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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION | ||||||
| 2 | WHEREAS, Major Richard Star was an Iraq and Afghanistan | ||||||
| 3 | veteran who, after exposure to burn pits during his service, | ||||||
| 4 | received a diagnosis of lung cancer; and | ||||||
| 5 | WHEREAS, Major Richard Star, due to his diagnosis, was | ||||||
| 6 | forced to retire before completing 20 years of service and was | ||||||
| 7 | therefore unable to collect his retirement and disability | ||||||
| 8 | benefits; and | ||||||
| 9 | WHEREAS, For every dollar of disability pay they receive, | ||||||
| 10 | veterans with less than 20 years of service and a disability | ||||||
| 11 | rating of less than 50 percent will have their retirement pay | ||||||
| 12 | reduced by a dollar; and | ||||||
| 13 | WHEREAS, An estimated 50,000 retired service members are | ||||||
| 14 | ineligible for concurrent benefits under the current rules; | ||||||
| 15 | and | ||||||
| 16 | WHEREAS, According to the Congressional Budget Office, in | ||||||
| 17 | 2022, the average offset was approximately $1,900 a month; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, The Major Richard Star Act would remove these | ||||||
| 19 | restrictions and ensure that all service members who have | ||||||
| 20 | medically retired can receive full access to retirement pay | ||||||
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| 1 | and disability benefits from the Department of Veterans | ||||||
| 2 | Affairs; and | ||||||
| 3 | WHEREAS, Mayor Richard Star lost his battle with lung | ||||||
| 4 | cancer in 2021, and his widow stated that his greatest goal was | ||||||
| 5 | to get legislation passed providing for the removal of these | ||||||
| 6 | restrictions; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, The United States owes these benefits to its | ||||||
| 8 | veterans regardless of the cost associated with their | ||||||
| 9 | allocation; therefore, be it | ||||||
| 10 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 11 | HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 12 | we urge the U.S. Congress to support the Major Richard Star Act | ||||||
| 13 | to allow medically retired service members to receive full | ||||||
| 14 | access to their much-deserved retirement and pay benefits; and | ||||||
| 15 | be it further | ||||||
| 16 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 17 | delivered to the President of the United States, the U.S. | ||||||
| 18 | Senate Majority Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the | ||||||
| 19 | U.S. Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives | ||||||
| 20 | Minority Leader, and all members of the Illinois Congressional | ||||||
| 21 | Delegation. | ||||||