WASHINGTON — The U.S. House began debating a sweeping veterans benefits package Thursday that would advance dozens of proposals affecting military retirees, disabled veterans, caregivers, surviving spouses and veterans seeking health care.
The legislation, known as the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, is H.R. 9237 in the House. A companion measure, S. 4744, has been placed on the Senate legislative calendar.
On Thursday morning, the House rejected an effort to send the bill back to committee, keeping it alive, but lawmakers postponed the final vote on whether to pass it until later.
Although many of the individual proposals have bipartisan support, several major veterans organizations are divided over one section that would change how the Department of Veterans Affairs assigns disability ratings for tinnitus and sleep apnea.
What is included in the bill?
The nearly 600-page legislation packages together more than 60 veterans-related proposals.
According to a summary from the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee majority, the package includes provisions intended to:
- Expand access to VA and non-VA community health care.
- Increase some benefits for severely disabled veterans and surviving family members.
- Expand caregiver assistance and employment resources.
- Extend suicide-prevention and mental-health programs.
- Improve the processing of disability claims and appeals.
- Expand some GI Bill, apprenticeship and transition benefits.
- Change rules affecting surviving spouses who remarry.
- Modernize VA technology, construction and contracting procedures.
One of the most closely watched provisions is the Major Richard Star Act, which would allow certain combat-injured veterans who were medically retired before completing 20 years of service to receive both their full military retirement pay and VA disability compensation.
Under current law, many of those veterans face a dollar-for-dollar reduction in their military retirement pay when they receive VA disability compensation.
WMAR-2 News has followed the effort through its Voice for Veterans reporting. In February, we examined how the offset affects combat-injured veterans.
We also reported on why the Major Richard Star Act remained stalled despite broad bipartisan support. Wounded Warrior Project previously told WMAR-2 News that roughly 750 Maryland veterans could benefit from the change.
Why are veterans organizations divided?
The disagreement centers largely on Section 108, which would direct the VA to change its disability-rating criteria for sleep apnea and tinnitus.
Under the VA’s current schedule, recurrent tinnitus generally receives a 10% rating. Sleep apnea may receive a 50% rating when a veteran requires a breathing-assistance device such as a CPAP machine. Other ratings are based on symptoms and the severity of the condition.
Under H.R. 9237, sleep apnea would be rated:
- At 0% when it is asymptomatic, with or without treatment.
- At 10% when treatment provides incomplete relief.
- At 50% when treatment is ineffective or cannot be used because of another qualifying medical condition and there is no end-organ damage.
- At 100% when there is end-organ damage.
The bill would also generally eliminate a separate compensable rating for tinnitus. A 10% tinnitus rating would remain available when the condition is associated with service-connected hearing loss that would otherwise receive a noncompensable rating.
The language would apply to claims filed after the legislation becomes law. That could include future veterans as well as people who are already veterans but file a new claim later.
The bill says the revisions could not be used to reduce, discontinue or otherwise negatively affect compensation that was already in effect before enactment.
What supporters say
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, an Illinois Republican, and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, introduced the package.
They argue the legislation provides a path for Congress to pass the Major Richard Star Act and dozens of other proposals that have been delayed when considered separately.
“The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act provides comprehensive reforms to improve health care and benefits for thousands of veterans, their families and survivors,” Moran said when the package was introduced.
The American Legion and 22 other veterans and military-family organizations have urged Congress to pass the bill.
The coalition includes Wounded Warrior Project, AMVETS, the Military Officers Association of America, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Military Family Association.
Supporters emphasize that existing ratings would be protected. They describe Section 108 as a modernization of the VA rating schedule and argue the projected savings would remain within programs serving veterans, families and survivors.
What opponents say
Other major veterans organizations support many of the individual proposals — including the Major Richard Star Act — but oppose using disability-rating changes to finance the larger package.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America are among the organizations that have spoken against the legislation as currently written.
“The VFW strongly opposes the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act as currently drafted because it asks future disabled veterans to bear the cost of expanding benefits through changing the VA rating schedule for tinnitus and obstructive sleep apnea,” VFW National Commander Carol Whitmore said.
The VFW said a VA analysis estimated that the changes could reduce future disability-compensation payments by approximately $57 billion over 10 years and affect up to 1.5 million veterans.
Those figures describe compensation that might otherwise be paid under current rating rules. They do not represent money being removed from existing veterans’ monthly payments.
Opponents argue that Congress should remove Section 108 and pay for the other provisions through a different source, including potentially the Department of Defense.
Is the bill cutting current veterans’ benefits?
The most precise answer is that the bill would not reduce disability compensation already in effect before enactment.
However, it would establish different rating criteria for tinnitus and sleep-apnea claims filed afterward. As a result, some veterans filing future claims could receive a lower rating than they might receive under the current schedule.
Supporters therefore reject descriptions suggesting that existing beneficiaries would immediately lose their current payments.
Opponents use the term “cuts” to describe the reduction in projected compensation available to veterans whose claims would be decided under the new criteria.
Both sides generally support many of the benefits expansions in the package. Their central dispute is whether changing future disability ratings is an acceptable way to offset the cost.
What happens next?
If H.R. 9237 passes the House, it would still need Senate approval before it could become law.
The Senate could vote on its companion legislation, S. 4744, take up the House-passed bill or make changes of its own. If the chambers approve different versions, lawmakers would have to resolve those differences before sending a final bill to the president.
WMAR-2 News is following the House vote, how members of Maryland’s congressional delegation vote and what the legislation could mean for veterans filing future claims.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI.
