[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 80 (Thursday, June 22, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1080-E1081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTRODUCTION OF AMERICAN GOLD STAR PARENTS ANNUITY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 21, 2000

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues from New 
York, Representative McNulty, and my colleagues from California, Mr. 
Filner and Mr. Rohrbacher, to introduce the American Gold Star Parents 
Annuity Act of 2000.
  This legislation would create a new annuity of $125 per month for all 
current and future Gold Star Parents. Gold Star Parents are those 
individuals who have lost a child, who was an active duty member of the 
Armed Forces, to either enemy fire in a recognized conflict or to an 
act of terrorism.
  The annuity is for each set of parents, to be divided equally if they 
are not longer married, should one parent be deceased, the surviving 
parent would receive the full amount of the annuity. The income from 
this annuity will be completely tax free.
  Receipt of this annuity is contingent on the parents being awarded a 
Gold Star, for which eligibility is determined by the Secretary of 
Defense. The bulk of the recipients will be members of the American 
Gold Star Mothers.
  The American Gold Star Mothers is an organization that had its 
beginnings in World War I. During that conflict, a blue star was used 
to represent a person serving in the United States' Armed Forces. As 
American casualties mounted in 1917, silver stars were used to 
represent those who had been wounded, and Gold Stars were used for 
those who had died in the service of their country.
  On June 4, 1928, a group of twenty-five mothers residing in the 
Washington, DC vicinity, met to provide plans for the founding of a 
national organization. The American Gold Star Mothers was officially 
incorporated on January 5, 1929.
  Membership was initially open only to mothers who had lost a son or 
daughter in World War I, but was later opened to those who had lost a 
child in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf conflict.
  These additions have parallel congressional modifications to the U.S. 
Code to permit the Secretary of Defense to award gold star pins to the 
parents of deceased veterans of those conflicts as well as those who 
lost children in terrorist attacks on U.S. Armed Forces.
  Since its founding, the American Gold Star Mothers has played a vital 
role in the healing process for those who had lost a child. Through 
bringing together individuals that share a common tragedy, this 
organization has helped all of its members realize that they are not 
alone in their grief.
  Furthermore, the Gold Star Mothers have also performed the important 
service of assisting veterans of the last century's military conflicts 
and their descendants with the presentation of claims before the 
Veterans' administration. They also perform thousands of hours of 
volunteer service in VA hospitals, offering assistance and conflict to 
hospitalized veterans and their families.
  Mr. Speaker, our nation has always sought to look after the surviving 
spouse and children of a service-member who has been killed in action. 
Often overlooked however, are the parents of the deceased service-
member. This is unfortunate since the parents are usually the two 
people who have had the greatest role in shaping that person, and have 
had the greatest impact on his or her life. Yet beyond heartfelt 
condolences, the parents receive very little from the Government that 
their child chose to patriotically serve as a member of the Armed 
Forces.
  While nobody would claim that the Government does not have some 
obligation to the widowed spouse and the killed soldier's children, 
very few have argued on the behalf of the parents who lose their 
children to war. Only those parents who relied on their child as a 
primary means of support currently receive any benefit when their child 
is killed in the line of duty.
  This legislation seeks to change this reality. It offers a small 
annuity to any parent, mother or father, regardless of need, as a sign 
of appreciation for the ultimate sacrifice made by their child in the 
defense of freedom and liberty.

     Sec. 1126. Gold star lapel button: eligibility and 
       distribution

       (a) A lapel button, to be known as the gold star lapel 
     button, shall be designed, as approved by the Secretary of 
     Defense, to identify widows, parents, and next of kin of 
     members of the armed forces--
       (1) who lost their lives during World War I, World War II, 
     or during any subsequent period of armed hostilities in which 
     the United States was engaged before July 1, 1958;
       (2) who lost or lose their lives after June 30, 1958--
       (A) while engaged in an action against an enemy of the 
     United States;
       (B) while engaged in military operations involving conflict 
     with an opposing foreign force; or
       (C) while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in 
     an armed conflict in which the United States is not a 
     belligerent party against an opposing armed force; or
       (3) who lost or lose their lives after March 28, 1973, as a 
     result of--
       (A) an international terrorist attack against the United 
     States or a foreign nation friendly to the United States, 
     recognized as such an attack by the Secretary of Defense; or
       (B) military operations while serving outside the United 
     States (including the commonwealths, territories, and 
     possessions of the United States) as part of a peacekeeping 
     force.
       (b) Under regulations to be prescribe by the Secretary of 
     Defense, the Secretary concerned, upon application to him, 
     shall furnish one gold star lapel button without cost to the 
     widow and to each parent and next of kin of a member who lost 
     or loses his or her life under any circumstances prescribed 
     in subsection (a).
       (c) Not more than one gold star lapel button may be 
     furnished to any one individual except that, when a gold star 
     lapel button furnished under this section has been lost, 
     destroyed, or rendered unfit for use without fault or neglect 
     on the part of the person to whom it was furnished, the 
     button may be replaced upon application and payment of an 
     amount sufficient to cover the cost of manufacture and 
     distribution.
       (d) In this section:
       (1) The term ``widow'' includes widower.
       (2) The term ``parents'' includes mother, father, 
     stepmother, stepfather, mother through adoption, father 
     through adoption, and foster parents who stood in loco 
     parentis.
       (3) The term ``next of kin'' includes only children, 
     brothers, sisters, half brothers, and half sisters.
       (4) The term ``children'' includes stepchildren and 
     children through adoption.
       (5) The term ``World War I'' includes the period from April 
     6, 1917, to March 3, 1921.
       (6) The term ``World War II'' includes the period from 
     September 8, 1939, to July 25, 1947, at 12 o'clock noon.
       (7) The term ``military operations'' includes those 
     operations involving members of the armed forces assisting in 
     United States Government sponsored training of military 
     personnel of a foreign nation.
       (8) The term ``peacekeeping force'' includes those 
     personnel assigned to a force engaged

[[Page E1081]]

     in a peacekeeping operation authorized by the United Nations 
     Security Council.

                                  ____
                                  

                                H.R. --

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Gold Star Parents Annuity 
     Act.''

     SEC. 2. SPECIAL PENSION FOR GOLD STAR PARENTS.

       (a) In General.--(1) Chapter 15 of title 38, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
     subchapter:

         ``SUBCHAPTER V--SPECIAL PENSION FOR GOLD STAR PARENTS

     Sec. 1571. Gold Star parents

       ``(a) The Secretary shall pay monthly to each person who 
     has received a Gold Star lapel pin under section 1126 of 
     title 10 as a parent of a person who died in a manner 
     described in subsection (a) of that section a special pension 
     in an amount determined under subsection (b).
       ``(b) The amount of special pension payable under this 
     section with respect to the death of any person shall be $125 
     per month. In any case in which there is more than one parent 
     eligible for special pension under this section with respect 
     to the death of a person, the Secretary shall divide the 
     payment equally among those eligible parents.
       ``(c) The receipt of special pension shall not deprive any 
     person of any other pension or other benefit, right, or 
     privilege to which such person is or may hereafter be 
     entitled under any existing or subsequent law. Special 
     pension shall be paid in addition to all other payments under 
     laws of the United States.

     

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