On Veterans Day, the House finally got a chance to vote on a bill to stop shortchanging wounded veterans. Every single Republican who voted no had a choice. 175 of them chose to block a clean vote. 153 of them are on this site, not counting five who had already lost their primaries or dropped out.
And 85 of those 153 had already put their own names on the bill.
What the bill does
When a service member is wounded in combat and forced out of the military before 20 years, the government docks their pay. Their military retirement pay is cut by the amount of disability pay they get from the VA.
According to Military.com, about 58,000 combat-injured veterans lose an average of $2,275 a month this way. The Congressional Budget Office estimated on October 27 that fixing it would raise their combined pay by about $1,450 a month on average.
The fix is the Major Richard Star Act, H.R. 2102. It is one of the most popular bills in Congress. It has more than 340 cosponsors in the House, from both parties. It was written by a Republican, Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida. CBO put the cost at $12.75 billion over 10 years.
But House Republican leaders never brought it to the floor on its own. So its supporters had to force a vote.
How it got to a vote anyway
When leaders won't schedule a bill, members can go around them with a discharge petition. If 218 members sign it, they can force a vote.
Rep. Mark Takano, the top Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, filed Discharge Petition No. 22 on May 21. According to Stars and Stripes, 213 Democrats and just five Republicans signed it. Rep. Nancy Mace supplied the 218th signature in September. We wrote about one Republican cosponsor who refused to sign it.
On Wednesday, November 11, the House voted on Takano's motion to discharge H.Res. 1247, the resolution that would bring the bill to the floor. It passed 245 to 175. 210 Democrats, one independent and 34 Republicans voted yes, including Bilirakis, the bill's own author. All 175 no votes were Republicans, Military.com reported. That includes Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Mike Bost, the Republican chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Here's the part that should make you angry. We checked the 175 no votes against the bill's official cosponsor list. 94 of those Republicans are cosponsors of the Star Act. They signed their names to it, then voted against letting it come up for a vote.
What they wanted instead
Republican leaders had their own plan. The same afternoon, the House passed the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, H.R. 9237, a package of more than 60 veterans bills that includes the Star Act. Bost introduced it, and he has called it "the only viable path forward."
It passed by voice vote, so nobody's name is on the record for it.
The catch is how it pays for the Star Act. It changes how the VA rates two conditions that are very common among veterans:
- Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, would generally no longer get its own disability rating.
- Sleep apnea would need much stricter proof to get a high rating.
The changes apply to future claims, not to veterans already getting paid. But the Disabled American Veterans cites a VA analysis that says they could affect up to 1.5 million veterans and cut their pay by as much as $57 billion over 10 years, according to Military.com.
In other words: to give wounded veterans what they earned, the Republican plan takes it out of the pockets of other veterans.
The package came up under a closed rule, so no one was allowed to offer an amendment to strike those cuts. The VFW, the DAV and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America all oppose the trade. "A grateful nation pays its debts to veterans; it does not send them the invoice," the VFW said. Its commander-in-chief, Cory Geisler, said the package "should be dead on arrival in the Senate."
That's why the clean vote matters. The standalone Star Act doesn't cut anyone. A vote against it coming to the floor is a vote to make the Star Act wait on a package that pays for it by cutting other veterans. And that package still has to get through the Senate, where Republicans have blocked earlier tries to fast-track the Star Act over its cost.
The standalone bill still hasn't had its final vote.
