Congress must act to give pay boost to medically retired veterans

Less than one-half of 1 percent of Americans currently serve in our nation’s armed services, and an estimated 7 percent of the entire population have previously donned our nation’s military uniform. Of this group, there are currently more than 50,000 men and women who answered the call to serve — putting their lives, health and future at risk — and who were subsequently medically retired as a result of an injury sustained during combat. 

Instead of welcoming these brave men and women back with open arms and ensuring they receive all the benefits they were promised, our country’s current policies penalize them.  This is categorically wrong, and Congress once again has the opportunity to rectify this injustice.     

When service members retire from the military, they are entitled to both retired pay from the Department of Defense and disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) if they were injured while in the service. Unfortunately, only military retirees with at least 20 years of service and a disability rating of at least 50 percent are able to collect both benefits at the same time. Current law requires a dollar-for-dollar offset of these two benefits for all other retired veterans. This means they have to forfeit a portion of the benefits they earned in service.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that fixing this terrible injustice would cost less than $10 billion over the next 10 years. That sounds like a substantial amount of money, but when it is put into perspective, the United States spent more than $2 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, $75 billion on the war in Ukraine, and $12.5 billion on funding the United Nations last year alone. Honoring our commitment to fully fund the benefits promised to our nation’s heroes who were medically retired during combat would cost a fraction of these other costs of war. 

National defense is such a vital federal function, it appears in the preamble of the Constitution. In addition, Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution mentions defense related powers at least seven times. If the federal government sends a citizen to war, we are honor bound and bound by our founding charter to care for the war fighter. 

The trillions of dollars spent outside of the four corners of the Constitution are where we should look to make cuts. But to wring our hands over providing for those who personified the “common defense” and were wounded in that service, is something that should not sit right with any American. 

I am a strong fiscal conservative who believes we must address the serious national security threat posed by our growing federal debt and rising debt service obligations; however, it is unconscionable to abrogate a contractual AND moral obligation that the U.S. government has with injured veterans who have already sacrificed so much to keep our nation safe. 

My bill, HR 1282, the Major Richard Star Act, would end the pay offset and give wounded veterans their retirement and their disability pay. It is co-sponsored by 326 out of 435 members of the House of Representatives and more than half of the U.S. Senate. The bill is named after Maj. Richard Star, first deployed during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He later deployed and conducted dangerous road construction and IED clearance operations in Afghanistan. Later, he deployed to Iraq with the 841st Engineer Battalion, where he conducted route clearance operations. After his last deployment, he was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer in 2018.

Star and his wife were shocked to learn his VA disability pay would offset the longevity pay he had earned through his years in service. Star passed away before we could change the policy, but his fight — and his spirit — continues to inspire us to see this legislative priority across the finish line.

We cannot allow misplaced priorities mixed with politics and sprinkled with procedural roadblocks to continue keeping us from doing the right thing. These heroes deserve better from Washington.  

I implore my colleagues and the president to remember the words of former President Kennedy who said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” We owe Star, and all those who bear the scars of freedom’s cost, to soldier on, finish the mission and never leave a wounded soldier behind. 

Gus Bilirakis represents Florida’s 12th Congressional District.