On Veterans Day, the House floor schedule lists two different ways to end the offset that cuts military retired pay for combat-wounded veterans who were medically retired before 20 years. One is the stand-alone Major Richard Star Act, forced forward by a discharge petition. The other is the Republican-led Take Care of America's Veterans Act, which carries the same idea but pays for it by changing how future tinnitus and sleep apnea claims are rated.

What is on the House floor today?

The House Republican Cloakroom's schedule for Wednesday, Nov. 11 lists both bills under legislation that "may be considered." One entry is H.Res. 1247, labeled a Democrat discharge petition, which sets up a vote on H.R. 2102, the Major Richard Star Act. The other is H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, sponsored by House Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.).

"May be considered" is not a promise. The weekly schedule posted Nov. 8 listed neither bill and said only that "additional legislative items are possible."

How did the Star Act get to the floor?

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, filed the petition on May 21. The House Clerk's record for Discharge Petition No. 22 shows it reached 218 signatures on Sept. 15: 213 Democrats and five Republicans. The Republicans were Jefferson Van Drew, Thomas Massie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Anna Paulina Luna and Nancy Mace, whose signature was the 218th.

On Monday, Takano announced from the floor his intent to offer the discharge motion, Stars and Stripes reported. Under House rules described by Military Times, the Speaker then has two legislative days to schedule it. That clock is why the bill shows up on today's list.

What does the Star Act actually do, and what does it cost?

Right now, a combat-injured service member who is medically retired with fewer than 20 years loses retired pay dollar for dollar when collecting VA disability compensation. The text of H.Res. 1247 swaps in a version of the bill that says that retired pay "is not subject to reduction" under the federal offset statutes.

The Congressional Budget Office's Oct. 27 estimate of that version puts the cost at $12.75 billion over 2027 through 2036. CBO counts about 58,000 such retirees as of September 2025, rising to about 65,000 by 2036. It figures the average offset at about $2,275 a month and the average gain at about $1,450 a month. The original bill was scored at $78.1 billion, and Military Times traced most of that gap to two provisions the discharge version drops.

How does the Republican package pay for it?

Bost's bill bundles roughly 60 veterans bills. Section 101 of the introduced text of H.R. 9237 is its own Major Richard Star Act, effective Jan. 1, 2027. For retirees under 20 years, it pays the lesser of full retired pay plus VA compensation, or a retired-pay figure computed as if the member had served 20 years.

Section 108 is where the fight is. It orders the VA to rate sleep apnea at 0 percent when "asymptomatic, with or without treatment," 10 percent when treatment "yields incomplete relief," and 50 percent "only if" treatment fails or can't be used because of another condition. For tinnitus, it says the condition "may not be assigned a separate compensable disability rating" unless it is tied to service-connected hearing loss that is otherwise rated at zero.

The bill text limits the damage to future filers. The new ratings "shall apply with respect to claims filed after the date of the enactment," and cannot be used to reduce compensation already in effect. A coalition of veterans groups, in a June letter reported by Military.com, put the Section 108 hit at $57 billion spread across 1.5 million future claimants. That figure comes from the groups, not from a published CBO score of H.R. 9237, and I could not find one.

Who is lined up on each side?

This is not a simple party split among veterans. When leaders pulled H.R. 9237 in July, Military.com reported that the American Legion led a coalition backing it, including MOAA, Wounded Warrior Project and AMVETS. The VFW, DAV and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America opposed the funding method. The VFW's line, as quoted there: "a grateful nation pays its debts to veterans; it does not send them the invoice."

The package already cleared one procedural test. The Rules Committee record shows its rule, H.Res. 1423, adopted 215-211 on July 14. Two days later, a Democratic motion to send the bill back to committee failed 210-211, per Roll Call 249, and leaders then pulled it rather than hold final passage. Bost said when he introduced it that "we have found a path forward for this bill to get it across the finish line," according to the committee's June 10 release.

What happens if the House passes either one?

The Senate is the wall. It has no discharge petition, and Military Times notes the bill would likely need 60 votes unless senators agree by unanimous consent, which earlier attempts failed to get. Sen. Richard Blumenthal's Senate version has 80 cosponsors, Stars and Stripes reported, and anything not passed by both chambers dies when the 119th Congress ends in January.

So the Veterans Day question in the House is narrower than the headlines. Nearly everyone in the chamber says they back paying combat-wounded retirees in full. The vote, if leaders hold one, is over whether the next generation of veterans with ringing ears or a CPAP machine should cover the bill.