Major Richard Star Act 2026: Has It Passed and Who Would Qualify?

The Major Richard Star Act is a bill, not a current benefit. As of September 3, 2026 it has not become law, has not passed the House or the Senate, and has not been voted on by either chamber. The bill (S. 1032 and H.R. 2102) would let certain medically retired Veterans — “Chapter 61” disability retirees — receive their full military retired pay and their full VA disability compensation at the same time, instead of having retired pay reduced by the amount of VA compensation they receive. Two current programs, CRDP and CRSC, already restore part of that money for some retirees, but each has limits the bill would change. Not every disabled Veteran, and not every medically retired Veteran, would be covered. Nothing here is individual financial or legal advice.

The short answer: what the Major Richard Star Act would change

The bill is named for a U.S. Army combat engineer who cleared routes and roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, was medically retired with fewer than 20 years of service because of cancer linked to burn-pit exposure, held a 100 percent VA rating, and spent his final months before his 2021 death asking Congress to end the offset that reduced his retired pay. That offset is still current law.

Under current law, a military retiree who also receives VA disability compensation generally “waives” an equal amount of retired pay. The waived amount returns as tax-free VA compensation, so it is not always a dollar lost, but it can shrink the taxable retired-pay check. Two exceptions — Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) — restore some or all of it for retirees who meet specific rules.

The bill would amend 10 U.S.C. 1413a and 1414 so Chapter 61 disability retirees with a combat-related disability could receive both payments in full. Per the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the current text, it would also drop the 20-year service requirement and a dollar cap that now limit CRDP for Chapter 61 retirees rated at least 50 percent. Supporters call the reduction the “wounded warrior tax”; that is advocacy language, not a legal term.

Why military retired pay can be reduced when you also receive VA disability pay

Two federal agencies pay two benefits. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) pays military retired pay based on your service. VA pays disability compensation based on service-connected conditions. For most of the last century, federal law — now 38 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305 — did not let a retiree collect both in full at once: you waived retired pay dollar-for-dollar to receive VA compensation.

The waiver does not “take away” every dollar. VA compensation is tax-free, and for many retirees the swap is roughly even or favorable after taxes. But it can mean a smaller retired-pay deposit, a different tax picture, and downstream effects on some other calculations. CRDP and CRSC exist to reduce or undo that waiver for retirees who qualify.

What is CRDP?

CRDP is not a separate VA benefit or a check from a third program. It is a restoration of military retired pay that would otherwise be waived. DFAS applies it automatically — there is no application — when a retiree meets the rules, and it is taxable, like the rest of retired pay.

Current CRDP eligibility, in general: you are entitled to military retired pay, you are entitled to VA disability compensation, and your VA rating is at least 50 percent. The phase-in finished at the end of 2013, so eligible retirees now receive the full restoration.

Chapter 61 (disability) retirees face extra limits. A Chapter 61 retiree needs at least 20 years of service to receive CRDP at all, and even then the amount is capped at what a regular longevity (non-disability) retirement would have paid for the same years. A Chapter 61 retiree with fewer than 20 years receives no CRDP.

What is CRSC?

CRSC is a separate, tax-free payment — the law says it is “not retired pay” — for combat-related disabilities. It is not automatic. You apply to your branch of service, and the branch decides whether each condition qualifies as combat-related.

Current CRSC eligibility, in general: you are entitled to military retired pay, you have waived retired pay to receive VA compensation, and you have a combat-related disability that VA compensates, with a practical 10 percent floor. CRSC replaces waived retired pay, but only up to the amount waived, and only for the conditions the branch approves.

Chapter 61 retirees face a cap here too: CRSC plus any remaining retired pay generally cannot exceed what a longevity retirement would have paid. CBO’s illustration: a Chapter 61 retiree with 5 years of service and a 100 percent rating might have gross disability retired pay of 75 percent of basic pay, but under the current CRSC limit the combined payment could be held near 10 percent of basic pay — the figure a 5-year longevity calculation produces.

CRDP vs CRSC vs the Major Richard Star Act

CRDP and CRSC are different programs with different rules, and a retiree eligible for both must choose one each year during an open season; you cannot stack VA compensation, CRDP and CRSC all at once. The table shows how the two current programs compare with what the standalone bill proposes.

Who would qualify under the current Star Act bill?

The introduced bill rewrites the “special rule for Chapter 61 disability retirees” so a Chapter 61 retiree entitled to retired pay and to VA compensation “for a combat-related disability” would be paid both “without regard to” the offset statutes. It also deletes the current provisions that cap CRDP for 20-plus-year Chapter 61 retirees and deny it entirely to those with fewer than 20 years.

CBO reads that combination more broadly than the words “combat-related” alone. Because the bill removes the Chapter 61 carve-outs from the general CRDP rule, CBO estimates it would let Chapter 61 retirees rated at least 50 percent receive CRDP without the 20-year requirement — regardless of whether the disability is combat-related — and would remove the longevity cap for those with 20 or more years. Separately, it would end the offset in the CRSC calculation for Chapter 61 retirees with combat-related disabilities.

