Bush Seeks GI Death Benefit Hike

[David]

AP


President Bush is proposing a dramatic increase to $250,000 in government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and in future combat zones.

Democrats in Congress liked the plan, but argued it 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 Mr. Bush's proposal as far as it goes, the extra 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 an Armed Services panel 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 Mr. 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-Ala., 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 Oct. 7, 2001, the date the United States launched its invasion of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 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 Sept. 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 Jan. 1, 2005. The 2003 legislation also made the payment fully tax-free. Before that, half was taxable.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the current death payments for troops killed in battle has looked less generous compared to government settlements paid to Sept. 11 families. The government paid an average $2.1 million to the families of those killed in those attacks.

[Andy]

In '69 the death benefit was $10,000. You could buy a new Mustang for under $3,000, we bought our first house in 1971 for just under $30,000. It would seem that upping to at least $100,000 is just keeping up with the times.

When younger I helped negotiate several contracts. We never wanted dollars, we wanted a % increase. Seems the same should be done with death benefits.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[frisco-kid]

To only increase $2,240 from '60s dollars to 21st century dollars is obscene. I hope they get it. They deserve every penny. This is not an out-of-line expenditure, considering all of the meaningless BS that the government can find to bankroll, instead.

[MORTARDUDE]

My simple question is why did it take over 3 years of war for these simple minded morons to figure this out ?


Larry

[Andy]

It?s not an answer to your question just other questions.
Reagan sent troops to places where they were killed, we should have raised the benefits then.
Bush Sr. sent troops to places where they died, we should have raised benefits.
Clinton sent troops to their deaths, why wasn?t it done then.
Of course the president does not have the right to tax us one penny, congress does that. Lots of blame to go around.

Does anyone know what the death benefit was for troops in 1945? If it was $10,000 I?m going to be mad.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[phuloi]

I agree.This is definately a good thing and long overdue.I`m thinking that 9/11 played into DoD forcing the hand of the Executive branch to do something,what with the obscene death benefits afforded to folks that perished that day.A first responder`s life is worth a million or two and a GI`s ten grand?

[catman]

Griz...I would not have much a problem if they had only payed large sums to first responders, I mean hey, these guys also lay their lives on the line in the face of danger on a regular basis as well. They payed everyone.... janitors, phone operators, everyone and why? Because they got up and went to work that day and we still have NCO and Enlistedmen drawing welfare!!!!

Pissed to the limit on this one!

Trav