The Major Richard Star Act Has 218 Signatures. It Still Has No Vote.
The moral argument is finished. What's left is parliamentary procedure.
Status as of Sept. 20, 2026: Discharge Petition No. 22 on the Major Richard Star Act reached 218 signatures on Sept. 15, 2026, clearing the threshold that forces a House floor vote. The House adjourned for its pre-election recess the next day, Sept. 16. No vote has been held, none has been scheduled, and nothing has changed since Sept. 17. Members return Monday, Nov. 9, 2026.
A signature threshold is not a vote.
Maj. Richard Star with his daughters earlier in his Army career. He died Feb. 13, 2021, at 51, of burn-pit-linked lung cancer, with the bill that carries his name still unpassed. (Star family's personal archive)
My July 2025 post argued the votes existed and leadership wouldn't schedule one. Fourteen months later, 218 members have put that in writing.
The offset itself hasn't changed: medically retired under Chapter 61 with fewer than 20 years, and every dollar of VA disability compensation is subtracted from the retirement pay you earned.
Support for repealing it isn't the constraint either. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12) sponsors H.R. 2102 with 338 cosponsors — 339 of 435 members, though the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and DAV both cite 340. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) carries the Senate companion with 79 current cosponsors, for 80 of 100. The Pentagon is on record too: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Senate Armed Services under oath on April 30, 2026, "As I have said in the past to other organizations, we support the Richard Star Act."
What 218 Signatures Actually Bought
Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA-39) filed the petition on May 21, 2026, with Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D. (D-CA-25) as co-champion.
It does not discharge H.R. 2102. It discharges the Rules Committee from consideration of H.Res. 1247 — the special rule that would bring H.R. 2102 to the floor, which Takano and Ruiz submitted April 30 and which Rules then sat on. So the endgame has three steps, not one: a vote to discharge, a vote on the rule, a vote on the bill.
The last two move fast by design. The rule waives all points of order, deems its substitute amendment adopted, and orders the previous question with one hour of debate. It is self-executing: adopting it runs straight into final passage. No committee. No amendments.
So When Is the Major Richard Star Act Vote?
No date is set. The first of those three votes takes one more act by one more person. Under House Rule XV, clause 2(c)(1), a discharge motion that has sat on the calendar at least seven legislative days becomes privileged only after a member whose signature appears on it announces to the House an intention to offer the motion. The Speaker then has two legislative days to designate a time. Debate is 20 minutes, split evenly.
The motion was entered on the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees on Sept. 15, 2026, as Motion No. 22, Calendar No. 8. On Sept. 16 the House finished its votes and left — a day earlier than scheduled. The calendar is now the whole fight.
"The time for that debate is over. The only person standing between these veterans and their money now is Speaker Johnson, and he's out of excuses."
— Rep. Mark Takano, Ranking Member, House Veterans' Affairs Committee
Who Signed, and When
Per the Clerk's official list, the 218 is 213 Democrats and five Republicans. One House Democrat did not sign. (Several national outlets reported that every House Democrat signed; the Clerk's tally is one short of the full caucus.) The Republicans: Jefferson Van Drew (NJ), June 4; Thomas Massie (KY), June 9; Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), July 13; Anna Paulina Luna (FL), July 15; Nancy Mace (SC), Sept. 15 — number 218.
The date stamps tell a story the press releases don't. 157 of the 218 signatures came on day one. Another 56 arrived in a single week, June 3–9. Then it stalled: five signatures in the 98 days between Massie's on June 9 and Mace's on Sept. 15 — two in July, three in September. Not a rising tide. One enormous push, then three months of near-silence.
The $78 Billion Drafting Accident
Why did a bill carrying 339 House members never get a floor vote? The answer is March 23, 2026 — the day CBO scored H.R. 2102 at $78.1 billion in new direct spending over FY2026–2036. Earlier versions had consistently come in between $10 billion and $13 billion.
The bill didn't get more generous. A sentence got read differently.
Per congressional staff in Sen. Richard Blumenthal's office, the drafters meant to extend eligibility to 1,124 additional combat-wounded veterans. CBO, using DoD Office of the Actuary data, concluded the language would newly cover approximately 255,000 Chapter 61 retirees with fewer than 20 years of service — roughly $63 billion of the score. Removing the CRDP cap for Chapter 61 retirees with at least 20 years adds about $2 billion more. CBO has reaffirmed the estimate.
