What it does.
The Major Richard Star Act fixes a longstanding inequity for combat-injured veterans. Today, those medically retired with fewer than 20 years of service see their DoD retirement pay reduced dollar-for-dollar by their VA disability compensation. The bill ends that offset for roughly 50,000 affected combat-injured retirees so they can collect both, the way fully able-bodied retirees already do.
Doc cosponsors. The bill has a 43-senator bipartisan coalition behind it and is in committee. Major Richard Star served 18 years in the Army Reserve, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, before being medically retired in 2018. He died of service-connected lung cancer in 2021, tied to burn-pit exposure; the bill is named in his honor.
Kansas is home to roughly 155,000 veterans, with concentrations around Fort Riley (Junction City), Fort Leavenworth, and McConnell AFB. The medically-retired combat-injured cohort affected by this offset is over-represented in military communities.