Rep. Gabe Vasquez Champions Major Richard Star Act, Passing it Out of the House to Provide Fair Compensation for Combat-Injured Veterans

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On November 12, 2026, U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) supported the House's passage of the Major Richard Star Act, legislation Vasquez has championed since its introduction which would allow combat-injured veterans to receive both their full military retirement pay and Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation.

Under current law, most military retirees who have completed 20 years of service are eligible to receive their earned retirement and VA disability benefits concurrently. However, servicemembers who are forced into early retirement due to unforeseen combat-related medical injuries are denied that same benefit. This means combat-injured veterans must forfeit their hard-earned military retirement pay to receive VA disability compensation.

The Major Richard Star Act addresses this inequity by allowing combat-injured veterans who were medically retired before reaching 20 years of service to receive both their full military retirement pay and full VA disability compensation. Today, the bill passed in the House with strong bipartisan support with 210 Democrats and 181 Republicans voting in favor. It now heads to the Senate.

Rep. Vasquez has been advocating for this bill's passage for months.

"Veterans who raised their right hand to commit to faithfully serving our country and whose service was unfortunately cut short due to a medical retirement deserve full and fair compensation," said Vasquez. "I'm proud to finally put an end to the wounded veterans tax and ensure no combat-injured hero is forced to forgo their military retirement pay. I'll keep working to pass landmark legislation like this that cuts red tape and ensures veterans get the support and benefits they've earned."

Rep. Vasquez has worked tirelessly to deliver for New Mexico's veterans:

• Introducing the Feed Our Veterans Act to combat food insecurity among veterans and reverse the new burdensome SNAP work requirements introduced under the Republican tax law last summer.
• Introducing the Socorro Vet Center Act, which would direct the VA to open a new veteran center in Socorro, providing free, confidential social and psychological support to veterans, service members and their families in southern New Mexico.
• Leading the New Mexico Rural Veteran Health Care Access Act, a bill to ensure that veterans in Otero and Eddy county can more easily access care at other facilities far closer to them.
• Introducing the Veteran Education Assistance Adjustment Act, bipartisan legislation to increase the yearly book and supply stipend for student veterans which hasn't been updated since 2008. If passed, it would increase the stipend from $1,000 to $1,400 and adjust for inflation.

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