1,124 intended. 255,000 scored. That gap is now the argument used against paying combat-wounded veterans what they earned. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) objected to a Senate unanimous-consent request in March, saying the bill would cost more than $70 billion over its first 10 years.
The combat-injured-only version scores at roughly $13 billion over ten years, possibly lower, since some retirees may keep their tax-free CRSC instead. MOAA says the substitute inside H.Res. 1247 is written to cover only the retirees the bill was always meant to reach. But no fresh CBO score exists for that language — so $78.1 billion is still the number on the table when the House debates.
Who's in the Gap
Nobody agrees on how many veterans are in it. The House Veterans' Affairs Committee says more than 59,000 Chapter 61 retirees; most 2026 reporting uses about 54,000; MOAA says fewer than 60,000. Every one of those counts is a small fraction of the roughly 255,000 CBO scored.
What the offset costs each of them is a range too, not a figure. The War Horse, citing CBO, reported those reductions averaged roughly $1,650 a month last fall. Military.com, also citing CBO, puts the average monthly gain at about $1,450. MOAA still cites $1,200, which is the older CBO estimate from the 118th Congress version of the bill. Different measurements from different vintages — don't blend them.
Army Sgt. Will Fisher was medically retired in 2014 after a fall in Balad, Iraq, crushed his ankle and broke his back, costing him his leg below the knee — five years short of 20. His earned retirement is $2,166 a month. He has never seen a dollar of it; about $2,700 in monthly VA compensation zeroes it out.
"My retirement pay was earned through my years of service. My VA disability compensation is because I lost my leg serving my country. Those are two completely different things, and I don't think one should cancel out the other."
— Will Fisher, former Army Sergeant
Air Force SSgt. Naomi Mathis, now DAV's Deputy National Legislative Director, was medically retired after seven and a half years with a 100% PTSD rating following a 2003 convoy attack in Iraq. Even with CRSC she runs about $800 a month short.
"My career was cut short. I was not given the opportunity to serve out those 20 or 30 years. But I would have."
— Naomi Mathis, former Air Force Staff Sergeant
Only about 17% of service members ever reach 20 years. The offset treats a career ended by a combat wound as though leaving early were a choice.
The Package That Almost Swallowed It: H.R. 9237
A second path collapsed this year, which is why the discharge route matters. Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL-12) made the Star Act Section 101 of H.R. 9237, a package of more than 60 veterans bills. Section 108 of that same package would cut tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings on claims filed after enactment. VFW, DAV, AFGE and IAVA all opposed that language. The motion to recommit failed 210–211 on July 16. Republican leadership pulled the bill that afternoon, and it has never had a final-passage vote.
What to Do Before Nov. 9
"Why aren't you cosponsoring?" is a moot question — 339 House members and 80 senators are already on the bill. The ask now depends on whether your representative signed, so check the Clerk's list first:
If they signed: ask them to be the member who announces to the House an intention to offer the discharge motion when the chamber returns Nov. 9. Any single signer can start that clock. One person, one sentence.
If they didn't: the petition is frozen at 218 and cannot be signed again — but the floor vote is still ahead, and passage needs 218 votes, a different and unproven number. Ask how they will vote on the discharge motion, the rule, and final passage.
Both senators: the standalone bill has been blocked by objection four times — Oct. 8, 2025; March 3, 2026; June 9 and 17, 2026. Ask whether they intend to object again.
Watch the calendar. The House has eight scheduled session days in November: Nov. 9–12 and Nov. 17–20. The motion needs seven legislative days on the calendar before it is privileged. The margin is thin. Miss that window and the petition dies with the 119th Congress; the next one starts from zero.
Tools that work: MOAA's Star Act campaign · Star Act Alliance · find your House member · contact your senators · VFW Action Corps
I spent my career as a Special Forces medic putting people back together well enough to get them home, and the years since on the other end of that pipeline — the claims, the ratings, the paperwork that decides what a wound is worth. A majority of the House has signed a document saying this deserves a vote. The document is sitting on a calendar. Somebody has to stand up Nov. 9 and say the sentence.
Jeremy Cleland is a retired Green Beret Medical Sergeant, AI engineer, and veteran advocate. He continues to fight for those who fought for us through technology, policy advocacy, and unwavering commitment to the warrior ethos.
Tags: #MajorRichardStarAct #DischargePetition #Veterans #ConcurrentReceipt #CombatInjured
