http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/01/death.benefits.ap/index.html
So what do you guys think about this. I'm all for this!! It's about time the military get compensation for the ultimate sacrifice!!
Democrats urge applying payments to all active-duty personnel
Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Posted: 11:20 AM EST (1620 GMT)
Families of troops killed in war zones would receive an extra $250,000 in payments under a proposed plan.
Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats argued Tuesday that President Bush's proposal to boost government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and future war zones should extend to all military personnel who died on active duty.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that while he agreed with Bush's plan to give those families an extra $250,000, the money should also "apply to all service members on active duty" and not just those who died in Pentagon-designated combat zones.
The proposal, the subject of the panel's hearing, includes retroactive payments to the spouses or surviving relatives of the more than 1,500 who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. It will be in the 2006 budget proposal Bush submits to Congress next week, a Pentagon official said.
A tax-free "death gratuity," now $12,420, would grow to $100,000. The government would also pay for $150,000 in life insurance for troops. Veterans groups and many in Congress have been pushing for such increases.
"We think the nation ought to make a larger one-time payment, quite apart from insurance, should you be killed in a combat area of operations," David Chu, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in an interview in his Pentagon office.
"We can never in any program give someone back their loved one," he added. "There is nothing we can do about the hurt, to make it go away. But we can make your circumstances reasonable, in terms of finances."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, who is sponsoring a bill with the same provisions, said in an interview Monday that the first-year cost of the increased benefits would be $459 million, including more than $280 million in retroactive payments of the higher gratuity and the extra life insurance payouts.
"The American people want to be generous to the families of service people who give their lives for their country. It's not a nickel-and-dime issue," he said.
In addition to the higher gratuity, the Pentagon would substantially increase life insurance benefits, Chu said. The current $250,000 coverage offered to all service members at a subsidized rate under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance program would be raised to $400,000, and for troops in a combat zone the government would pay the premiums on the extra $150,000 coverage.
Even in the case of a service member who did not participate in the basic life insurance program, the surviving spouse would receive a $150,000 settlement if the death happened in a designated combat zone, since the Pentagon is proposing to pay the premiums on that amount of coverage for everyone in a war zone. The spouse or other surviving family member also would get the $100,000 gratuity.
Chu said the extra $150,000 in life insurance and the higher death gratuity would be retroactive to October 7, 2001, the date the United States launched its invasion of Afghanistan in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Some bills in Congress would make the higher gratuity retroactive but not the extra life insurance.
Under the administration's proposal, the 53 military members who were killed in the September 11 attack on the Pentagon would not get the higher gratuity, a spokeswoman said.
As of Monday, 1,415 Americans had died in the Iraq war, according to the Pentagon's count, and 156 had died in Afghanistan and other locations deemed part of the war on terrorism.
The death gratuity is a one-time payment intended to be given to the family immediately after a service member's death; it is in addition to an array of other survivor benefits such as housing aid.
The $100,000 would apply only in cases where the service member died in a war zone as designated by the secretary of defense. Thus, a soldier killed in a training accident in the United States would get the current $12,420, Chu said. Some in Congress have proposed paying an increased gratuity for all deaths.
In 2003 the military gratuity was doubled, from $6,000, where it had stood since 1991, to $12,000, with subsequent increases to account for inflation, bringing it to $12,420 on January 1, 2005. The 2003 legislation also made the payment fully tax-free. Before that, half was taxable.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the current death payments for troops killed in battle has looked less generous compared with government settlements paid to Sept. 11 families. The government paid an average $2.1 million to the families of those killed in those attacks.
-----------------Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Posted: 11:20 AM EST (1620 GMT)
Families of troops killed in war zones would receive an extra $250,000 in payments under a proposed plan.
Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats argued Tuesday that President Bush's proposal to boost government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and future war zones should extend to all military personnel who died on active duty.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that while he agreed with Bush's plan to give those families an extra $250,000, the money should also "apply to all service members on active duty" and not just those who died in Pentagon-designated combat zones.
The proposal, the subject of the panel's hearing, includes retroactive payments to the spouses or surviving relatives of the more than 1,500 who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. It will be in the 2006 budget proposal Bush submits to Congress next week, a Pentagon official said.
A tax-free "death gratuity," now $12,420, would grow to $100,000. The government would also pay for $150,000 in life insurance for troops. Veterans groups and many in Congress have been pushing for such increases.
"We think the nation ought to make a larger one-time payment, quite apart from insurance, should you be killed in a combat area of operations," David Chu, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in an interview in his Pentagon office.
"We can never in any program give someone back their loved one," he added. "There is nothing we can do about the hurt, to make it go away. But we can make your circumstances reasonable, in terms of finances."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, who is sponsoring a bill with the same provisions, said in an interview Monday that the first-year cost of the increased benefits would be $459 million, including more than $280 million in retroactive payments of the higher gratuity and the extra life insurance payouts.
"The American people want to be generous to the families of service people who give their lives for their country. It's not a nickel-and-dime issue," he said.
In addition to the higher gratuity, the Pentagon would substantially increase life insurance benefits, Chu said. The current $250,000 coverage offered to all service members at a subsidized rate under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance program would be raised to $400,000, and for troops in a combat zone the government would pay the premiums on the extra $150,000 coverage.
Even in the case of a service member who did not participate in the basic life insurance program, the surviving spouse would receive a $150,000 settlement if the death happened in a designated combat zone, since the Pentagon is proposing to pay the premiums on that amount of coverage for everyone in a war zone. The spouse or other surviving family member also would get the $100,000 gratuity.
Chu said the extra $150,000 in life insurance and the higher death gratuity would be retroactive to October 7, 2001, the date the United States launched its invasion of Afghanistan in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Some bills in Congress would make the higher gratuity retroactive but not the extra life insurance.
Under the administration's proposal, the 53 military members who were killed in the September 11 attack on the Pentagon would not get the higher gratuity, a spokeswoman said.
As of Monday, 1,415 Americans had died in the Iraq war, according to the Pentagon's count, and 156 had died in Afghanistan and other locations deemed part of the war on terrorism.
The death gratuity is a one-time payment intended to be given to the family immediately after a service member's death; it is in addition to an array of other survivor benefits such as housing aid.
The $100,000 would apply only in cases where the service member died in a war zone as designated by the secretary of defense. Thus, a soldier killed in a training accident in the United States would get the current $12,420, Chu said. Some in Congress have proposed paying an increased gratuity for all deaths.
In 2003 the military gratuity was doubled, from $6,000, where it had stood since 1991, to $12,000, with subsequent increases to account for inflation, bringing it to $12,420 on January 1, 2005. The 2003 legislation also made the payment fully tax-free. Before that, half was taxable.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the current death payments for troops killed in battle has looked less generous compared with government settlements paid to Sept. 11 families. The government paid an average $2.1 million to the families of those killed in those attacks.
So what do you guys think about this. I'm all for this!! It's about time the military get compensation for the ultimate sacrifice!!