Sponsors (341)
The bill restores full concurrent retired pay and VA disability for combat-disabled retirees—improving income and prompt payments for affected veterans—at the cost of higher federal outlays paid by taxpayers and administrative work that could create implementation delays.
Combat-disabled military retirees will receive full military retired pay and full VA disability compensation at the same time, increasing take-home income and financial stability for those veterans.
Qualified veterans will begin receiving the concurrent payments promptly because the bill sets effective-date and cross-reference rules that allow payments to start as early as the month after enactment.
All taxpayers will face higher federal costs because ending the offsets increases total retirement and VA disability outlays.
DoD and VA payroll systems and staff must be updated and perform extra administrative work, which could cause implementation delays or payment errors that affect veterans and federal employees.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Removes statutory offsets so service members with combat-related VA disability can receive both full military retired pay and VA compensation concurrently.
Allows military retirees who have combat-related disabilities to receive both full military retired pay and Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation by removing the statutory offsets that previously reduced retired pay because of VA disability payments. Changes update title 10 calculations, make technical conforming edits, and apply to payments starting the first day of the first month after enactment. The bill affects service members eligible under chapter 61 disability retirement and other retired-pay recipients with combat-related VA compensation, increases their take-home pay by eliminating the 38 U.S.C. §§5304/5305 reductions from the retired-pay calculation, and requires administrative updates to pay systems and cross-references in federal law.
Official title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for concurrent receipt of veterans' disability compensation and retired pay for disability retirees with combat-related disabilities, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 14, 2025 by Gus Bilirakis · Last progress March 14, 2025