Progress on the Major Richard Star Act
A maneuver in the U.S. House has cleared a path for a floor vote on the Major Richard Star Act, breaking a multi-year legislative deadlock.
The effort follows years of difficulty. An earlier version of the act cleared the House Armed Services Committee in June 2023, but stalled over budget limits. Eight Senate standalone attempts failed, including a June 17, 2026, bid by Senator Richard Blumenthal to pass the bill by unanimous consent.
Progress on the Major Richard Star Act
Representative Mark Takano forced action on the measure, filing a discharge petition on House Resolution 1247 to bring the underlying bill to the floor. The petition got the required 218 signatures on Sept. 15, 2026, when Representative Nancy Mace signed.
Under House rules, once a lawmaker calls up the motion, the Speaker must schedule a floor vote within two days. If members approve the motion and adopt House Resolution 1247, the chamber takes up H.R. 2102 for consideration.
The legislation, if passed, repeals an offset that forces combat-injured service members medically retired under Chapter 61 before 20 years of active duty to forfeit earned military retirement pay dollar for dollar against Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation.
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What is the Major Richard Star Act?
The bill honors Army Major Richard Star, a combat engineer medically retired with stage 4 lung cancer caused by overseas burn pit exposure. Star died while lobbying Congress to repeal the offset.
Recent cost revisions lowered the measure’s 10-year direct spending estimate from $78.1 billion to $12.75 billion. The Congressional Budget Office attributed the reduction to narrower statutory language that dropped expansions for non-combat Chapter 61 retirees and retained caps on retirees with more than 20 years of service. The revised bill focuses on combat-injured Chapter 61 retirees who receive Combat-Related Special Compensation.
Star Act Money Numbers
Nearly 60 thousand eligible veterans lose an average of $2,275 monthly from retired pay while drawing an average of $825 through Combat-Related Special Compensation.
The bill, if passed, would offer an approximate gain of $1,450 per month depending on circumstances.
If the House passes it, the bill heads to the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to overcome procedural obstacles unless there is unanimous consent. If the bill is not signed into law before the 119th Congress adjourns, lawmakers would have to restart the process in committee during the 2027 session.
Deadlock over the Richard Star Act peaked on June 10, 2026, when the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman S. 4744, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. That 600-page omnibus bundled the Star Act with 60 other measures, funding it through $57 billion in offsets that tightened VA disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus.
Veterans service organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, are against the omnibus proposal.
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About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
