For more than two decades, America has asked its service members to shoulder the burden of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond. Tens of thousands have come home with visible and invisible wounds — sacrifices that most of us can hardly imagine. Yet today, more than 50,000 combat-disabled veterans face a bureaucratic injustice that cheats them out of the full benefits they need and have earned.

Under current law, veterans who sustained combat-related injuries but served fewer than 20 years are forced to give up a dollar of retirement pay for every dollar they receive in disability compensation. For many, their military careers were cut short solely because of those injuries — men and women who would have otherwise served until retirement. In plain terms, the system tells these warriors: your combat injuries don’t just cost you your health — they also cost you your retirement.

This is unacceptable.

The Major Richard Star Act, reintroduced in the House this March with broad bipartisan support, would finally fix this injustice. Named after Maj. Richard Star, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who lost his life to service-connected cancer in 2021, the bill would ensure that no combat-disabled veteran has to forfeit retirement pay simply because they were injured before reaching 20 years of service.

The support is striking. The bill already has 185 co-sponsors in the House, and 43 in the Senate, a coalition that spans the political spectrum from Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., to Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. — the ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Rarely in Washington do we see this kind of unity. That should tell us something: this isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a moral one.

Critics point to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the measure would cost nearly $10 billion over 10 years. But let’s be clear and draw a major distinction: this is not an “entitlement program.” It is the fulfillment of a promise. Veterans retirement pay and disability compensation are earned through blood, sweat and sacrifice. If Congress cannot find room in a multitrillion-dollar budget to honor that commitment, then we need to rethink our priorities — not tell combat-wounded veterans to pay the price.

We should also remember the historical context. Before 2004, no retiree could receive both retirement and disability pay. Congress corrected part of that injustice two decades ago but left behind thousands of combat-disabled veterans. The Star Act would be the final step in closing that gap.

America’s combat veterans have kept their end of the bargain. They served. They sacrificed. Many returned with wounds that will last a lifetime. Now, it’s time for Congress to keep its end of the bargain.

The Major Richard Star Act deserves swift passage. Let’s finally end this injustice and give our nation’s heroes what they’ve already earned.

Matt Kenney is a member of Arizona’s Veteran Advisory Commission and a combat veteran.