Sponsors (4)
The bill increases and clarifies concurrent payment rights for disabled retirees—boosting incomes and reducing administrative confusion—while increasing federal costs and creating some short-term payment uncertainty for a subset of retirees.
Veterans with any service-connected disability can receive both retired pay and VA disability compensation without the prior 50% cap, increasing regular income for many disabled retirees.
Some disability retirees with less than 20 years of service (Chapter 61) will keep a larger share of their retired pay because reductions are limited to amounts above a defined floor, boosting pay for those shorter-career retirees.
Clarifying and conforming edits between DoD and VA reduce administrative confusion and simplify implementation of concurrent payments, which should speed processing and reduce errors for veterans and agencies.
Higher concurrent payments will raise federal outlays, increasing budget pressures that could require offsets or higher taxes paid by taxpayers.
Some retirees who were expecting payments under existing phase-ins or limits may face short-term uncertainty about payment timing or amounts during the transition.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Removes the 50% disability-rating floor and expands concurrent receipt eligibility, and limits certain retired-pay offsets to a formula tied to years of service and pay base.
Official title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit retired members of the Armed Forces who have a service-connected disability rated less than 50 percent to receive concurrent payment of both retired pay and veterans disability compensation, to extend eligibility for concurrent receipt to chapter 61 disability retirees with less than 20 years of service, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 13, 2025 by Sanford Dixon Bishop · Last progress January 13, 2025
Eliminates the prior 50% disability rating threshold and other limiting language so more service-connected disabled retirees can receive concurrent retired pay and VA disability compensation. It rewrites and cleans up 10 U.S.C. §1414 and related cross-references so retired pay is reduced only by a specific formula tied to years of service and the retired pay base, and makes the changes effective the first day of the first month after enactment for payments beginning that month or later. The result is broader eligibility for concurrent receipt of military retired pay and Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation for service members with any service-connected disability, with conforming edits and repeal of transitional clauses in current law.