Petition to force vote on Major Richard Star Act hits signature target

WASHINGTON — House Democrats secured the 218 signatures needed on a discharge petition to force a floor vote on the Major Richard Star Act, which has stalled over concerns about its multibillion-dollar price tag. 

Every House Democrat signed the discharge petition. Five Republicans have now joined them to reach the majority threshold, according to the petition, which was filed in the House Clerk’s Office.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., provided the final signature on Tuesday.

A discharge petition is a parliamentary procedure used in rare circumstances to move a stalled bill out of committee and bypass House leadership to bring a vote to the floor. 

“Washington has no business nickel-and-diming veterans who were willing to put their lives on the line for ours,” Mace said. “Combat-injured veterans have waited long enough. It’s time to bring the Major Richard Star Act to the floor and let Congress vote.”

Rep. Nancy Mace, R.-S.C., broke ranks with the Republican Party to provide the 218th signature on a discharge petition and force a vote on the Major Richard Star Act. She joined four other House GOP lawmakers to sign the Democrat-led petition. (U.S. House of Representatives)

The next procedural steps and floor action for a vote are unlikely to occur until November, when the House is scheduled to be back in session. Republican House leadership shortened the legislative schedule this week, sending lawmakers home Wednesday for a break before the midterm elections.

The Major Richard Star Act aims to end an offset that keeps combat-injured veterans who leave the military early from collecting their full military retirement pay and VA disability benefits.

Under current law, there is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in military retirement pay for veterans with less than 20 years of service who collect VA compensation for their combat injuries. The decrease is known as a “wounded warrior tax.”

“Thank you @NacyMace for joining the right side of this fight for the 59,000 combat injured veterans who have waited long enough,” Democratic lawmakers on the House VA Committee posted to X.

“Grassroots advocacy works,” Cory Geisler, national commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars, said on Facebook Wednesday.

Geisler personally thanked VFW members in Mace’s home state of South Carolina for their advocacy, which included a meeting with the lawmaker on Tuesday. 

The other four Republican lawmakers who broke ranks with the GOP this summer to sign the petition are Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.

The Major Richard Star Act has collected 340 co-sponsors in the House, but Republican leaders have objected to the multibillion-dollar costs to deliver full benefits to these combat-injured veterans.

Original estimates placed the price tag at more than $10 billion over a decade.

But the Congressional Budget Office revised the estimates and now project the total to top $78 billion from 2026 to 2036.

Republicans, led by Rep. Mike Bost, of Illinois, in June introduced the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, which would fund the Richard Star Act and other popular measures for veterans by cutting future VA disability claims for tinnitus and sleep apnea.

The bill was pulled prior to a floor vote because of concerns by some lawmakers and veteran groups over reducing benefits for one group of disabled veterans to pay for another.

“The Major Richard Star Act is an important legislative fix that would allow combat veterans to rightfully receive their full military retirement pay as well as any disability benefits owed to them – regardless of their disability rating,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents thousands of VA workers. 

“But congressional leaders all but doomed this bill by pairing it with dozens of other legislative proposals that would undermine veterans’ care and reduce workplace rights and protections for thousands of veteran caregivers in the civil service,” Kelley said, referring to the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.

The AFGE has claimed that the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, a sweeping package of 62 bills, also would reduce workforce protections and shift VA resources to private-sector healthcare.

Any signatory can call for a vote after a discharge petition reaches the required number of endorsements from lawmakers.

“Now that the discharge petition has reached the needed threshold of 218 signatures, we look forward to the bill coming to the House floor for a vote as soon as possible,” Kelley said.