HR 303
Retired Pay Restoration Act
Take action
Record your position on this measure.
Sign in to record your position, submit testimony, or contact your legislator.
Sign in to take action- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- To President
- Became Law
Bill overview
The Retired Pay Restoration Act aims to expand eligibility for military retirees to receive both their military retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation. Currently, only those with disabilities rated at 50% or higher receive both without a reduction in retired pay. This bill extends eligibility to additional retirees with service-connected disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disability, and removes a phase-in period for concurrent receipt. It clarifies definitions and streamlines the process for determining eligibility.
Key provisions
- Expands concurrent receipt eligibility to retirees with service-connected disabilities rated below 50%.
- Removes the phase-in period for concurrent receipt of retired pay and disability compensation.
- Clarifies that retired pay is not reduced due to veterans’ disability compensation.
- Specifies that retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation are both entitled to.
- Addresses eligibility for Chapter 61 retirees.
- Defines ‘qualified retiree’ to include members entitled to both retired pay and disability compensation.
- Makes clerical amendments to section headings and the table of sections.
- Conforms section 1413a(f) to align with the changes.
Who is affected
- Military retirees
- Veterans with service-connected disabilities
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Defense
- Disabled veterans
Notable changes
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
Primary sponsor
Cosponsors
Arguments in favor
Reasons to support this legislation.
No arguments in favor have been submitted.
Submit yoursArguments opposed
Reasons to oppose this legislation.
No arguments opposed have been submitted.
Submit yoursRead the latest version inline or switch to a previous version.
119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
H. R. 303
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit additional retired members of the Armed Forces who have a service-connected disability to receive both disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for their disability and either retired pay by reason of their years of military service or combat-related special compensation.
This Act may be cited as the Retired Pay Restoration Act
.
Congress finds the following:
For more than 100 years before 1999, all disabled military retirees were required to fund their own veterans’ disability compensation by forfeiting one dollar of earned retired pay for each dollar received in veterans’ disability compensation.
Since 1999, Congress has enacted legislation to progressively expand eligibility criteria for relief of the retired pay disability offset and reduce the burden of financial sacrifice on disabled military retirees.
Absent adequate funding to eliminate the sacrifice for all disabled retirees, Congress has given initial priority to easing financial inequities for the most severely disabled and for combat-disabled retirees.
In pursuing these good-faith efforts, Congress acknowledges the regrettable necessity of creating new thresholds of eligibility that understandably are disappointing to disabled retirees who fall short of meeting those new thresholds.
Congress is not content with the status quo.
It is the sense of Congress that military retired pay earned by service and sacrifice in defending the United States should not be reduced because a military retiree is also eligible for veterans’ disability compensation awarded for service-connected disability.
Section 1414(a) of title 10, United States Code, is amended—
by striking Compensation
in the subsection heading and all that follows through Subject
and inserting Compensation.—Subject
; and
by striking paragraph (2).
in subsection (a), as amended by subsection (a) of this section, by striking the final sentence;
by striking subsection (c) and redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as subsections (c) and (d), respectively; and
in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by striking paragraphs (3) and (4).
in subsection (a), as amended by subsections (a) and (b)—
by striking a member or
and all that follows through is entitled
and inserting an individual who is a qualified retiree for any month is entitled
; and
by inserting retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation
after both
;
in subsection (b)—
by striking Special Rules
in the subsection heading and all that follows through is subject to
and inserting Special Rules for Chapter 61 Disability Retirees.—In the case of a qualified retiree who is retired under chapter 61 of this title, the retired pay of the member is subject to
; and
in subsection (d), as redesignated and amended by subsection (b), by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
is entitled to retired pay, other than in the case of a member retired under chapter 61 of this title with less than 20 years of service creditable under section 1405 of this title and less than 20 years of service computed under section 12732 of this title; and
is entitled to veterans’ disability compensation.
Subsection (d)and inserting
Subsection (c).
The amendments made by this section shall take effect as of January 1, 2021, and shall apply to payments for months beginning on or after that date.