The 85 Republicans on this site who cosponsored the Star Act and still voted no
- Alabama: Barry Moore, Dale Strong
- Alaska: Nick Begich
- Arizona: Abraham Hamadeh
- Arkansas: French Hill
- California: David Valadao, Ken Calvert, Tom McClintock, Young Kim
- Colorado: Gabe Evans, Jeff Crank, Jeff Hurd
- Florida: Brian Mast, Laurel Lee, Mario Diaz-Balart, Mike Haridopolos, Scott Franklin
- Georgia: Mike Collins, Rich McCormick
- Idaho: Mike Simpson, Russ Fulcher
- Illinois: Darin LaHood, Mary Miller
- Indiana: Jefferson Shreve, Jim Baird, Mark Messmer, Marlin Stutzman, Rudy Yakym
- Iowa: Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks
- Kansas: Tracey Mann
- Kentucky: Andy Barr, Hal Rogers
- Louisiana: Clay Higgins
- Michigan: Bill Huizenga, Jack Bergman, John Moolenaar, Tim Walberg
- Minnesota: Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach, Pete Stauber
- Mississippi: Michael Guest, Mike Ezell, Trent Kelly
- Missouri: Mark Alford
- Montana: Troy Downing
- New York: Andrew Garbarino, Claudia Tenney
- North Carolina: Addison McDowell, Richard Hudson
- North Dakota: Julie Fedorchak
- Ohio: David Joyce, Max Miller, Mike Carey, Mike Turner, Troy Balderson
- Oklahoma: Frank Lucas, Josh Brecheen, Stephanie Bice, Tom Cole
- Pennsylvania: Dan Meuser, Glenn Thompson, Mike Kelly
- South Carolina: Joe Wilson, Russell Fry, William Timmons
- Tennessee: Chuck Fleischmann, Diana Harshbarger, Matt Van Epps, Scott DesJarlais
- Texas: August Pfluger, Beth Van Duyne, Brian Babin, Craig Goldman, Lance Gooden, Nathaniel Moran, Pat Fallon, Pete Sessions
- Utah: Celeste Maloy
- Washington: Michael Baumgartner
- West Virginia: Carol Miller, Riley Moore
- Wisconsin: Tom Tiffany, Tony Wied
- Wyoming: Harriet Hageman
The other 68 Republicans on this site who voted no
- Alabama: Gary Palmer, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt
- Arizona: Andy Biggs, Eli Crane, Paul Gosar
- Arkansas: Bruce Westerman, Rick Crawford, Steve Womack
- California: Vince Fong
- Colorado: Lauren Boebert
- Florida: Aaron Bean, Greg Steube, Randy Fine
- Georgia: Andrew Clyde, Austin Scott, Brian Jack, Clay Fuller, Rick Allen
- Illinois: Mike Bost
- Indiana: Erin Houchin
- Kansas: Ron Estes
- Kentucky: Brett Guthrie, James Comer
- Louisiana: Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise
- Maryland: Andy Harris
- Michigan: Lisa McClain
- Minnesota: Tom Emmer
- Missouri: Ann Wagner, Bob Onder, Eric Burlison, Jason Smith
- Nebraska: Adrian Smith, Mike Flood
- North Carolina: Brad Knott, David Rouzer, Mark Harris, Pat Harrigan, Tim Moore, Virginia Foxx
- Ohio: Bob Latta, David Taylor, Jim Jordan, Michael Rulli
- Oklahoma: Kevin Hern
- Oregon: Cliff Bentz
- Pennsylvania: Guy Reschenthaler, John Joyce, Lloyd Smucker, Scott Perry
- South Carolina: Sheri Biggs
- Tennessee: David Kustoff
- Texas: Brandon Gill, Jake Ellzey, John Carter, Keith Self, Michael Cloud, Randy Weber, Roger Williams, Ronny Jackson
- Utah: Blake Moore, Mike Kennedy
- Virginia: Ben Cline, Morgan Griffith
- Wisconsin: Bryan Steil, Glenn Grothman, Scott Fitzgerald
The bottom line
About 58,000 veterans who were wounded in combat lose an average of $2,275 a month because of a rule nearly everyone in Congress says is wrong. On Veterans Day, 153 Republicans on this site voted against giving the fix a clean vote. 85 of them had signed on to that fix. They'd rather pay for it by lowering future disability ratings for veterans with tinnitus and sleep apnea.
How they voted
- Roll Call 320, H.Res. 1247, On Motion to Discharge — Clerk of the U.S. House, November 11, 2026
- H.R. 2102 cosponsors — Congress.gov
- List of 175 Republicans Who Opposed Standalone Major Richard Star Act Vote — Military.com, November 12, 2026
- House Passes Sweeping TCAVA Veterans Benefits Bill Despite Disability Pay Concerns — Military.com
- House Democratic lawmaker forces floor vote on the Major Richard Star Act — Stars and Stripes, November 9, 2026
