On May 21, 2026, Congressman Mark Takano submitted a Motion to the Clerk of the House of Representatives to move to Discharge the Committee on Rules from the Consideration of a Resolution.
What does this actually mean for an estimated 55,000 disabled veterans, and why are five (5) Congressional Representatives missing?
Representative Mark Takano is a strong supporter of disabled veterans and wants them to receive all the benefits that they have earned by their military service to our country. He is also a co-sponsor of the Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 2102), which currently has 334 other co-sponsors.
The Motion filed is House Resolution (H.Res.) 1247. It is according to Committee Rule XV, Clause 2, and commonly known as a “Discharge Petition.”
A “Discharge Petition” is a means for legislators to bring to the floor for consideration a public bill or resolution that has been referred to committee but not reported out for a vote.
This is a complex procedure by which legislators can consider a bill without cooperation from the Committee of Referral, the majority-party leadership, or the Committee on Rules. For this reason, a “Discharge Petition” is designed to be time-consuming to execute and difficult to accomplish.
The Major Richard Star Bill is legislatively stalled in both the House and the Senate, where seventy-nine (79) Senators have agreed to co-sponsor the Senate Bill. The Clermont Sun has published at least six (6) opinion/editorials on this bill and why it is important to disabled veterans.
For House Resolution 1247 to be approved, it needs 218 signatures from representatives on the Discharge Petition. Approval of H.Res. 1247 will only allow H.R. 2102 to be brought up for discussion and a vote.
Bear in mind that 335 representatives have already agreed to co-sponsor the Major Richard Star Act. As of June 9, 2026, the Discharge Petition has 213 signatures on it – with only five (5) more signatures needed to pass.
Of the 213 signatures on H.Res. 1247, 211 signatures are members of the Democratic Party. The only Republicans who have signed the Discharge Petition are Congressman Thomas Massie and Jefferson Van Drew.
The Representatives from Ohio who signed the Discharge Petition are: Greg Landsman (1st CD); Joyce Beatty (3rd CD); Marcy Kaptur (9th CD); Shontel Brown (11th CD); and Emilia Strong Sykes (13th CD).
There are over twenty (20) veteran service organizations, including the American Legion (AmL), Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), that expressed their support of H.Res. 1247.
On April 26, 2026, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated, “As I have said in the past to other organizations, we support the Richard Star Act.”
“If half the House—218 members—sign the discharge petition, a vote will finally take place in the House,” said Disabled American Veterans (DAV) National Commander Coleman Nee.
“With 335 members already publicly supporting this legislation, there is a clear path forward,” stated the DAV Commander. “This discharge petition is not a first step. It’s a last resort.”
“Congress should stop delaying and bring this bill to the floor. Veterans who sacrificed for this country should not have to fight their own government for the benefits they earned,” concluded Commander Nee. “This injustice is real and Congress has the power to fix it. The only thing missing is action. It is time our nation keeps its promise.”
My Opinion: Ironically, the primary sponsor of the bipartisan Major Richard Star Act, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, who is a strong supporter of disabled veterans, has failed to add his signature to the Discharge Petition.
The other two (2) Republican sponsors of H.R. 2102, Congressmen Mike Crapo and Rick Scott, also have failed to support the Discharge Petition.
Perhaps, the answer for the missing five (5) signatures on the Discharge Petition lies within our State. Ohio Republican Congressmen Max Miller, Michael Turner, Michael Carey, David Joyce and Troy Balderson were among the cosponsors of the Major Richard Star Act.
Hopefully, they will step up to support disabled veterans, the memory of Major Richard Star, who was an Ohio veteran, and add their signatures to the Discharge Petition, which will then achieve the goal of 218 signatures.
Remember, as DAV Commander Nee stated: “It is time our nation keeps its promise (to disabled veterans!).”
John Plahovinsak is a 32-year retired Army veteran who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be contacted at: plahovinsak@msn.com.
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