The House approved legislation Thursday that would expand benefits for combat injured military retirees with less than 20 years of service. The measure would allow eligible retirees to collect their full military retirement pay alongside Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation.

Under the current system, those veterans face a dollar for dollar offset that reduces their military retirement benefits. The Major Richard Star Act, H.R. 2102, would eliminate that offset for the combat injured retirees covered by the legislation.

House passage sends the bill to the Senate, where lawmakers must approve it before it can reach the president’s desk. The Senate companion, S. 1032, remains before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The House vote followed months of pressure led by Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Takano pushed to force consideration of the Star Act as standalone legislation.

Takano and Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., began their effort on May 21. They sought to force a House vote on a resolution establishing the rules needed to bring the Major Richard Star Act to the floor.

The discharge petition required 218 signatures to move ahead. It reached that threshold on Sept. 15 when Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., supplied the decisive endorsement.

Lawmakers then adopted H. Res. 1247 on Thursday by a vote of 271 to 135. That action cleared the way for final consideration and passage of the Star Act.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., was among the lawmakers who signed the discharge petition. Following passage, he called on the Senate to take up the legislation and send it to the president.

“By finally passing the Major Richard Star Act, a bipartisan coalition just took a major step to follow through on that mission,” Courtney said in a Nov. 12 statement. His message placed the next move squarely before senators.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., the bill’s Republican sponsor, first introduced the legislation in 2020. Ruiz and Takano have served as leading Democratic advocates for its passage, giving the measure support from lawmakers in both parties.

Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander-in-Chief Corey Geisler had stressed that merely obtaining a vote would not complete the job. “Getting a vote is not the finish line,” Geisler said. “Passing the right bill is.”

The Wounded Warrior Project applauded the House action and urged the Senate to follow through. The organization pointed to the lawmakers who pushed the petition and maintained support for the legislation.

“We thank House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and Congressman Raul Ruiz for their efforts to advance the discharge petition, Congressman Gus Bilirakis for his longstanding commitment to the bipartisan Major Richard Star Act, and the members of the House of Representatives for taking an important step toward providing long-overdue relief for combat-injured veterans,” said Jose Ramos, the organization’s senior vice president of government and community relations.

The Senate remains the final congressional hurdle. Unlike the House, it has no equivalent to the discharge petition process, while previous efforts to advance the measure by unanimous consent were blocked by objections.

Until senators approve the legislation, the proposed relief for combat injured military retirees cannot reach the president. House passage nevertheless represents a major step for veterans seeking to receive both retirement pay and disability compensation without the current offset.