Newsbytes July 24, 2026
In this issue:
CBO Score Stalls Star Act
House Defense Bill Includes Pay Raise
Pentagon Overhauls Brain Health Testing
Pentagon Adds Testosterone Screening
COMPACT Act Covers Crisis ER Care
CBO Score Stalls Star Act
FRA's number one legislative priority is now stalled over a budget scoring dispute rather than over whether combat wounded retirees have earned what the bill would restore. The Congressional Budget Office has scored the current version of the "Major Richard Star Act" (H.R. 2102 / S. 1032) at $78.1 billion in direct spending over 2026 to 2036, and $35.9 billion over the first five years. The prior Congress version carried a projection closer to $10 billion.
CBO attributes roughly $63 billion of the increase to the provision making Chapter 61 retirees with fewer than 20 years of service eligible for Concurrent Retired and Disability Pay, and about $2 billion to striking the cap on CRDP for Chapter 61 retirees who did reach 20 years. Working from Department of Defense actuarial data, CBO concluded that approximately 255,000 Chapter 61 retirees would become eligible under the current text, rising to about 285,000 by 2036. That is not what the drafters say they intended. Staff for Senator Richard Blumenthal, the lead Senate sponsor, have said the revised language was written to close a narrow gap covering roughly 1,124 additional combat injured retirees, moving the affected population from about 54,000 to roughly 56,000. The disagreement is one of statutory interpretation, and it has become the newest reason to delay a bill that carries overwhelming bipartisan cosponsorship in both chambers and that has been blocked repeatedly on the Senate floor by objection to unanimous consent, most recently on June 17 when Senator Blumenthal proposed covering the cost with $13 billion in unspent Department of Defense funds.
FRA's position is unchanged. Combat wounded Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen should not surrender a dollar of earned retired pay for every dollar of VA disability compensation, and a scoring disagreement is not a reason to leave that offset in place. FRA is pressing Congress to clarify the statutory language so the score reflects the bill's actual intent, to fund the correction from the defense topline rather than from other veterans, and to bring the measure to a vote. FRA continues to oppose the offset mechanism in the "Take Care of America's Veterans Act" (H.R. 9237 / S. 4744), which would pay for the Star Act by rewriting sleep apnea and tinnitus ratings for future claimants. Forty seven senators and fifteen military and veterans organizations have formally objected to that approach. Under the Sacred Trust, one generation of wounded veterans is never the pay-for for another. Click Here to Take Action
House Defense Bill Includes Pay Raise
The House has passed a defense authorization bill carrying the largest proposed military pay raise in years, but the measure remains stalled in the Senate and several provisions in the House text warrant close watch. On July 22 the House passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 216 to 212, authorizing roughly $1.15 trillion in national security spending.
The centerpiece for the membership is a proposed pay raise of 5 to 7 percent depending on rank. The bill would also require the Defense Department to establish a process allowing eligible transitioning service members to enroll in transitional health coverage within two business days, permit qualifying non-regular service to count toward time in grade for retirement rank without increasing retired pay, create a pilot program to independently verify commercial electronic components used across military installations, and establish a pilot integrating cognitive performance training, sleep resources, stress management tools, and digital support into a single capability for service members and their families.
The path forward is not clear. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its own roughly $1.14 trillion version in June, but floor consideration has been blocked, most recently on a 50 to 46 cloture vote well short of the 60 required to open debate. The House text also carries provisions certain to be contested, including language renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War and restrictions on certain TRICARE coverage policies.
FRA welcomes the proposed pay raise and the transitional health care fix, both of which align with FRA's standing positions on compensation at or above the Employment Cost Index and on protecting TRICARE access. FRA is reviewing the House TRICARE restrictions closely and opposes any narrowing of covered care for beneficiaries. FRA will also press to ensure the Coast Guard is not left behind. Coast Guard pay is funded through Department of Homeland Security appropriations rather than the defense bill, which is why FRA continues to support the "Pay Our Troops Act" (H.R. 5401) and automatic pay continuation during any lapse in appropriations. As the Senate works its version, FRA will lobby to preserve the pay and health care provisions in conference without allowing them to be traded against benefit offsets.
Pentagon Overhauls Brain Health Testing
Better brain injury tools are reaching the field, but the research account that produced them has been cut sharply, and FRA is treating the FY27 appropriations cycle as the place to correct that. A June 9 memorandum signed by Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata directs a phased replacement of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics, the computerized cognitive baseline test Congress mandated in 2008, with a next generation capability. Deployed service members are first in the rollout, followed by those preparing to deploy, with high risk civilian personnel included early. ANAM remains in use until the replacement is tested across the force.
