Bost Rallies Support for $13 Billion Veterans Bill as Benefit Cuts Split Groups
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jul 15
Bost Rallies Support for $13 Billion Veterans Bill as Benefit Cuts Split Groups
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jul 15
Summary
Rep. Mike Bost staged a Capitol rally Tuesday to build backing for a veterans package centered on the Major Richard Star Act, which would raise retirement pay for about 50,000 combat-injured veterans.
The bill also expands other benefits, but its financing has become the flashpoint: Bost would fund the package with savings from planned VA disability-rating changes affecting future tinnitus and sleep-apnea claims.
$57 billion in projected 10-year savings from those limits would otherwise flow to the Treasury, while the Star Act alone is estimated to cost about $13 billion over a decade.
American Legion, Wounded Warrior Project, TAPS and Vietnam Veterans of America backed Bost at the rally, but Democrats and opposing veterans groups say using benefit reductions to fund other aid breaks faith with service members.
The fight has turned a broadly popular benefits package into a wider debate over whether future veterans expansions should be paid for by trimming other VA payouts.