What the bill does not do: it changes nothing for a Veteran who is not a military retiree, because there is no retired pay to offset, and nothing for a regular longevity retiree rated 50 percent or higher, who already receives full CRDP. Exact individual eligibility would depend on rules DoD and DFAS would write after any enactment.

Do you need 20 years of military service?

Under current law, yes, for CRDP if you are a Chapter 61 disability retiree: fewer than 20 years means no CRDP. CRSC has never had a 20-year rule, but its Chapter 61 payment is capped at the longevity amount, which is small for a short career.

Under the bill, the 20-year requirement would be removed for the covered Chapter 61 group. That is the single change most often described in headlines, and it is real — but it is not the only change, and it would not remove a 20-year rule for military retirees generally, because most retirees are not Chapter 61 retirees and never faced that rule.

Do you need a 50 percent VA disability rating?

For current CRDP, yes: the threshold is a VA rating of at least 50 percent. For current CRSC, there is no 50 percent rule; the question is whether a disability is combat-related and VA-compensable, with a practical 10 percent floor.

Under the bill, the pathways differ. The new special rule is written around a combat-related disability rather than a rating percentage. CBO’s cost estimate, though, assumes the bill’s deletion of the Chapter 61 carve-outs would open CRDP to Chapter 61 retirees rated 50 percent or higher without the 20-year rule. If the bill became law, the operative rating thresholds for each pathway would be set out in the implementing regulations.

Do you need a 100 percent VA rating?

No. The bill does not require a 100 percent VA rating. CRDP’s threshold is 50 percent; CRSC turns on combat-relatedness, not a rating level. Rules that do turn on a 100 percent rating — such as certain state benefits or the 100 percent disabled Veteran ID markings — are separate programs and do not describe the Star Act.

What counts as a combat-related disability?

Federal law (10 U.S.C. 1413a(e)) defines “combat-related disability” as a VA-compensable disability that is either attributable to an injury for which the member received the Purple Heart, or was incurred — under Defense Department criteria — as a direct result of armed conflict, while engaged in hazardous service, in the performance of duty under conditions simulating war, or through an instrumentality of war.

That is narrower than “service-connected,” which covers any disability VA links to service. A combat-related disability is a subset meeting one of those specific tests. A combat deployment does not automatically make every condition combat-related, and your branch — not VA — decides combat-relatedness for CRSC. This article does not assess whether any particular condition would qualify.

Why doesn’t CRSC already solve the problem?

Because CRSC has a longevity cap that limits what a short-career Chapter 61 retiree can actually receive. CRSC restores waived retired pay only up to the amount a longevity retirement would have paid for the member’s years of service. For someone medically retired after a few years with a severe rating, that ceiling can sit far below the disability retired pay they would otherwise get. CRSC also requires a branch application and approval of each condition as combat-related, and it is an either/or choice with CRDP.

CBO’s numbers show the gap. In September 2025, nearly 59,000 Chapter 61 retirees received CRSC, with an average retired-pay offset of about $2,300 a month and an average CRSC payment of about $850 a month. CBO estimates the bill would raise total compensation for that group by about $1,450 a month on average by removing the offset from the calculation.

Has the Major Richard Star Act passed in 2026?

No. As of September 3, 2026:

• S. 1032 was introduced in March 2025 and referred to the Senate Committee on Armed Services. It has had no committee vote and no floor vote.
• H.R. 2102 was introduced in March 2025 and referred to a House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee. It has had no committee vote and no floor vote.
• Neither bill has become law. There is no public law, and the President has not signed a Star Act.

The bill has drawn large bipartisan cosponsorship in both chambers — a signal of support, not a vote. Cosponsorship does not move a bill through committee, and it is not passage.

What happened with the House discharge petition?

A discharge petition is a rarely successful procedure to pull a stalled bill out of committee. On May 21, 2026, Rep. Mark Takano filed Discharge Petition No. 22, tied to H. Res. 1247, a special order that would set up floor consideration of H.R. 2102. When checked on September 3, 2026, the petition had 217 signatures; it needs 218 — a majority of the House.

Reaching 218 would not pass the bill. Under House rules, a completed petition is placed on the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees, where it must sit for at least seven legislative days; a signer may then call it up, and the House votes first on the motion to discharge and then on the resolution. Only if all of that succeeds would the House take up H.R. 2102 itself. A discharge petition is a step toward a possible vote — not a vote, and not enactment.

Because the count changes as members sign or withdraw, treat the number above as a dated snapshot. The durable point is that the petition had not reached the threshold and the bill had not moved.

What happened with the Senate attempts to pass the bill?

Senators supporting the bill repeatedly asked for “unanimous consent” to pass S. 1032 without a roll-call vote — in October 2025, in March 2026, and again in June 2026. Each time, another senator objected, most recently over how to offset the cost. In June 2026, Sen. Richard Blumenthal offered a substitute version with a Defense-funding pay-for and later a compromise setting a single 60-vote roll call; Sens. Rand Paul and Thom Tillis objected to those requests.

