Why It Matters

The House passed two bills this week that would expand benefits for veterans with combat-related disabilities, but with a key difference: one would expand benefits while potentially reducing disability compensation for some veterans with sleep apnea or tinnitus, while the other would expand benefits without those reductions. ​

On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, the House passed H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, by voice vote. According to The Hill, no Democrat demanded a recorded vote when the presiding Republican brought the bill up, so the House was able to pass it by voice vote. Democrats called the move "dirty pool," saying Republicans pulled the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), away from the podium during the debate.

The bill would allow certain retirees with combat-related disabilities to receive benefits concurrently, extend benefits to remarried surviving spouses, raise dependency and indemnity compensation, and create a supplemental monthly allowance for certain disabled veterans. However, according to Newsweek, it includes a provision directing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to revise its disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus, potentially reducing compensation for some veterans who file future claims for those conditions. Supporters describe those rating changes as offsets for the expanded benefits, while the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Democrats have largely opposed the bill.

On Nov. 12, the House passed H.R. 2102, the Major Richard Star Act, by a vote of 392-18, with 23 members not voting, according to the House Roll Call vote. Unlike H.R. 9237, the Major Richard Star Act would expand benefits for veterans with combat-related disabilities without including the proposed reductions to disability compensation for veterans with sleep apnea or tinnitus. The bill would allow certain military disability retirees with combat-related disabilities to collect their full veterans' disability compensation and military retired pay simultaneously.

Under current law, military retirees who receive VA disability compensation typically have their retired pay reduced dollar for dollar by the amount of that compensation, subject to certain exceptions. For disability retirees with combat-related disabilities who served fewer than 20 years, the bill would eliminate that offset altogether, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO estimates the change would increase direct spending by approximately $12.75 billion from fiscal 2027 through 2036, and affected retirees would receive about $1,450 more a month on average.

The version of H.R. 2102 modified by the resolution excludes three other disability-benefit changes from the introduced text, according to the CBO. Its estimate covers eliminating the disability offset for qualifying combat-disabled retirees, without the sleep apnea or tinnitus rating changes included in H.R. 9237. The House agreed to the resolution, 271-135, with 26 members not voting. All 210 Democrats and the one independent who voted supported it. Republicans were divided: 60 voted yes, and 135 voted no.

Both H.R. 9237 and H.R. 2102 now await Senate consideration.

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