Take Care of America's Veterans Act: The $57 Billion Trade-Off in H.R. 9237

In June 2026, House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee leaders introduced the largest veterans package Congress has taken up in a decade: the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, filed as H.R. 9237 in the House and S. 4744 in the Senate. It rolls more than 60 separate bills into one vote, including the long-stalled Major Richard Star Act.

Here is the catch that has veterans groups split. Part of the package is paid for by locking in VA rating changes that would eliminate the standalone tinnitus rating and slash sleep apnea ratings for CPAP users. A VA analysis pegs those reductions at roughly $57 billion over 10 years, falling on an estimated 1.5 million future claimants. So the same bill that finally helps combat-injured retirees also trims what the next generation of veterans can claim.

What Is the Take Care of America's Veterans Act?

The Take Care of America's Veterans Act is an omnibus veterans bill introduced in June 2026 by Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. Bost called it the most comprehensive veterans package Congress has considered in a decade.

Instead of moving dozens of veterans bills one at a time, the sponsors bundled more than 60 measures into a single package. That approach is common on Capitol Hill because it lets popular, bipartisan bills carry more controversial provisions across the finish line together. It also means a member who supports 59 of the bills has to swallow the three they do not like, which is exactly the fight playing out now.

What the Bill Would Add

Most of the package is straightforward good news for veterans and survivors. The headline provisions include:

• The Major Richard Star Act. Ends the dollar-for-dollar offset between retirement pay and VA disability for combat-injured Chapter 61 medical retirees with fewer than 20 years of service. This helps roughly 50,000 to 54,000 veterans. See our full Major Richard Star Act guide.
• The Love Lives On Act. Would let some surviving spouses keep certain benefits, such as Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, if they remarry after age 55 (down from the current bar). Read more in our VA DIC benefits guide.
• Higher payments for catastrophically disabled veterans and Gold Star families. An increase in special monthly compensation and survivor support that already cleared the House Veterans' Affairs Committee earlier in 2026.
• Caregiver program reforms. Changes to eligibility and stipend rules under the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. See our VA Caregiver Program guide.
• VA modernization and community care provisions. A set of process, staffing, and private-care access changes that labor groups have criticized as a step toward privatization.

On their own, most of these bills have broad bipartisan support. The Richard Star Act alone has more than 300 House cosponsors and a discharge petition that sat just a handful of signatures short of forcing a standalone floor vote. That popularity is part of why critics say the package "hijacks" the Star Act: it attaches a benefit cut to a bill that could pass on its own.

The Pay-For: Tinnitus and Sleep Apnea Cuts

Big benefit expansions cost money, and congressional rules usually require an offset. The Take Care of America's Veterans Act finds part of its offset by writing into law a set of VA rating-schedule changes first proposed back in 2022. Two of them matter most for your wallet.

Tinnitus: The 10% Standalone Rating Goes Away

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is the single most common service-connected disability. More than 3 million veterans hold a rating for it. Today it carries a flat 10% rating worth $180.42 per month in 2026, or about $2,165 per year.

Under the change, tinnitus would no longer get its own rating. Instead it would be treated as a symptom of an underlying condition, such as hearing loss or a traumatic brain injury, and rated as part of that condition. For a veteran whose only ear claim is tinnitus, that can mean the difference between a 10% check and nothing.

Sleep Apnea: CPAP That Works Could Mean a Lower Rating

Sleep apnea is currently rated at 50% when a veteran requires a breathing assistance device such as a CPAP machine. The proposed criteria flip that logic. Instead of rewarding the need for a device, they rate based on how well treatment controls the condition:

The practical effect: a veteran whose CPAP works well, which is the point of using one, could go from a 50% rating to a 0% rating on a new claim. For 2026 rates, a standalone 50% rating for a single veteran is worth about $1,133 per month, so this is not a rounding error.

Who Gets Hit, and How Much

The VA analysis behind the 2022 proposal found the tinnitus and sleep apnea changes together would reduce disability compensation by about $57 billion over 10 years. Critics translate that into people: roughly 1.5 million future claimants would receive less than they would under today's rules.

The word "future" is doing a lot of work here, and it matters. Here is who is and is not in the crosshairs:

The Grandfather Clause: Your Current Rating Is Safe

This is the part that gets lost in the headlines. If you already have a tinnitus or sleep apnea rating, a rating-criteria change does not reach back and take it away. Under 38 CFR 3.951, a disability evaluation that has been continuously in effect cannot be reduced simply because the rating schedule was updated. Ratings in place for 20 years or more are protected even more strongly.

