation. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Iyer Ramakrishna.

Currently, veterans with combat injuries have the amount of disability benefits they receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs deducted from the retirement pay they get from the Department of Defense, said Joy Craig, associate director of service member affairs for Veterans of Foreign Wars.

That means a 100% disabled veteran who is eligible for $3,800 per month in disability compensation would have that amount of money taken out of any retirement pay they receive from the Defense Department, Craig explained.

“They say that you can’t be paid two different streams of money from the federal government for this same qualifying event or the same purpose — is what the law says,” Craig told Task & Purpose. “We would argue that military pension and VA disability are two totally different things earned for two totally different reasons. So to hide behind this double-dipping law that allows them to recuperate a dollar for dollar is robbing from the most deserving veterans.”

Craig also said that the cost that Johnson cited for the Major Richard Star Act is too high. The bill applies specifically to about 50,000 veterans retired due to combat wounds or injuries, she said. The figure of $70 billion would fund the bill for all veterans who retired due to any injuries, even if they occurred during training, she added.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2023 that the Richard Star Act would cost $9.75 billion, and that affected veterans would receive about $1,200 more in compensation per month.

Johnson could not be reached for comment by publication. During his March 3 speech explaining his objection to the Major Richard Star Act, Johnson said that the federal government is expected to spend $435 billion on veterans’ benefits this year, up from $200 billion in 2019.

“It’s more than doubled, and our cost per vet is up to $28,000 per veteran,” Johnson said. “Somebody’s got to look at this.”

With the Senate’s failure to pass the legislation, the Major Richard Star Act is “just right back where it was,” namely, being considered by committees in both branches of Congress, Craig said.

Veterans of Foreign Wars and other veterans advocates plan to press lawmakers even harder now to pass the bill because they feel they have momentum.

“This is the cost of honoring the contract,” Craig said. “When a service member enlists and volunteers, they sign a contract with the United States Government on the other side of that contract saying: If you serve honorably and you are retired, we will pay you attention. And, if you get banged up during your service — mentally or physically — we will pay you disability compensation from a totally different federal agency. So, to offset that dollar for dollar and require these veterans basically to pay their own benefits, it’s just unjust, and it’s antithetical to what we say we’ll pay for our national security.”

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