{"id":368,"date":"2026-06-26T21:46:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=368"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:46:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:46:43","slug":"as-opposition-mounts-house-cancels-vote-on-va-overhaul-bill-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=368","title":{"rendered":"As opposition mounts, House cancels vote on VA overhaul bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

House Republicans on Thursday gaveled floor activity for the week, effectively cancelling a planned vote on a controversial Veterans Affairs Department overhaul bill that packages bipartisan benefits increases with cuts to others and increased privatization of health services.<\/p>\n

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The House planned this week to debate and ultimately vote on the Take Care of America\u2019s Veterans Act (), a collection of more than 60 bills related to the VA and veteran care, including benefits increases for severely disabled veterans and the families of service members who died in the line of duty. Its centerpiece is the Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 2102), a bill that would allow veterans who were forced to retire early due to a combat injury to collect their full military retirement pay in addition to their VA disability benefits.<\/p>\n

But Democrats warned at a press conference Thursday that the larger bill is an effort to \u201chijack\u201d the Major Richard Star Act, which has more than 300 House sponsors and a discharge petition just five signatures short of forcing a floor vote, and anchor it with $60 billion in cuts to other veterans\u2019 benefits, like those associated with tinnitus and sleep apnea, alongside plans to further prioritize veterans\u2019 health care and abridge VA psychologists\u2019 collective bargaining rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill pits veterans against veterans,\u201d said Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa. \u201cI think it stabs those serving right now in the back, many of whom are currently fighting a war. When it comes time for them to apply for their benefits for conditions linked to their service, they will see those benefits cut . . . The same politicians who added nearly $5 trillion to our national debt to pay for tax giveaways to the rich and powerful, who cut health care to help pay for those tax giveaways, now want to force other veterans to pay for these very important VA benefits increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., also noted that the version of the Major Richard Star Act within the Republicans\u2019 megabill is watered down compared to the standalone version of the measure. This new iteration implements a cap that would prevent impacted veterans from receiving both their retirement and disability benefits in full.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey claim this fixes the wounded veterans tax, but it doesn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cIt creates a cap in the amount of benefits they can get so they cannot get their full medical benefits and retirement benefits together. They\u2019re nickeling and diming our veterans, our wounded warriors, while they\u2019re at the same time proposing $500 billion to pay for the Iran war. And it takes away PACT Act benefits from 1.5 million veterans to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veterans groups zeroed in on the dangers of how the bill \u201crewrites\u201d benefits associated with service-connected tinnitus and sleep apnea. The VA first floated changing how it compensates veterans suffering from those conditions during the Biden administration, but advocates argued that process is governed by medical and scientific analysis, not \u201cpolitics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cOnce Congress starts rewriting the disability ratings whenever it needs money, there\u2019s no limit,\u201d said Jess Finucan, director of policy and advocacy for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. \u201cToday it\u2019s \u2018just\u2019 tinnitus and sleep apnea. Tomorrow, will it be PTSD? Will Congress decide that taking care of veterans suffering from the long-term effects of toxic exposures suddenly isn\u2019t worth the price tag?\u201d<\/p>\n

And Craig Romanovich, executive director of the Union Veterans Council, who himself suffers from \u201csevere\u201d tinnitus, said these conditions contribute to other medical conditions\u2014by defanging coverage of hearing loss and sleep apnea, Congress would make it harder to qualify for benefits under those knock-on disabilities as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a constant ringing in my ears\u2014it\u2019s ringing right now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt deprives me of my sleep, it causes anxiety and depression, and it causes issues in my family. These are the hard truths of something I live with every single day of my life . . . These are all secondary issues to tinnitus. If this goes through and you can no longer claim tinnitus, now you will have to fight for all of those secondary conditions on their own merits, making it much harder to get compensation and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor leaders warned that the Republican bill\u2019s changes to the Veterans Community Care Program, the initiative by which veterans can receive VA-sponsored medical care from private sector providers, could serve as the \u201ctipping point\u201d toward privatization, funneling money away from VA facilities and thereby causing service deterioration which in turn would fuel more privatization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pushes us farther down a dangerous road, one that speeds up privatization of the VA,\u201d said American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley. \u201cIt locks in biased standards that VA facilities must meet, while holding private providers to no such standards . . . This is not strengthening the VA, it is hollowing the VA out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Award-winning civil servants counter negative stereotypes of government employees<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Democrats and veterans service organizations warned that a bill Republicans claim will increase benefits “robs Peter to pay Paul” and hastens efforts to privatize veteran health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management"],"yoast_head":"\nAs opposition mounts, House cancels vote on VA overhaul bill - Market Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marketrelocationreport.com\/?p=368\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As opposition mounts, House cancels vote on VA overhaul bill - 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