Posted on 02/01/2005 5:10:37 PM PST by Dubya
WASHINGTON | President Bush will propose 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.
The plan to increase the tax-free “death gratuity,” now $12,420, to $100,000 and provide an extra $150,000 in life insurance payouts will be part the 2006 budget proposal submitted to Congress next week, the Pentagon’s personnel chief said in an Associated Press interview. 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 the 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.”
Mr. Chu is to unveil the administration’s full proposal in congressional testimony Tuesday.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who is sponsoring a bill with the same provisions, said in an interview that the first-year budget 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 settlements.
“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, Mr. 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.
Mr. 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 separate from 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, Mr. Chu said. Some in Congress have proposed paying an increased gratuity for all deaths.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, defense officials decided that the current death payment for troops killed in battle was too little, particularly in light of settlements paid to Sept. 11 families. The government paid an average $2.1 million to the families of those killed in those attacks.
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 this Jan. 1. The 2003 legislation also made the payment fully tax-free. Before that, half was taxable.
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced bills to raise both the gratuity and the life insurance coverage, reflecting a broader trend of more generous military benefit programs, including financial benefits for military retirees, their survivors and families of those killed in battle.
These changes are adding billions to defense budgets and raising questions about whether increasingly costly entitlements are forcing the Pentagon to forgo some investments in weapons programs.
Mr. Chu said he was concerned that in recent years Congress had gone too far in expanding military retiree benefits, but he said the proposed increase in survivor benefits was well justified.
Bigger military benefits that apply mainly to retirees and their families are making it harder for the Pentagon to afford financial incentives targeted at maintaining today’s military, Mr. Chu said.
“They are starting to crowd out two things: first, our ability to reward the person who is bearing the burden right now in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Mr. Chu said. “(Second), we are undercutting our ability to finance the new gear that is going to make that military person successful five, ten, 15 years from now.”
Great Idea ,I am all for it. Those guy's and Gals do so much for us.
Thank you. Its a great thing for us to do IMO.
ping
This is a Tax Increase I would Love to pay.
If the RATS support this, does it mean they've quit supporting the enemy? DREAM ON!!!!!
I'm trying to inform myself before committing to this proposal. So, as it stands, troops are offered life insurance at a subsidized rate already? Are they not already insured if they choose to participate? How much are the premiums of insurance?
The coverage is paid for by the troops. Private insurance is negated in a war zone KIA, so this is really the only option as we learned the hard way. In total the new coverage would about equal my AMEX Gold card's travel insurance for accidental death and in total less than 20% of the payment for a 9-11 victim.
About damn time
15 billion to Africa for that So called AIDS epidemic
and we can't take care of our troops families
Well, I prefer to not roll myself in emotionalism without knowing the facts.
Forget about the 9/11 victim's payout for the time, okay. We all know that it was done to bail out the airline industry.
What I am trying to determine is what is the cost to a military person to take out life insurance for what amount. Yes, I know that it is not covered by private insurance, but subsidized by the government.
$250,000 for a monthly premium of $20.
I agree with you. Very good post.
I made a whopping $78 a month when I was in the Marines. When I made SGT. I got a raise to $135 a month.
I actually don't think the $250K rate is subsidized. The retroactive added $150K probably would be for prior beneficiaries, but going forward I don't think so. If it was, I wouldn't have a problem either FWIW.
As to the 9-11 payout of about $2.1 million on average. That was to victims and not an airline bailout. The airline bailout was differnt and more.
Again, I think the important point it that volunteer troops are not mercenaries. They don't do it for the money, but love of country.
Nevertheless, you have to wonder why AMEX Gold has $350K travel, and most Citi Corp visa platimums are around $500, why a soldier can't get life insurance suitable for the 21st century.
No, the money paid to the 9/11 families was a payout so that they could not sue the airlines and wreck our economy at the time.
I'm thinking that this is a bargain for insurance in a combat zone, that no other private insurance would touch. Am I wrong?
Calm yourself. You do. I don't. I prefer facts before I make a decision to support a proposal. Get it?
Fine You Penny Pinch, Fine By Me.......
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