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By Sam Stevenson
Associate News Editor
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A major veterans benefits package has hit another wall in Congress, with senators divided over whether long-sought new benefits should be paid for through disputed changes to future disability compensation.
On July 29, competing Senate efforts to advance the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act failed amid a fight over disability-benefit offsets. The bill bundles dozens of veterans measures, but its path forward is uncertain because lawmakers disagree over future tinnitus and sleep apnea compensation. Veterans, caregivers, survivors, service members and future disability claimants could be affected if the package advances, stalls or is rewritten.
Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, told Newsweek he supports "dozens of bipartisan priorities" in the bill, but opposes the funding structure.
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"We cannot accept the false narrative that accepting the Republican proposed cuts is the only way to do it," he said. "Veterans deserve meaningful results from a grateful nation, and they should never be handed an invoice when the costs of war come due."
Blumenthal said he opposes what he described as cuts affecting more than a million veterans who are currently eligible to receive benefits for sleep apnea or tinnitus, calling those conditions "real" and saying the impact of the proposed changes would be "devastating" for veterans who receive benefits for them.
His office said he is considering alternatives that would not divide the veterans community, including using unobligated defense funds from H.R. 1. Republicans have argued that approach would not satisfy budget rules.
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The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) also told Newsweek it supports most of the bill’s provisions, but not Section 108, which deals with disability ratings.
"We simply cannot support paying for new veterans’ programs by reducing disability compensation for future disabled veterans," a VFW spokesperson said.
The White House backs the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, saying it would expand community-care access and support veterans, caregivers, families and survivors. But it has also noted that the bill lacks a final score and raised concerns over some provisions involving the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and requests for documents protected by executive privilege.
Newsweek also reached out to the offices of Republican Senator Jerry Moran and Republican Representative Mike Bost, who are central to the Senate and House fight over the bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and The American Legion via email for comment on Tuesday morning.
Key Points
- Moran, Republican chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, tried to pass the bill by unanimous consent, saying it would improve and expand benefits for veterans, families, caregivers and survivors. Democrats blocked that effort.
- Blumenthal, the committee’s top Democrat, pushed an amended version that would use unused Department of Defense funds instead of the disputed funding mechanism. Republicans blocked that effort too.
- The bill includes major priorities such as the Major Richard Star Act and the Love Lives On Act, but opponents object to provisions involving future disability ratings for tinnitus and sleep apnea.
- The VFW says VA estimates show the changes could reduce disability compensation by about $57 billion over 10 years and affect up to 1.5 million veterans.
Why It Matters
Congress has been trying to move a large veterans package that combines widely supported proposals with a controversial way to pay for them. The fight is not simply over whether veterans should receive more help. It is over whether future disability compensation for common service-connected conditions should help fund other veterans' priorities.
What To Know
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, known in the House as H.R. 9237, was introduced on June 10 by Bost, the Republican chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Its stated purpose is to amend federal veterans and military law "to improve benefits for veterans and the administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs."
Much of the package reads like the kind of veterans legislation that often draws broad sympathy.
According to material published on June 23, 2026, by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, the bill addresses veterans’ benefits, health care, counseling, VA personnel, infrastructure and the Veterans Community Care Program. It would modify compensation programs, extend benefits for certain surviving spouses, address education and training benefits, expand caregiver support, revise suicide-prevention grants and codify eligibility standards for community care.
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Supporters point to long-stalled priorities inside the bill.
The package includes the Major Richard Star Act, which deals with concurrent receipt of military retired pay and disability compensation for certain combat-injured retirees. It also includes the Love Lives On Act, which concerns benefits for surviving spouses who remarry.
But the July 29 Senate clash showed why the bill has become difficult to move.
Moran sought unanimous consent to pass the bill, arguing it was the best route to deliver benefits to veterans, survivors, families and caregivers. Democrats blocked that request. Blumenthal then tried to advance an amended version that would replace the Republican-backed offset with unused Department of Defense money. Republicans blocked that attempt.
That left both sides accusing the other of stopping action. Moran argued that Blumenthal’s alternative would not satisfy budget rules. Blumenthal’s office said he believes there are other ways to comply with those rules without reducing benefits for disabled veterans, including using unobligated defense funds from H.R. 1.
The Disability Benefits Fight
The central dispute involves proposed changes to disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus.
In 2022, the VA proposed updates to its rating schedule for respiratory, auditory and mental disorders. The agency said the proposed rule would modernize ratings for sleep apnea and evaluate tinnitus as a symptom of an underlying disease rather than as a stand-alone disability.
The VA also said veterans already receiving compensation for service-connected conditions in those body systems would not have their existing ratings reduced solely because of the update.
Supporters of the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act argue that if those VA changes move ahead anyway, Congress should use the associated savings for other veterans programs rather than let the money return to the Treasury.
The VFW rejects that argument. A spokesperson told Newsweek that the group supports most of the bill’s provisions, but views Section 108 as "a line we will not cross."
The group said disability ratings should be based on "medical evidence and functional impairment, not on how much money Congress wants to generate for other provisions."
The VFW is concerned about veterans who have not yet filed claims, those whose conditions have not yet been diagnosed, veterans whose conditions may worsen over time, and service members now in harm’s way who could later seek compensation.
In its public opposition to the bill, the group said the provisions could reduce disability compensation by about $57 billion over 10 years and affect up to 1.5 million veterans.
Why Veterans Groups Are Split
The split reflects a difficult calculation. Some groups support the bill because it packages dozens of priorities that have struggled to pass on their own.
The American Legion says the measure includes 62 bipartisan, bicameral bills it has previously supported, including the Major Richard Star Act and the Love Lives On Act. Other groups reject the idea that disability-compensation changes should be used as a funding source.
The VFW made a similar distinction, saying it has long supported a clean and complete Major Richard Star Act, but does not believe Congress should fund one veterans' priority by reducing future disability compensation for others.
The VFW has warned that current ratings may be protected, but future veterans with service-connected disabilities could receive less compensation than they would under current law. That leaves the bill caught between two fights: expanding veterans’ care and benefits, and deciding whether disability-rating changes should help pay for them.
The package includes provisions on community care, caregiver support, survivor benefits and mental health, but its future now depends largely on whether Congress accepts those rating changes as part of the deal.
Update 08/05/26, 04:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Richard Blumenthal and VFW.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly, Sam Wilson and Tony Phillips.
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