News and Legislation

News that Affects You (Including Previously Passed Legislation)
Scam Email Targets GSWs	Widows of Combatants Killed in Iraq, Afghanistan Meet
Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission visits St. Petersburg, Florida	Newsweek article: Children of the Fallen
Presidential Memorial Certificate	Legislature Honors U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Chuck Kiser
Legislative Issues for the 109th Congress	DIC-57 Remarriage
TRICARE Prime beneficiaries - find provider assistance	ChampVA Health Administration Center (HAC) Mailing list
GSW Testimony before the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission	How Tricare Changes when a Military Sponsor Retires or Dies
America Supports You: Gold Star Wives Founder Remains Active	Air Force Enlisted Village's assisted living residence update
A Guide for Getting your Affairs in Order (PDF file)	E-mail scam targets families of Iraq war dead
VA Survivor Benefits for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (PDF file)	New Law Allows Higher Limits In VA Home Loan Program
TRICARE Maternity Care Options	GSW Testimony to Congress VA Committees (2005)
Operation Homefront Quilts Looking to Update Addresses	GSW Testimony to Congress VA Committees (2004)
Chicken Soup for the Military Wife's Soul - now available	Widows of War Speak Out for Benefits
Additional dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses with dependent children	Northfork Bison Supports Gold Star Wife
Vets Centers Offer Grief Counseling to Military Families	News from the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs

"GSW testimony of Feb. 22, 2007 before Veterans Disability Benefits Commission" Presented by Edith G. Smith

Attachment 2 - Resource Materials

Pending Legislation

For more information on pending legislation, go to the Library of Congress site: http://thomas.loc.gov to access the bills. Thomas stands for Thomas Jefferson who was a founder of the Library of Congress.

Call To Action

Thanks for your help in trying to change the current law that offsets a surviving spouse's SBP (Survivor Benefit Plan) benefit by the DIC Dependency and Indemnity Compensation) entitlement. Although we did not get the change we wanted, we got further this year than ever before.

As you know, Senator Nelson was successful in including such a change in the Senate version of the FY07 National Defense Authorization Act. But the House of Representatives chose not to include it, and, unfortunately, the provision was not included in the final version of the Defense bill this year. While the Congress is returning after the elections for a few weeks, our focus must now shift to assuring this change during next year's cycle, throughout the FY08 Defense Authorization process. Stay tuned for further information at the turn of the new year, 2007. In the meantime, if you are seeing a Member of Congress or staff for other reasons, be sure to state the GSW position of strong support for such a change and that we will be back next year with this as a high priority.

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