Texas Congressman introduces legislation to increase pensions of Medal of Honor recipients

Texas GOP Rep. Troy Nehls says that recipients of the Medal of Honor have been getting the short end of the stick with modest pensions and that has to change. 

"It was brought to my attention that the Medal of Honor recipients that we have today only see $1,400 a month," Nehls said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "That's it. It's less than $18,000 a year."

Nehls introduced the Medal of Honor Act which, if passed, would increase the pensions of Medal of Honor recipients and help the ones who aren't in good financial situations. 

"Some of these guys, especially the Medal of Honor recipients that we have from Iraq and Afghanistan, are struggling financially," Nehls explained. "The military tasks these guys to go out there and help with recruiting events and help with retention. They're their poster child for the Medal of Honor. And I'm like, 'This is stupid. We got to do better.'" 

This bill, also titled H.R. 8973, is bipartisan and co-sponsored by New Hampshire Democrat Rep. Chris Pappas. 

"Chris Pappas is a great guy," stated Nehls. "He jumped on this thing with me right away. We're going to drive this thing. We're going to take it to the end zone and we're going to win this thing and get it to pass in the House."

Nehls went on to encourage people to call their representatives and encourage them to get on board with the legislation. 

"I would ask that anybody that's listening to reach out to their representative and tell them to jump on this as a co-sponsor because it's the right thing to do," he concluded.