Separately, the Army announced on July 16 that it is fielding the i-STAT Alinity, a handheld blood analyzer that can identify a traumatic brain injury in roughly 15 minutes by measuring two brain specific proteins released after trauma, to forward units under the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, where TBI rates in air defense formations have run disproportionately high. The sea services are in this fight as well. On June 30 at Camp Lejeune, the Defense Health Agency's Warfighter Readiness, Performance and Brain Health team worked with Navy corpsmen and medical officers from across II Marine Expeditionary Force to evaluate portable TBI assessment prototypes. More than 500,000 service members sustained a TBI between 2000 and 2025.
FRA supports putting objective, point of care diagnostics into the hands of corpsmen and independent duty corpsmen, and FRA wants that capability fielded to Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard units operating far from imaging, not to Army formations alone. Our Shipmates in high volume gunfire, missile defense, aviation, and small boat environments carry blast overpressure and acoustic trauma risk that has historically gone undocumented until long after separation. FRA is equally concerned about the pipeline behind these tools. TBI research under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs received $175 million in fiscal 2024, zero in fiscal 2025, and $40.5 million in fiscal 2026, with the fiscal 2027 request holding at that level. Because a documented injury at the time of the event is the foundation of a later disability claim, this is a disability compensation issue as much as a readiness one, and FRA is raising restored TBI research funding with defense appropriators as the FY27 cycle moves.
Pentagon Adds Testosterone Screening
A new screening requirement now applies to a large share of the force, and treatment remains the individual member's decision. A July 15 memorandum signed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth adds annual testosterone deficiency screening to the Periodic Health Assessment for all active duty and reserve component personnel age 30 and older, effective immediately. Members under 30 may request the screening. Where a deficiency is identified and a military physician recommends treatment, whether to accept testosterone replacement therapy is the member's choice.
The memorandum frames the initiative around "Operator Syndrome," the cluster of medical and behavioral conditions associated with the sustained wear of a special operations career, and applies lessons from that population across the total force. The policy applies to women as well as men, though the memorandum does not define testosterone deficiency for women. The clinical response has been mixed. Endocrinology practice guidelines generally advise against population wide testosterone screening, and clinicians have noted that a diagnosis normally requires both consistent symptoms and repeated low morning readings, along with an evaluation for reversible causes.
FRA supports proactive attention to the occupational health effects of deployment tempo, sleep deprivation, and sustained operational stress on our Shipmates. FRA's expectation is that implementation across Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard commands remains grounded in clinical evidence and individual choice, that declining a treatment recommendation carries no career or deployability consequence, that results are documented in the service treatment record where they may bear on later care and claims, and that the requirement does not become another administrative burden layered onto an already crowded assessment. FRA is engaging defense health leaders and will report service implementation guidance to the membership as it is issued.
COMPACT Act Covers Crisis ER Care
An eligible veteran in a suicidal crisis can go to any emergency room, VA or civilian, and VA will cover the care, whether or not that veteran is enrolled in VA health care and whether or not that veteran has insurance. VA data provided to Military Times show 49,341 veterans have used the Emergent Suicide Crisis Benefit since fiscal 2023, including 15,218 in fiscal 2025 and 9,434 in the first half of fiscal 2026.
The benefit was created by the Veterans Comprehensive Prevention, Access to Care, and Treatment (COMPACT) Act and implemented by VA in January 2023. It covers emergency evaluation and treatment, up to 30 days of inpatient or crisis residential care when clinically appropriate, up to 90 days of outpatient follow up, and transportation costs. VA spent nearly $110 million on acute suicide crisis care in fiscal 2025, and 72 percent of veterans who have used the benefit have since enrolled in VA health care.
Awareness remains the gap. The Disabled American Veterans reports that its service officers routinely meet veterans who believe they must already be enrolled in VA health care, must hold a service connected rating, or must travel to a VA medical center before the benefit applies. Uncertainty about whether an emergency room visit will generate a bill discourages veterans from seeking help at the moment intervention matters most. The account anchoring this week's reporting was a retired Navy Master Chief who learned the benefit existed only after a community hospital identified him as a veteran and told him his care was covered.
FRA asks every Shipmate to carry this information into their branch, their unit, and their family. No veteran in crisis should hesitate at an emergency room door over the fear of a bill. The Veterans Crisis Line is available around the clock by dialing 988 and pressing 1, by text to 838255, or at VeteransCrisisLine.net. FRA will continue to press VA and Congress to close the awareness gap and to protect this benefit through the appropriations process, because keeping our Shipmates alive is the first obligation of the Sacred Trust.