Take Care of America’s Veterans Act: Offsets, Workforce, and Opposition

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act is a bipartisan legislative package introduced in June 2026 that bundles more than 60 individual veterans bills into a single 554-page bill, paying for its new benefits and health care expansions largely by codifying cuts to disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus.¹²³ A planned House floor vote was pulled on June 25 as opposition mounted, and no new date has been announced.⁴

What the Bill Would Do for Veterans

The headline provision is the Major Richard Star Act, which addresses the so-called “wounded veteran tax.” Under current law, military retirees who were medically retired for combat injuries with fewer than 20 years of service must give up a dollar of military pension for every dollar of VA disability compensation. The Star Act would end that offset.⁵

Eligible veterans would choose annually during a January “open season” between receiving their existing Combat-Related Special Compensation or opting for concurrent receipt of VA disability compensation and full retirement pay. The change would not apply retroactively.⁵ Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) has said the bundled version is “watered down” compared with the standalone bill because it caps the combined amount, preventing veterans from receiving both full military retirement pay and full disability benefits simultaneously.⁴

Other significant provisions in the package include:

The Love Lives On Act, which would protect benefits for surviving spouses who remarry before age 55, and the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, which would provide $10,000 annually for veterans with critical disabilities and increase support for Gold Star families.⁶
Extension of the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program and expanded VA mental health research and screening.²
The Veteran Caregiver Reeducation, Reemployment, and Retirement Act, which would extend medical coverage for family caregivers after a veteran dies or leaves the program.⁷
Increased monthly housing allowances for veterans in apprenticeships and online study, and broader GI Bill access to technology careers.⁷
The Veterans ACCESS Act, which would require the VA to notify veterans of private care options and codify eligibility for the Veterans Community Care Program.⁶
The Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act, which would fund research into birth defects and health effects in children of veterans exposed to burn pits and other hazards.⁸
The End Veterans Overdose Act, which would make opioid rescue medications available free and without a prescription at VA pharmacies.⁶

How It’s Paid For: The Sleep Apnea and Tinnitus Offset

Section 108 of the bill would codify changes to the VA’s disability rating schedule for tinnitus and sleep apnea, two of the most common service-connected conditions. According to Congressional Budget Office and VA estimates cited by veterans organizations, the changes would reduce disability compensation by roughly $57 billion over the next decade and affect up to 1.5 million veterans.⁹¹

Disabled American Veterans said the proposal would effectively eliminate compensation for service-connected tinnitus and dramatically reduce compensation for veterans with sleep apnea who use a CPAP machine.¹⁰ The cuts would apply to new claims and to any reassessment or reevaluation of existing claims. The bill’s sponsors have emphasized that veterans currently receiving compensation at existing rates would not see reductions unless their condition is reevaluated.¹

The rating changes did not originate with this bill. The VA had floated a draft rule to revise these ratings in 2022 and testified in January 2026 that it planned to finalize the rule by October 2026. The legislation would put the changes into statute and redirect the savings to the package’s new provisions.¹¹

The VA Workforce Provision

The bill would reclassify roughly 5,000 VA psychologists from a hybrid Title 5/Title 38 personnel system to Title 38 alone. Title 38 limits collective bargaining rights by statute, restricting these employees’ ability to negotiate scheduling, raise grievances about staffing shortages, or challenge payroll errors through the grievance process.¹²

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing VA workers, said stripping these protections would worsen recruitment and retention of mental health professionals. AFGE National President Everett Kelley said the bill would accelerate “privatization of the VA” through its expansion of the Veterans Community Care Program.⁴

Who Supports the Bill and Who Opposes It

The legislation has split the veterans community.

Supporters

The American Legion endorsed the package. National Commander Dan K. Wiley called it the “best path forward” to enact legislation otherwise stalled by budget rules. The Legion acknowledged concerns about the offsets but said the alternative was “continued gridlock” and noted the bill does not retroactively reduce anyone’s current benefits.¹³ On June 29, 2026, the Legion led a coalition letter signed by 22 veterans service organizations urging passage.¹⁴

The Wounded Warrior Project also backed the bill with reservations. WWP expressed “concerns regarding the offsetting provisions” and said embedding rating schedule changes into statute is an “uncommon approach” it would normally oppose, urging Congress to waive pay-as-you-go requirements rather than fund benefits by cutting other benefits.¹⁵

Opponents

Disabled American Veterans condemned the bill. National Commander Coleman Nee said, “A grateful nation should never try to balance its budget on the backs of the men and women who sacrificed so much for our freedom.” DAV called the rating cuts a “poison pill” in an otherwise worthy package.¹⁰

The Veterans of Foreign Wars opposes the bill unless the offsets are removed, arguing that using disability compensation as a funding mechanism creates a “dangerous precedent” and that “one group of veterans must not lose so another group of veterans can win.”¹⁶

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America opposed the rating changes as well. Jess Finucan, the group’s director of policy and advocacy, warned, “Once Congress starts rewriting the disability ratings whenever it needs money, there’s no limit.”⁴ AFGE joined a coalition of 22 labor unions opposing the legislation and urged Congress to pass the standalone Major Richard Star Act instead.¹⁷

Where the Bill Stands

The House scheduled a floor vote for the week of June 23, 2026, under a closed rule allowing one hour of general debate and no amendments beyond a technical manager’s amendment.¹⁸ Leadership pulled the vote on June 25 as opposition mounted from Democrats, several veterans service organizations, and labor unions. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) said the bill “pits veterans against veterans” and “stabs those serving right now in the back.” Rep. Ruiz said it “takes away PACT Act benefits from 1.5 million veterans to pay for it.”⁴

On the Senate side, S. 4744 was introduced by Senator Moran with Senators John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) among five total Republican cosponsors.¹⁹ As of late June 2026, the Senate bill had not been scheduled for committee markup or floor consideration, and no timeline for rescheduling the House vote had been announced.

1
Stars and Stripes. Major Veterans Legislation Bundles 60 Bills
2
Congress.gov. H.R. 9237 – Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
3
GovInfo. S. 4744 – Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
4
Government Executive. House Cancels Vote on VA Overhaul Bill as Opposition Mounts
5
Wounded Warrior Project. Understanding the Major Richard Star Act
6
Stars and Stripes. 62 Bills in the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
7
House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. One Pager on Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
8
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Blumenthal, Murray Lead Effort to Jumpstart Groundbreaking Research for Children of Toxic Exposed Veterans
9
Veterans of Foreign Wars. VFW Action Alert – Tell Congress to Oppose Veterans Benefit Cuts
10
DAV. DAV Condemns Congressional Proposal to Cut Disability Benefits for 1.5 Million Veterans
11
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Chairmen Moran, Bost Introduce Comprehensive Veterans Legislation
12
AFGE. Proposed Veterans Bill Would Betray Military Heroes and Workers Who Care for Them
13
The American Legion. A Path Forward for the Major Richard Star Act and 62 Other Veteran Priorities
14
The American Legion. American Legion, 18 Other VSOs Urge Congress to Pass TCAVA
15
Wounded Warrior Project. Wounded Warrior Project Issues Statement on the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
16
VFW. VFW Action Alert on Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
17
AFGE. AFGE Opposition to Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
18
House Rules Committee. H.R. 9237 – Rules Committee Page
19
GovTrack. S. 4744 – Take Care of America’s Veterans Act