We’ve Been Following This Bill. Here’s What Happened.
If you’re a veteran, caregiver, military family member, or someone who cares about the future of veteran healthcare and benefits, please pay attention.
We’ve been following the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act as it moved through Congress. On Veterans Day, the House passed H.R. 9237 by voice vote. There was no recorded roll-call vote, so the public cannot see how each member voted. The bill now goes to the Senate; it has not become law.
The package includes provisions many veterans and families have supported for years, including caregiver and survivor support, healthcare and mental health provisions, and the Major Richard Star Act. That act would allow many combat-injured veterans medically retired before 20 years of service to receive both military retirement pay and VA disability compensation.
But there is a serious concern about how the larger package would pay for some of those improvements. It would change how the VA rates tinnitus and sleep apnea for certain future claims. Those changes would not affect veterans already receiving compensation for these conditions, but they could reduce compensation for some veterans who file claims in the future.
The VFW and DAV, two of the nation’s major membership-based veterans organizations, have opposed the bill as written. That is very symbolic because they are two of the largest Veteran members organizations in our community, so they are representing the voices of their members in opposition to this Act. The VFW condemned its passage by voice vote. DAV has said it opposes the bill unless the provision containing the benefit changes is removed. Their message is one we share: improvements for some veterans should not be funded by reducing potential benefits for others.
The Major Richard Star Act
There was also an important development on the standalone Major Richard Star Act. On November 11, the House voted 245–175 to discharge the measure that would bring the clean, standalone bill to the floor. That was a procedural vote and not final passage of the Star Act. The House schedule lists further consideration for today, November 12, with a vote on the bill possible if the procedural resolution is adopted.
We hope the House completes that process and gives the standalone Star Act a recorded vote. Combat-injured veterans who were medically retired should not have to give up earned retirement pay because they also receive VA disability compensation. The Star Act offers a direct way to address that injustice without reducing another veteran’s benefits.
We Should Look at the Whole Veteran
This debate also raises a broader question about veteran health: are we considering how service-related conditions may overlap?
Many veterans served in combat arms, artillery, breaching, aviation, special operations, armored units, and other roles involving repeated blast exposure or impacts. Some never received a traumatic brain injury diagnosis. Many never lost consciousness and may not have entered the TBI care system at all.
Years later, a veteran may experience tinnitus, sleep disruption, headaches, memory or concentration problems, irritability, depression, anxiety, balance issues, or changes in daily functioning. These symptoms can have different causes, and no single symptom proves a brain injury. But possible connections deserve serious research, careful clinical evaluation, and a claims process that reflects what we continue to learn.
Before changing how tinnitus or sleep apnea are recognized and compensated, we should ask whether the full effects of service- including repeated blast exposure and possible undiagnosed head injury, are being understood.
What We Hope Happens Next
We hope the standalone Major Richard Star Act moves forward and receives a recorded vote in the House.
We also hope the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act receives full, transparent consideration in the Senate, including a recorded vote. The package contains provisions that could help veterans, caregivers, survivors, and military families. At the same time, the Senate should remove the disability-compensation offset provisions affecting future tinnitus and sleep apnea claims.
At Veterans Collaborative, we believe the future of veteran wellness depends on earlier identification, better awareness, stronger research, and accessible community-based support. We support improving benefits and care for veterans. We oppose making one group of veterans bear the cost of those improvements for another. We understand that not all military transitions and access to care are equal, and we should not make understanding and receiving disability services more difficult for future generations.
Our nation can meet its commitments to all veterans without forcing them to compete for the benefits they earned.
What You Can Do
Be aware and engage. You can find your elected officials at Common Cause.
On Veterans Day, and every day, we honor those who served by keeping our commitments to them.