In Southern Illinois and across America, there are veterans who were wounded in combat and medically retired before they could reach 20 years of service. Their own government tells them they have to give up part of the retirement pay they earned in order to collect the disability benefits they also earned. They sacrificed for this country, and Washington made them choose between two checks they were promised. It’s called the “wounded veteran tax,” and it is wrong.
As Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I introduced the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act to end that tax and to deliver the largest expansion of veterans’ health care and benefits in a decade. It brings together more than 60 pieces of veterans’ legislation, and more than 20 veteran and military organizations stand behind it. In leading the committee, I worked with my colleagues to bring the federal government back to its real job: taking care of the men and women who served.
To end the wounded veteran tax, we included the Major Richard Star Act, named for an Army officer who served 32 years and deployed nine times before burn pit exposure took his life. That bill would let more than 54,000 combat-wounded veterans collect their full military retirement and their VA disability at the same time. They earned both; they should keep both. It is that simple.
This package also gets veterans faster access to the care they earned. Drive the rural roads of Southern Illinois and you’ll see a problem. A veteran in a small, distant community should not have to burn half their day and a full tank of gas to get to the nearest VA medical center when their trusted local doctor is right down the road. That is why we built in the Veterans’ ACCESS Act. When the nearest VA is too far, a veteran can see their local doctor; no bureaucrat in Washington gets to take that choice away.
This bill also protects the people our veterans leave behind. Today a surviving spouse can lose the benefits they were promised simply because they found love again and remarried. That is no way to treat the family of someone who gave everything. So we included the Love Lives On Act, which lets a surviving spouse keep what was earned in blood, no matter what the future holds.
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act also stands up for the most severely wounded among us. The Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act raises benefits for veterans with catastrophic injuries and gives more support to their caregivers, who are often a spouse or parent who put their life on hold for someone they love. They deserve a country that has their back.
I did not come to Congress to give speeches about our veterans. I came to deliver for them. I am a Marine. I am the son of a veteran, the grandson of a veteran, the nephew of a veteran, the father of a veteran, and the grandfather of two. Service runs deep in my family, and to me, this mission of caring for our veterans is personal.
So hear me on this. If you are receiving a benefit today, this bill does not cut it. Not one dollar. I would never put my name on legislation that took a single thing away from a veteran who already earned it. It adds. It does not subtract.
As our nation marks its 250th birthday this year, we owe the men and women who defended those years more than a parade and a flag. We owe them the promise we made when they raised their right hand. They kept their word. Now it is our turn. Congress must pass the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, represents Illinois for the 112th District.
Editor’s Note: The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act has stalled in Congress because of disputes about how it would be funded.