Hegseth Backs Richard Star Act, But GOP Still Blocks It
The Pentagon’s support strengthens a veterans benefit fix, but Senate Republicans still control the cost and the floor vote.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Sen. Richard Blumenthal during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget that “we support the Richard Star Act,” giving a bipartisan veterans bill a rare boost from inside the administration (
The Hill; 
Navy Times). The measure would let roughly 54,000 combat-injured service members who were medically retired receive military retirement pay and VA disability compensation at the same time, instead of losing one check dollar-for-dollar to the other (The Hill; Navy Times).
A political signal, not a legislative breakthrough
This matters because Hegseth is not the veto point in 
US Politics; Senate Republicans are. Blumenthal says the bill already has 79 Senate supporters and 323 House members on board, while veterans groups including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans have made it a top priority (Navy Times). That is enough backing to frame the issue as mainstream, but not enough to move it through the Senate without leadership cooperation.
The bill’s politics are unusually favorable on substance. It applies only to a narrower slice of medically retired veterans eligible for Combat Related Special Compensation, not all military disability retirees, which is why supporters argue the program is more targeted than critics imply (Navy Times). In plain terms: this is a benefits fix with broad sympathy and a clear constituency, but it is still trapped inside the Senate’s budget gatekeeping.
Cost is the real choke point
The obstacle is Republican cost discipline, not a policy dispute over whether wounded veterans deserve the money. Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker and Sen. Ron Johnson have opposed the bill over cost concerns, and Johnson blocked a floor vote in March after saying it would cost more than $70 billion over 10 years (The Hill; Navy Times). The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s narrower estimate for the Richard Star Act is about $11 billion over a decade, which shows the real fight is over scoring and who gets included, not over the principle of help itself (Navy Times).
That gap also explains why this bill keeps stalling while veterans’ advocates keep pushing. Under current congressional rules, lawmakers need a funding offset for legislation with a significant price tag, and that turns a sympathy vote into a fiscal tradeoff (Navy Times). In practice, Wicker and Johnson hold the leverage; Hegseth’s endorsement gives cover, but not a path around them.
What to watch next
Watch whether Blumenthal and veterans groups land on a pay-for, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ idea of using the Military Retirement Fund, and whether Wicker softens enough to permit floor action (Navy Times). If Senate Republicans keep the same fiscal line, Hegseth’s support will matter politically but not legislatively; if they move, the Richard Star Act could become a rare 2026 veterans win with bipartisan numbers already in hand.
