Bipartisan legislation would create equity for surviving spouses of veterans.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org

I think I speak for all site readers when I say I'm glad this is finally being addressed.  A few phone calls to your Congressperson's office urging support of this bill would be appreciated.

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Buyer, Walz Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Create Equity for Surviving Spouses

For more information, contact: Brian Lawrence, (202) 225-3527

Buyer, Walz Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Create Equity for Surviving Spouses Rep. Steve Buyer and Rep. Tim Walz introduce H.R. 2243

Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressmen Steve Buyer and Tim Walz introduced legislation to increase the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefit paid to widows and widowers whose spouses died while on active military duty or as the result of a service connected injury or illness. The bill would also eliminate an unjust offset between the VA benefit and a military benefit for survivors.

“I am pleased to join with my friend and colleague, Tim Walz, in introducing H.R. 2243, the Surviving Spouses’ Benefit Improvement Act of 2009,” House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Buyer said. “As a former Command Sergeant Major in the Army National Guard, Congressman Walz knows firsthand why this measure to increase Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is so important.”

“I am very pleased to be working in a spirit of bipartisanship with Ranking Member Buyer,” said Congressman Walz. “I often say that no member of the military deploys alone, their family deploys along with them. We owe due compensation to the families of those who serve and die on active duty or from a disability connected to their service. This new legislation will ensure that the survivors receive that due compensation. We cannot bring their loved ones back. But at least we can live up to the words of Abraham Lincoln that serve as the motto for the VA: ‘To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan’”

The bill would increase DIC by twelve percent so that the base rate of DIC is equal to fifty-five percent of the rate of compensation paid to a totally disabled veteran. This ratio is equivalent to that which is paid to survivors of federal civilian employees who are killed while performing their duties. The current rate of basic DIC is only about forty-three percent of the compensation paid to a totally disabled veteran.

Buyer and Walz believe the inequity should be eliminated along with the offset between DIC and the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), which is a purchased annuity. Career military retirees pay approximately six and a half percent of their retired pay to acquire SBP to ensure that their family has a guaranteed income.

If that retiree dies due to a service connected disability, their survivor also becomes eligible for DIC, but to accept DIC, the law requires an equal cut in SBP. This is unfair because the two benefits have separate and distinct purposes; SBP is like premium-based life insurance, and DIC is compensation for a service-connected death.

“While their sacrifices are not so visible, spouses of seriously disabled veterans often limit their own careers and other opportunities to serve as caregivers,” Buyer said. “Consequently, these selfless individuals may not reach the level of financial independence they would have otherwise attained.”

“The last major improvement to this program was in 1992 and our widows have waited too long for this inequity to be resolved. This Congress must do what is right and pass this bill.”