[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1986 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1986

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide that the effective 
    date for discontinuance of compensation and pension paid by the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall be the date on which the recipient 
dies, rather than the last day of the preceding month, in the case of a 
        veteran with a surviving spouse, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 1993

   Mr. Lewis of Florida (for himself, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Johnson of 
 Florida, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Bacchus of Florida, Mrs. Thurman, Mr. 
  Hasting, and Mr. Miller of Florida) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide that the effective 
    date for discontinuance of compensation and pension paid by the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall be the date on which the recipient 
dies, rather than the last day of the preceding month, in the case of a 
        veteran with a surviving spouse, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. EFFECTIVE DATE OF DISCONTINUANCE OF CERTAIN VETERANS' 
              BENEFITS BY REASON OF DEATH OF RECIPIENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 5112(b)(1) of title 38, United States 
Code, is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) by reason of--
                    ``(A) the marriage or remarriage of the payee, 
                shall be the last day of the month before the month 
                during which such marriage or remarriage occurs; and
                    ``(B) the death of the payee, shall be (i) the last 
                day of the month before the month during which the 
                death occurs, or (ii) in the case of a payee who was in 
                receipt of compensation or pension and who has a 
                surviving spouse, the date on which the death 
                occurs;''.
    (b) Payment of Benefit for Final Month.--Section 5112 of such title 
is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) In the case of discontinuance of payment of compensation or 
pension covered by subsection (b)(1)(B)(ii), the payment for the final 
calendar month (or any portion thereof) for which such benefit is 
payable shall (notwithstanding any other provision of law) be payable 
to the surviving spouse.''.
    (c) Commencement Date for DIC.--Section 5110(d) of such title is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the effective date of an award 
of dependency and indemnity compensation for which application is 
received within one year from the date of death shall, in the case of a 
surviving spouse to whom an amount is payable pursuant to section 
5111(d) of this title, be the day following the date on which the death 
occurred.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to the death of compensation and pension recipients 
occurring after the later of (1) September 30, 1993, or (2) the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

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