U.S. Sen. Jon Tester joined veterans in Billings Thursday morning to urge congressional action on a bill to allow combat-injured veterans with less than 20 years of military service to collect Department of Defense retirement payments and Department of Veterans Affairs disability payments at the same time.
Currently, their disability payments are subtracted from their retirement payments.
“Treating our veterans like this is not an example of being the best country on earth,” Tester said, calling it the number one issue for every veteran services organization.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester, right, recites the Pledge of Allegiance with veterans, from left, Anthony Grimaldi, Adam Chenoweth and Randy Stiles as Tester promotes the Major Richard Star Act bill. Tester invited veterans to a press conference at the Billings VFW Post 6774 on Thursday.
Tester, who is chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said that people enlist in the military with the understanding that “if they come home changed, we take care of them” and that currently the government is “failing to deliver.”
“A bunch of bureaucrats in D.C. want to not follow through,” said Randy Stiles, post-commander of the Billings Veterans of Foreign Wars office.
People are also reading…
The bill, known as the Major Richard Star Act, has broad bipartisan support, with 73 cosponsors in the Senate and 326 in the House, yet has been stalled in Congress for several years.
“Senate leadership and Republicans refuse to bring it to the floor for a vote, because it will pass and they will have to pay for it,” said Anthony Grimaldi, a combat-injured Marine veteran who spoke at Tester’s event.
“It’s degrading and demeaning to look combat-injured veterans in the eye and say the money isn’t there,” he continued.
“You’re exactly right, it’s about money,” Tester said.
Tester’s PACT Act, with expanded medical coverage for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during service, was similarly blocked by Senate Republicans before eventually passing.
Because of the challenges in getting the stand alone bill passed, Tester has filed it as an amendment to the annual must-pass defense bill. He said this is the bill’s best chance of getting passed because the defense bill is one of the only bills that will pass before the upcoming election.
Around 53,000 veterans would benefit from the bill, including 300 veterans in Montana.
“We’re simply asking for the retirement that we earned,” Grimaldi said. He said he has forfeited over $200,000 of earned retirement since medically retiring in 2013.
The average disability offset for those impacted by the offset requirement was just over $1,900 per month in 2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Adam Chenoweth, who was asked to retire from the Army after 17 years of service because his PTSD “started really showing itself,” was also prohibited from receiving his retirement and disability payments while he raised his child as a single father.
“It would’ve helped us out immensely,” he said.
