Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is among Democrats who have vowed to keep fighting final passage of an omnibus bill that aims to increase disability compensation for the most severely injured veterans but reduce future benefits for service-connected sleep apnea and tinnitus. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers, some veterans’ groups, and a coalition of labor unions expressed strong opposition to a Republican-led package of veterans’ benefits called the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act that is on a fast track to a final vote in Congress.
The omnibus package of 62 bills, which aims to increase benefits for veterans, their dependents and survivors, could reach the House floor for a vote this week, according to staff on the GOP-led House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., speaking before the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, described the legislation as the most comprehensive veterans package to be considered by Congress in a decade. Bost chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The Rules Committee is the final checkpoint before legislation reaches the House floor.
A vote on the Senate floor has not been scheduled, according to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Rep. Mike Bost, R.-Ill., the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, described the Republican-led Take Care of America’s Veterans Act as the most comprehensive veterans’ package to be considered by Congress in a decade. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act bundles together the Major Richard Star Act, the Love Lives On Act and other individual measures designed to improve benefits and services delivered by the Department of Veterans Affairs to the most seriously ill and injured veterans, their surviving spouses and children.
Opposition to the package is largely focused on the funding mechanism, which would dramatically reduce future disability benefits for service-connected sleep apnea and tinnitus to pay for a boost in other areas.
“These cuts would strip disabled veterans of their earned compensation and health care benefits — they should be rejected outright,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D.-Conn., wrote in a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins that was signed by 46 Democratic lawmakers.
Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Common Defense condemned the legislation for proposing to cut future benefits by as much as $57 billion over 10 years for an estimated 1.5 million veterans.
On Thursday, Rep. Chris Deluzio, D.-Pa., who is an Iraq War veteran, along with the Democratic Veterans Caucus, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the American Federation of Government Employees, were scheduled to hold a news conference on Capitol Hill to show their opposition to the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.
Other Democratic House members who are veterans were set to join Deluzio, including Reps. Mike Thompson, of California; Pat Ryan, of New York; and Gil Cisneros, of California.
At a House Rules Committee hearing Tuesday, an amendment offered by Rep. Mark Takano, D.-Calif., to replace the 554-page omnibus bill with just the Major Richard Star Act — and use Defense Department dollars from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to cover it — was defeated.
Takano is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The Major Richard Star Act would enable combat-injured veterans medically retired to receive their full military retirement pay plus VA disability compensation, regardless of their years of service.
Medically retired veterans with less than 20 years of service currently are required to forfeit their pension, dollar-for-dollar, by the amount of disability compensation they receive from the VA.
Meanwhile, a coalition representing about two dozen labor unions argued this week that the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act has “poison pill” measures that would undermine worker protections during a reduction in force and also funnel resources away from the VA health system to the private sector.
The legislation creates a “new RIF notification process without language ensuring that existing collective bargaining rights, negotiated agreement provisions, or applicable Title 5 and Title 38 employee protections will not be limited in any way,” according to the coalition.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the AFL-CIO, National Nurses United, and the Union Veterans Council are among labor groups that sent a letter to Congress that outlined those objections and urged lawmakers to reject the omnibus package.
“This legislation cynically packages long-sought, well-deserved new benefits for disabled veterans with benefit cuts to other veterans and a slew of provisions designed to further privatize the VA healthcare system,” the letter said.
The AFGE, which is the largest federal employee union, represents tens of thousands of VA medical workers, claims processors and support staff.
