On the recordDecember 13, 2022
It is with great sadness that I must take the floor in frustration regarding the continued delay of floor action on the Major Richard Star Act. H.R. 1282 would expand eligibility to certain military retirees for concurrent receipt of veterans' disability compensation and retired pay or combat-related special compensation. In the past, military servicemembers found to have endured a service- connected disability could not collect their pension and disability pay in unison. This was unfair. To receive VA disability compensation, veterans had to forfeit their retirement benefits and pay back dollar-for-dollar the amount that would have been owed to them if they had received both benefits. In the fiscal year 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress created the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay program. In doing so, veterans who are 100 percent disabled were authorized to receive both earned benefits--which is right--known as concurrent receipt, for the first time ever. Since then, the law has expanded the eligibility to receive military retirement pay and their VA disability pay concurrently to military retirees with 20 or more years of service and a 50 percent or higher disability rating. Under current law, concurrent receipt for military retirees who have a disability rating of 50 percent or higher was phased in through 2014.…
