March 17, 2025

Warren, Blumenthal, Crapo, Scott Renew Bipartisan Fight to Deliver Full Military Benefits for Veterans Injured in War

Major Richard Star Act would provide combat-injured veterans with full earned disability compensation and retirement pay

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mike Crapo (R-Ind.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) reintroduced the Major Richard Star Act, bipartisan legislation to provide combat-injured veteran retirees their full benefits.

Currently, only veterans with disability ratings above 50 percent and more than 20 years of service are eligible to receive the full amount of their Department of Defense (DoD) retirement and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability payments, leaving behind more than 50,000 combat-injured military retirees. The Major Richard Star Act will fix this policy for retired combat veterans, providing them their full VA disability and DOD retirement payments.

This bipartisan legislation is named in honor of Major Richard A. Star, a decorated war veteran who was forced to medically retire due to his combat-related injuries. Major Star lost his battle with cancer on February 13, 2021. The legislation has 43 bipartisan cosponsors.

The House companion version of this bill was introduced by Congressmen Gus Bilirakis (R-Fl.) and Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), with 185 bipartisan cosponsors. 

“Our veterans put their lives on the line for this country and it’s time our government gives them the full benefits they’ve earned,” said Senator Warren. “The Major Richard Star Act will ensure the federal government keeps its promise to our veterans by allowing them to collect both disability and retirement benefits they earned, even if combat injuries forced them to retire early.”

“This measure corrects one of the deepest injustices in our present veterans’ disability system,” said Senator Blumenthal. “It is unacceptable that tens of thousands of combat-injured veterans are denied the full military benefits they earned. Our bipartisan bill will right this longstanding injustice and finally provide these military retirees who have already sacrificed so much their full VA disability and Defense Department retirement payments.” 

“The Major Richard Star Act corrects a severe injustice for combat-wounded veterans,” said Senator Crapo. “The support for this correction is clear. Though the namesake of our legislation is no longer with us, I continue to press for its passage on behalf of the more than 50,000 veterans, including hundreds in Idaho, who stand to benefit.”  

“I am a proud veteran and the son of a World War II veteran, and I have immense respect for anyone who puts on the uniform to defend our nation,” said Senator Scott. “Our veterans are American heroes who have made countless sacrifices. The Major Richard Star Act ensures our veterans receive the full benefits they’ve earned through their service and sacrifice protecting our nation regardless of length of service. This legislation makes a critical change to treat our veterans fairly and support our nation’s heroes. I urge my colleagues to support its quick passage.”

The senators’ bipartisan effort to provide combat-injured veterans their due benefits is supported by the Air Force Sergeants Association (AFSA), Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), American GI Forum, The American Legion, American Military Society, American Veterans (AMVETS), Armed Forces Retiree Association, Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA), Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS), Association of the United States Army (AUSA), Association of the United States Navy (AUSN), Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), Burn Pits 360, Chief Warrant Officers Association of the US Coast Guard (CWOA), Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, Inc. (COA), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, Fleet Reserve Association (FRA), Heroes Athletic Association, Gold Star Wives of America (GSW), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America (JWV), K9s for Warriors, Marine Corps League (MCL), Marine Corps Reserve Association (MCRA), Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America (MCA), Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), Mission Roll Call, National Defense Committee, National Military Family Association (NMFA), Naval Enlisted Reserve Association (NERA), Non-Commissioned Officers Association (NCOA), Operation First Response, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), Quality of Life Foundation, Reserve Organization of America (ROA), Stronghold Freedom Foundation, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA), The Independence Fund (TIF), United States Army Warrant Officers Association (USAWOA), USCG Chief Petty Officers Association (CPOA), VetsFirst/United Spinal Association, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Wounded Paw Project, Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).

Senator Warren is a longtime leader in fighting for the health and well-being of military veterans: 

  • In April 2024, Senator Warren called out the ineffectiveness of VA’s privatized disability rating exams and pushed for review of private contractors’ service quality.

  • In April 2024, Senator Warren introduced the Blast Overpressure Safety Act, to mitigate the risks of blast overpressure and traumatic brain injury for service members by regularizing neurocognitive tests, requiring blast overpressure exposure and TBI logs, improving transparency in weapons safety in the acquisition process, enhancing the Warfighter Brain Health Initiative, supporting service member treatment, and improving the data on subconcussive and concussive injuries to better track this issue.

  • In February 2024, Senator Warren led a hearing on the impacts of blast overpressure on American service members and the need for DoD to better protect service members from blast overpressure. 

  • In January 2024, Senators Warren, Ernst, and Tillis sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, asking him to provide updates on steps the DoD is taking to better understand and address the effects of blast exposure on service member mental and physical health during training and operations.   

  • In November 2020, Senator Warren joined ten colleagues in expressing grave concerns over the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) decision to increase the privatization of Compensation and Pension (C&P) exams, negatively impacting services and benefits provided to disabled veterans. 

  • On October 2, 2020, she joined Senator Tester in calling on the VA to step up its monitoring and support of these long-term care facilities, to better protect the health and lives of veterans—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • On June 26, 2020, Senator Warren led a letter with Senator Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) to Governor Charlie Baker requesting an independent investigation into the COVID-19 outbreak at Chelsea Soldiers' Home (CSH). 

  • On June 24, 2020, Senator Warren released a statement on the completion of the independent investigation in the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.

  • On May 5, 2020, Senators Warren, Tester, Markey, and Casey also requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review oversight by the VA of quality of care at State Veterans Homes. On May 14, the GAO agreed to conduct this investigation. 

  • On April 3, 2020, she led a letter with other members of the MA Congressional delegation to the VA New England Healthcare System seeking additional VA resources to help State Veterans Homes (SVHs) stop the spread of COVID-19 and prevent similar outbreaks at VA-operated long-term care facilities across the Commonwealth.

  • In January 2020, Senator Warren sent a letter to DoD and the Treasury Department requesting information about the collection of military hospital debt from low-income, civilian patients.

  • In May 2019, Senators Warren and Ernst introduced the Blast Pressure Exposure Study Improvement Act, which would require more frequent progress reports from DoD regarding the longitudinal study and added two feasibility assessments to the study.

  • In May 2018, Senators Warren and Ernst introduced the Blast Exposure and Brain Injury Prevention Act to improve research on TBIs, speed up the development of therapies to treat TBI, and strengthen DoD’s capacity to track and prevent blast pressure exposure.

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