An objection to unanimous consent blocks that shortcut. It is not the Senate voting the bill down. No recorded Senate vote on the Major Richard Star Act has taken place. The substitute Sen. Blumenthal proposed was not adopted, and the CBO estimate discussed below scores the introduced House bill, not that substitute.

What was the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act?

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237 in the House, S. 4744 in the Senate) is a large 2026 veterans package that includes a section titled “Major Richard Star Act.” That section is narrower than the standalone bill: it keeps a longevity cap for Chapter 61 retirees with fewer than 20 years — they would get the lesser of their full disability retired pay or a hypothetical 20-year retirement, plus VA compensation — does not amend the CRSC calculation, and uses a fixed January 1, 2027 effective date.

House floor debate on H.R. 9237 stalled on July 16, 2026. The widely misreported vote that day, House Roll Call 249, was on a motion to recommit — an attempt to strike an unrelated disability-rating provision — and it failed 210 to 211; further consideration was then postponed and the package was not brought back for a passage vote. Our explainer on the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act and its Section 108 sleep-apnea and tinnitus dispute covers that fight in detail. The package stalling did not end the standalone Star Act, which remains pending as its own bill.

How much would the Major Richard Star Act cost?

The Congressional Budget Office published a cost estimate for H.R. 2102 as introduced on March 23, 2026: about $78.1 billion in additional direct spending over 2026 through 2036 (about $35.9 billion through 2031), plus about $7.45 billion that would require appropriations.

CBO split the effect. About $65 billion comes from the CRDP changes — mostly from making roughly 255,000 Chapter 61 retirees with fewer than 20 years of service eligible for CRDP, plus a smaller amount from removing the cap for about 32,000 retirees with 20 or more years. About $13 billion comes from ending the offset in the CRSC calculation. CBO also flagged real uncertainty about how many people would ultimately receive more.

Older figures of roughly $9 billion to $13 billion describe the bill’s 2023 predecessor (H.R. 1282), which applied only to combat-injured Chapter 61 retirees with fewer than 20 years. CBO says the current bill is substantially broader, and that the two added CRDP changes account for about $65 billion of the roughly $68 billion difference between the new and old estimates. The advocacy shorthand of “about 54,000 combat-injured retirees” describes that narrower original group, not the population CBO now scores.

Would the Star Act provide back pay?

Probably not in the way “back pay” is usually imagined. The introduced bill says its changes would “take effect on the first day of the first month beginning after the date of enactment” and apply to payments for months beginning on or after that date. That is prospective: it would change future monthly payments, not repay offsets from past years.

CRDP and CRSC under current law have their own retroactive-payment rules tied to when VA rated a condition or when an application was filed. Those existing rules are separate from the Star Act and would not be created by it. If the bill became law, do not assume prior reductions would be refunded.

Would you have to apply if it became law?

The bill does not spell out a claimant process. Under current law, CRDP is automatic through a VA-DFAS data exchange, while CRSC requires an application to your branch. If the Star Act were enacted, how a retiree would be identified and paid — automatically, by a new election, or through an existing channel — would depend on procedures DoD and DFAS wrote afterward. There is no Star Act application today, because it is proposed legislation. Anyone telling you to “apply for the Star Act” now is mistaken or running a scam.

What should a medically retired Veteran do now?

Check the benefits that exist today rather than waiting on a bill. If you are a military retiree who also receives VA disability compensation, confirm whether DFAS is already paying CRDP, and — if you have a combat-related disability — ask your branch of service about a CRSC application. DFAS runs an annual open season for retirees eligible for both. Official starting points for DFAS, your branch and VA are collected in our official Veteran Resources directory.

Concurrent-receipt confusion attracts bad actors. Treat any message urging you to “file for the Star Act,” pay a fee to claim retired pay, or send your DD214 and Social Security number to an unfamiliar site the way you would treat any unexpected VA-looking message — verify it through a channel you look up yourself, using the same independent-verification habit described in our guide to spotting fake VA messages and websites. WVCOFCSRA does not provide individualized financial or legal advice; a VA-accredited representative or your branch’s retirement services office can address a specific situation.

Bottom line

The Major Richard Star Act would end the retired-pay reduction for Chapter 61 disability retirees with combat-related disabilities and, per CBO’s read of the current text, would also drop the 20-year requirement and the dollar cap that limit CRDP for Chapter 61 retirees rated 50 percent or higher. It is not law. As of September 3, 2026 it has not passed either chamber, the House discharge petition is one signature short of the threshold that would only begin the discharge process, and Senate attempts to pass it by unanimous consent have been blocked over cost — not defeated in a vote. Current CRDP and CRSC rules, with their 20-year, rating and longevity limits, are what apply today.

About this update: The CSRA Women Veterans Resource Guide is an independent informational publisher, not the Department of Veterans Affairs or another government agency. This article does not determine eligibility or replace instructions from the responsible official source.

Questions or corrections? Contact us.

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