GSW Statement to the Congressional
VA Committees (2004)
INTRODUCTION
We thank both Committees for inviting Gold Star Wives to give oral testimony before you today. We also want to commend the other Veterans Service Organizations testifying today for their support. Gold Star Wives is an active and full member of The Military Coalition, which is the largest coalition of veterans service organizations, and its members number over 12 million.
We want to thank the members of your respective committee staffs for their work and consideration. We especially want to single out Mary Schoelen and Jon Towers of the Senate Committee and Mary Ellen McCarthy, Darryl Kehrer and Paige McManus of the House committee. Their work under the direction of the their respective Staff Directors Pat Ryan, James Holley on the House side and Bill Tuerk and Bryant Hall on the Senate side remains a truly bipartisan effort. We also want to recognize the work of Rebecca Hyder of the office of Congressman Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and Andrew Shaprio of the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) for their efforts in gaining the provision for allowing surviving spouses to retain their survivors' benefits upon remarriage after the age of 57. Although it is not within the jurisdiction of this committee, we also want to thank Bill Sutey from the office of Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) has also pulled the leading oar for Gold Star Wives in our efforts to end the SBP/DIC offset.
Their legislative accomplishments in the first session of the 108th Congress on behalf of survivors can be translated into truly distinctive improvements in the quality of hundreds of thousands lives. Your dedication and the dedication of your staff members on behalf of survivors have made a considerable impact on the day-to-day lives of our members.
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THANK YOU FOR THE VETERANS' BENEFITS ACT OF 2003 (PL 108-183) AND THE VETERANS' COMPENSATION COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 2003 (PL 108-47)
Gold Star Wives along with Congressman Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison(R-TX) have over past sessions of congress championed the cause of allowing a surviving spouse to retain their survivors benefits should they choose to remarry after reaching the age of 55. H.R. 1108 sponsored by Congressman Bilirakis and S. 2602 sponsored by Senators Clinton and Hutchison were the basis for the final victory we did get in the passage of H.R. 2297, The Veterans Benefits Act of 2003. House Veterans Affairs Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Ranking Member Lane Evans (D-IL) along with Senate Veterans Affairs Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Ranking Member Bob Graham (D-FL) worked for the passage of the provisions of H.R. 2297. That bill represented a compromise in granting the retention of survivors' benefits for those who chose to remarry after the age of 57. While not what we all worked for, this is indeed a significant victory for moving our military survivors' benefits into parity with the other federal survivors benefits.
H.R. 2297 also expanded survivors' benefits by:
- Increasing monthly educational benefits for spouses and dependent children of disabled veterans from $695 to $788 for full-time study, from $522 to $592 for three-quarter time study, and from $347 to $394 for half-time study;
- Expands benefits eligibility to children with spina bifida who were born to certain Vietnam-era veterans who served in Korea near the demilitarized zone;
- Allows the surviving spouse or dependent children to receive the full amount of accrued benefits if the veteran dies while their claim is still pending;
- Provides full compensation and DIC to members of the new Philippine Scouts if the individual resides in the United States as a citizen or permanent resident. Also extends eligibility for burial in a national cemetery.
The Veterans' Compensation Adjustment Act of 2003 provided our members and all the military survivors with a cost-of-living adjustment to their Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefit. As this increase in benefits is tied to the consumer price index and that, in turn, is tied to an index of our nation's inflation rate, which has been at historic lows. The standard monthly DIC benefit for survivors whose veteran spouses died after 1993 is now $967.
Gold Star Wives seek the assistance of both the Senate and the House Veterans' Affairs Committees of the Second Session of the 108th Congress to address the following needs and concerns of the survivors of those who died for their country:
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END THE SBP/DIC OFFSET INEQUITY
As you know, a service member receiving or entitled to receive retirement pay may participate in the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) to ensure his widow will have some income in the event of his death. However, for those retired servicemen who die as a result of a service-connected disability and therefore entitling his widow to become eligible for DIC, the widow's SBP will then be offset dollar for dollar by her DIC. While this issue may be more appropriate for the respective Armed Services Committees, it remains so egregious that we must speak out now and request you to speak to your counterparts concerning it.
This patently unfair offset currently affects approximately 44,770 widows. While DIC is non-taxable income and SBP is taxable, widows of these disabled retirees see little or no SBP funds despite having paid monthly premiums adding up to thousands of dollars over the years. As a consolation for having made these payments, the accumulated premiums are returned to them without interest. This then becomes a taxable event for her. Unfortunately, there was very little tax advantage for the disabled retiree when paying SBP premiums because his income was predominately non-taxable. Consequently, there is no real advantage to SBP for this group of widows and, in fact, it becomes a burden. You cannot imagine the resentment of some widows who figure out that the federal government is collecting taxes on SBP contributions for which they gained nothing financially. The net effect of their monthly premium payments that the retired disabled veteran's widow pays taxes for having given the federal government a tax free loan.
There is no civilian employer that would be permitted to return many years of survivorship contributions, without interest, should it chose not to pay on a purchased benefit. Yet, under current law the widow of a military retiree is denied participation in a cost-sharing benefit that was meant to protect them. Again, had the disabled service member retired from 20 years of federal civil service, the widow would be entitled to both the civil service survivor benefit and DIC, with no offset. How can there be a rational reason for this disparate treatment of military widows and federal civil service widows?