That is also why the debate is really about future veterans, many of them still in uniform today, rather than current retirees. It does not make the trade-off painless, but it changes who pays for it.

Why Veterans Groups Are Split

A benefit expansion funded by a benefit cut forces hard choices, and the veteran community has landed on different sides.

Opposition

• Disabled American Veterans (DAV) condemned the proposal, warning it would shift $57 billion in costs onto 1.5 million future veterans.
• Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and other service organizations raised similar objections to funding new benefits by cutting others.
• 47 senators signed on to oppose the underlying VA rule on sleep apnea and tinnitus.
• Labor groups objected to the community-care and modernization pieces, framing them as privatization.
• Democrats including Sen. Richard Blumenthal argued the package uses the popular Richard Star Act as a bargaining chip to carry provisions that could not pass alone.

Support

• Chairmen Bost and Moran defended bundling as the only realistic way to move dozens of stalled veterans bills at once.
• Fiscal conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity backed the package and its offsets.
• Supporters note the bill delivers real wins that have been stuck for years, including the Star Act and higher pay for catastrophically disabled veterans.

Legislative Timeline

What It Means for Your Retirement Income

Whether this bill helps you or hurts you depends entirely on your situation. Three groups should pay attention.

1. Combat-injured Chapter 61 retirees

If you were medically retired with fewer than 20 years for a combat-related injury, the Richard Star Act piece could add $10,000 to $25,000 or more per year by ending the offset. That is a large, permanent raise. Our Star Act guide walks through rank-by-rank examples, and you can model your own numbers in the calculator.

2. Veterans planning to file for tinnitus or sleep apnea

If you have not filed yet and you have symptoms, timing matters. A claim decided under current rules locks in the current criteria and the grandfather protection that comes with it. Consider filing an Intent to File to preserve your effective date while you gather evidence. Our secondary conditions guide covers documentation strategy.

3. Retirees near the CRDP cliff

Here is the trap most people miss. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) restores your full retirement pay only if your combined VA rating is 50% or higher. If a lower sleep apnea or tinnitus rating on a future claim keeps your combined rating below 50%, you can lose CRDP entirely, which for a 20-year E-7 can mean giving up more than $21,000 a year. We break down that cliff in the VA rating changes post and the CRDP vs CRSC guide.

What You Can Do Now

1. Do not panic about your current rating. If it is already granted, the grandfather clause protects it.
2. File sooner if you have a valid claim. Getting a decision under current criteria preserves today's rules for that condition. At minimum, submit an Intent to File to lock your effective date.
3. Document combat-relatedness. If you are a Chapter 61 retiree, keep your combat-related determinations current so you are ready if the Star Act becomes law.
4. Track the bill, not the rumor. Follow H.R. 9237 and S. 4744 on Congress.gov. Watch whether the offsets get stripped out in negotiations.
5. Contact your representatives. Whether you support the package as-is or want the Star Act moved separately, your member of Congress counts constituent input on both.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Take Care of America's Veterans Act?

It is a comprehensive veterans package introduced in June 2026 as H.R. 9237 (House) and S. 4744 (Senate). It bundles more than 60 bills, including the Major Richard Star Act, the Love Lives On Act, caregiver reforms, and benefit increases for catastrophically disabled veterans and Gold Star families. Part of the cost is offset by codifying VA rating changes that reduce future compensation for tinnitus and sleep apnea.

Does the bill cut my disability pay?

Not if you already have a rating. The changes apply to new claims filed after they take effect. A VA analysis estimates the tinnitus and sleep apnea reductions would lower future compensation by about $57 billion over 10 years, affecting roughly 1.5 million future claimants. Existing ratings are grandfathered under 38 CFR 3.951.

Does it include the Richard Star Act?

Yes. The Major Richard Star Act is one of the bundled bills. It would end the retirement pay offset for roughly 50,000 to 54,000 combat-injured Chapter 61 retirees. Some supporters of the standalone Star Act object to pairing it with the tinnitus and sleep apnea cuts used to help pay for the package.

Has it passed?

No. The House Rules Committee advanced H.R. 9237 by an 8-4 vote on June 23, 2026, but the floor vote was pulled in late June amid opposition. The Senate version, S. 4744, is still pending as of July 2026.

Should I file my VA claim now or wait?

If you have a valid claim, filing sooner generally protects you. A decision under current criteria carries today's rules and grandfather protection. Filing an Intent to File preserves your effective date while you build your evidence. This is general information, not individual advice, so consider working with an accredited representative.