By MOAA Staff

MOAA and more than 30 other military and veterans advocacy groups have asked key House leaders to allow a long-overdue fix to an unfair financial penalty facing combat-injured veterans to move forward as part of this year’s must-pass defense authorization bill.

By including the text of The Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 1282) in the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the House could take a critical step toward helping tens of thousands of these veterans, who lose a dollar of earned DoD retirement pay for every dollar of VA-provided disability compensation they receive.

Including the text would require waiving the so-called “CUTGO rule,” which requires any new mandatory spending to be balanced out by equal or greater cuts to existing mandatory spending. MOAA joined in a May 21 letter to House leadership – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Rules Committee Chairman Michael Burgess (R-Texas), and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the committee’s ranking member – signed by 31 other advocacy groups requesting the waiver.

[READ THE LETTER]

The Major Richard Star Act had 326 House co-sponsors – support from more than three-quarters of the chamber – when it was reported out of the House Armed Services Committee. Waiving CUTGO restrictions requires a special rule reported by the House Rules Committee and approved by a majority vote (or unanimous consent).

Make Your Voice Heard

More than 32,000 messages of support for the Major Richard Star Act have been sent to lawmakers via MOAA’s Legislative Action Center. As the deadline for NDAA inclusion nears, we ask MOAA members to continue their outreach efforts.

Reach out to your House member’s office via MOAA's toll-free line to the U.S. Capitol switchboard – 866-272-MOAA (6622). Ask to speak with the military legislative assistant.

Please deliver these key talking points:

• There is an injustice in place denying our combat-injured their earned retirement pay.
• We need the speaker and the Rules Committee to waive the CUTGO rule.
• Please make sure H.R. 1282 is included in the NDAA.

Encourage members of your personal and professional network to do the same – grassroots advocacy has been critical to reaching this point in the legislative process, and lawmakers need to continue to hear from their constituents in this election year if we want to reach the finish line.

Stay up to date on this and other MOAA legislative priorities by visiting MOAA’s Advocacy News page.