PassTheAct
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@passtheactorg
Official X for https://t.co/YgiVMGLorY #MajorRichardStarAct #PasstheAct
10 seriously wounded soldiers from the Iran conflict and Congress still won’t pass the Major Richard Star act to protect the benefits of these American heroes. abcnews.com/International/… @passtheactorg @derrickvanorden @SenRonJohnson @LeaderJohnThune @SpeakerJohnson @SenatorWicker @VFWHQ @AMVETSHQ @wwp
This morning, I testified before the House Committee on Appropriations during an oversight hearing on Quality of Life in the #Military. Here’s my opening statement, where I emphasize the importance of #investing in our people — our #Marines.
Do you know any of the roughly 50,000 combat-wounded veterans who are having their EARNED retirement STOLEN from them right now? Let me tell you about a few of them, because apparently 76 Senate cosponsors and 304 House cosponsors are not enough to get Senator Roger Wicker to stop blocking S.Amdt.4056. Major Richard Star served from 1988 through multiple deployments in Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He cleared bomb-laden paths while breathing in toxic burn pits that gave him stage-four lung cancer. The government medically retired him just before 20 years because the cancer made him too broken to continue serving. Then, while he was undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, battling for his life, the government informed him they would be reducing his retirement pay dollar-for-dollar by his VA disability compensation. His family was already watching him die from injuries sustained serving his country, and the government decided to STEAL part of his retirement at the same moment they needed it most. He died at 51 in 2021, fighting for this legislation until his last breath. His widow, Tonya Star, continued the fight. She walked the halls of Congress advocating for the 50,000 combat-wounded veterans facing this same injustice. Days before HER death in 2024, she called Senate staff IN TEARS because another Congress had ended without a vote on the Major Richard Star Act. Think about that - a woman dying, using her final days to fight for veterans, crying because our government refused to stop stealing from wounded warriors. Lyle Allen, Army combat engineer, survived multiple IED explosions in Iraq that gave him a traumatic brain injury. Fifteen years of service. Medically retired before 20 years because his injuries made him unable to continue. He describes this policy as the country "turning their backs" on wounded veterans. He cannot provide stability for his family because the government is withholding the retirement he EARNED. Chad Rogers, another Army veteran, 100% disabled from combat-related conditions. He says it perfectly: "We are retired without retirement." The government classifies them as retirees but then TAKES their retirement pay because they were injured defending this nation. Pat Murray, Marine Corps veteran, lost his leg to an IED blast in Iraq. Recently welcomed a baby boy and had to move back in with family because his injuries make it difficult to care for his newborn on the reduced income the government leaves him after stealing his retirement. Gabriel Peterson, retired Master Sergeant from Biloxi, Mississippi, was medically discharged due to reactive airway disease. He is on FIVE different drugs just to breathe. He struggles to live, and the government is making that struggle worse by taking his earned retirement. Latoya Lucas, Purple Heart recipient and DAV life member, medically retired in 2003 after a rocket-propelled grenade struck her Humvee. She survived the attack, and now she survives on reduced income because the government decided her EARNED retirement should be offset by her disability compensation. This affects their CHILDREN. Their SPOUSES. Families living on tighter budgets, juggling medical appointments and therapies, struggling to cover rent, groceries, and school costs because the government is withholding an average of $1,200 to $1,500 PER MONTH from retirement these veterans EARNED. Senator Wicker claims we "cannot afford" the $10 billion cost. That is $10 billion over TEN YEARS, Senator. Less than $1 billion annually. You voted for a $924.7 billion NDAA the day AFTER blocking this. You vote for trillions in spending but claim we cannot afford $975 million per year to stop stealing from 50,000 combat-wounded veterans. The only difference between these medically retired veterans and the ones already receiving both retirement and disability is that this group was injured SO SEVERELY they could not reach 20 years of service. We are punishing them for being injured too badly. We sent them to war, they were broken by that war, and now we are STEALING their retirement because they were too broken to continue serving. Do you know anyone in this group of 50,000? Does your family member, your neighbor, your friend from high school who joined the military and came home with a traumatic brain injury, missing limbs, cancer from burn pits, or any other combat-related injury that forced medical retirement before 20 years - are they in this group having their retirement stolen? This is not "double dipping" as Senator Wicker claims. Retirement pay compensates YEARS OF SERVICE. Disability compensation addresses PERMANENT INJURIES. Two separate things. Two separate purposes. We do not make civilians choose between their 401(k) and workers' compensation when they are injured on the job. Why are we forcing combat-wounded veterans to make that choice? 76 Senate cosponsors. 304 House cosponsors. Overwhelming bipartisan support. And ONE SENATOR is blocking it. Senator Roger Wicker, how do you sleep at night knowing you are keeping the government's hand in the pockets of 50,000 combat-wounded veterans and their families? But what do I know, I am only a medically retired Army combat medic who made tougher choices than which bills to fund - I had to decide which of my brothers I had the resources to save and which ones went untreated, while Senator Wicker keeps 50,000 of our brothers untreated by stealing their earned retirement. #majorrichardstaract