Many SBP/DIC widows have spent more than 20 years sacrificing and supporting their husband's military careers and then years taking care of them during their years of disability. Retired pay represents deferred compensation for the 20 or more years of military service and disability pay is designed to compensate for a veteran's reduction in quality of life and lost future earnings as a result of his sacrifice for his country. Just as the disabled military retirees should be entitled to both benefits, so should their widows. Many of these widows are in their 50s or older and have not had the opportunity to develop their own careers. The DIC attempts to indemnify them for their husband's loss of life and an element of support for their future. The SBP represents completely different income that they have paid for and made a life of sacrifices for like multiple deployments, constant anxiety about their husband's well being, frequent moves, and no real chance to invest in a pension of their own.
We asking that the Members of these Committees work with the Armed Services Committees to develop a fair survivor program for widows of retirees, or those entitled to retired pay whose husbands have died of a service-connected disability. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) supported our plight in his efforts to amend the last Defense Authorization bill and we thank him for his work.. But, Senator Nelson has introduced legislation in the session as has Congressman Henry Brown (R-SC) in the House. Remember, the federal survivors programs were changed for the widows receiving benefits under Civil Service Act, the Federal Employees Compensation Act, the Railroad Retirement Act and Social Security. It is time to change this unjust provision for survivors of disabled military retirees.
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EDUCATION BENEFIT
Survivor education benefits for the military widows are not like the traditional transition benefits for the military veteran reentering the civilian workforce. For the DIC widows this is a benefit that falls more into the category of a "life-time learning" education benefit. The DIC widows have traditionally used their Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance benefits at a participation rate of less than 1% per year. The reason for the low participation rate is that young widows who could probably most benefit from the program are, more often than not, raising children and the current benefit would barely cover the cost of child care for one child. Consequently, by the time their children have grown up and they may be freer to use the benefit, they may have remarried or the 10-year limit will have been exhausted.
Unexpected widowhood, no matter what the circumstances entails a very difficult transition period into a very different life. As military wives, many of us were unable to pursue our educational goals as the demands on a military family often preclude it. Usually we did not stay in one place long enough to attend school consistently. We also had our duty to remain supportive and keep our husbands "battle ready." While we always welcomed the opportunity to be the best we can be, family responsibilities usually came first. So, in order to give us the opportunity to take advantage of our aspirations for higher education, we would ask for a 20-year delimiting date rather than the current 10-year date.
We would also support legislation that would tie our Chapter 35 education benefits to those of the Chapter 30 Montgomery G.I. Bill benefits. Parity between the two benefits is obvious. It is common sense that the military widow gets the same level of benefit that her husband would have gotten had he lived.
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SUPPORT FOR INCREASING THE AMOUNT THAT SURVIVING SPOUSES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN AS RECOMMENDED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS' PROGRAM EVALUATION OF DIC
The Department of Veteran's Affairs contracted for an objective, third party study of the DIC program, among other survivor benefits, to make a determination and offer recommendations in terms of its statutory intent. The focus of the DIC study was on the DIC surviving widow with children. There was a specific finding that "While the DIC program provides increased benefits for survivors that vary according to the number of children, the evidence suggests a need for even greater benefit allowances for these survivors." (Program Evaluation of Benefits for Survivors - Vol. I: Executive Report, P.73, 74)
The study made a specific recommendation to "Increase DIC amount by $250 per month for DIC surviving spouses with dependent children who are in 5-year period after death." There can be no doubt that the needs of a surviving spouse with children are affected more by the presence of dependent children in the household. Consequently, we would support any legislation that would bring about such an increase the DIC recipient with dependent children.
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SUPPORT FOR THE FLAG PROTECTION AMENDMENT
Gold Star Wives would also like to mention that we passed a resolution to support protecting the U.S. flag from physical desecration. We are grateful to House of Representatives for voting in support of during the 106th Congress. We are joining with 49 states that have petitioned Congress to pass this amendment. We urge both the House and the Senate to pass this legislation during the 107th Congress.
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CONCLUSION
Thank you for inviting Gold Star Wives to appear before you today and to present our legislative agenda. In summary, we respectfully request your Committees to support the following:
- Eliminate the SBP/DIC offset;
- Extend the Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance benefits to a 20 year delimiting period and tie any increases to the Chapter 30 benefits to Chapter 35 benefits;
- Increase the DIC amount for surviving spouses with dependent children.
BIOGRAPHY OF RACHEL CLINKSCALE
Rachel A. Clinkscale is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gold Star Wives of America, Inc. and lives in Vincent, Alabama. She works as a Casualty Property Insurance Agent after retiring from 24 years of working for the Travelers Insurance Company in Birmingham. She has served as the VAVS Representative at the Birmingham VA Medical Center and the Civilian Project Officer for the National Veterans Day ceremonies in Birmingham. Mrs. Clinkscale is the widow of SFC James A. Bunn, KIA 2 February 1968 in Vietnam.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
Neither Mrs. Clinkscale nor the Gold Star Wives of America, Inc. have received any Federal Grant or contract during the current or previous two fiscal years relative to the subject matter of this testimony.
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Gold Star Wives of America, Inc. is a nonprofit national military widows service organization chartered by the United States Congress.
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