[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 27 (Thursday, February 13, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2474-S2475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU:
  S. 401. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to increase to 
parity with other surviving spouses the basic annuity that is provided 
under the uniformed services Survivor Benefit Plan for surviving 
spouses who are at least 62 years of age; and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Armed Services.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on an issue of 
great importance to our military retirees. This issue I want to address 
is the Survivor's Benefit Plan and the need to eliminate the Social 
Security offset.
  The Survivor's Benefit Plan, SBP, has been in existence for nearly 30 
years. Under this plan, military retirees may contribute part of their 
monthly retirement pay to the SBP, with the knowledge that after their 
death, their spouses can continue to receive 55 percent of their 
monthly retirement pay. But, when the surviving spouse reaches the age 
of 62, something disturbing happens. At the age of 62, the widow or 
widower of a military retiree sees his or her payments under the SBP 
shrink to 35 percent. This reduction is an offset for the Social 
Security payments that the survivor has begun to collect.
  The survivors of military retirees find this to be unjust, and 
rightly so. The SBP is a fund that their spouses payed into, with the 
expectation that their survivors would be taken care of

[[Page S2475]]

after they pass away. The SBP is not a lavish monthly payment, but 
reflects the low salaries that men and women on active duty receive. In 
a recent article in the Shreveport Times, Billie Combs, who is 73, and 
is the widow of an Air Force Master Sergeant commented on the strain 
that the Social Security Offset imposes on their budget. She said: ``It 
curtails my spending. It stops me from buying the things that I need; I 
just cut back and make sure that I have enough to carry me through to 
the next month.''
  The legislation that I introduce today would slowly phase out the 
social security offset to Survivor Benefit Plan, reducing it 
significantly by 2007, and completely erasing it by 2013.
  Those who choose the military as their profession don't do it for the 
money. They do it because they have a love for country. They have a 
love for country that runs so deep, they would gladly sacrifice their 
lives in defense of the homeland. Despite the extreme sacrifice our 
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are willing to make, they are 
not well compensated. And we don't just ask the servicemen to 
sacrifice, we ask their families to make a sacrifice. They endure long 
periods of separation, they live in military housing which in many 
cases is substandard, and we ask them to get by on low pay. The least 
we can do for our servicemen is to given them a decent retirement 
system. The very least we can do for their widows, is to restore the 
funds that are unjustly removed from their survivor's benefit plan.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the article and the text 
of this bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

              Military Widows Lose Chunk of Benefits at 62

                           (By Dennis Camire)

       Washington.--Some survivors of military retirees have a 
     rude awakening when they turn 62 and find their income from a 
     Defense Department pension plan slashed.
       Many who enrolled in the survivor annuity plan in the 1970s 
     say they understood their surviving spouses would receive 55 
     percent of their retirement pay for life.
       But that's not the case. The benefit droops to as low as 35 
     percent when survivors reach 62. Retires who have paid 
     decades of premiums say they feel betrayed.
       ``I like to have dropped dead right there,'' Marion 
     Charles, 78, said in finding out about the reduction after 
     her husband, Edward, died last year, ``In fact, I wondered 
     why God didn't take me with Ed.''
       Charles of Plant City, Fla., was left struggling with 
     funeral expenses, credit card debts and house maintenance 
     bills after she saw her income drop by $1,200 a month upon 
     the death of her husband, who retired in 1966 as a Navy chief 
     petty officer. She now lives in a damaged 28-foot travel 
     trailer and gets by with help from the Navy-Marine Corps 
     Relief Society.
       Though the annuity covers all spouses of military service 
     members who don't opt out, women overwhelmingly are affected 
     because most who have chosen the military as a career through 
     the years have been men.
       ``It curtails my spending. It stops me from buying the 
     things I want and need,'' said Billie Combs, 73, of Bossier 
     City, widow of an Air Force master sergeant who died in 1995. 
     ``I just cut back and make sure I have enough to carry me 
     over to the next month.''
       Lee Lange of the Military Officers Association of America 
     called the cutback wrong. ``It just seems counter-intuitive 
     that we would be cutting their benefit as they get older.''
       Benefits for elderly widows and widowers at the 35 percent 
     level are modest even for relatively senior officers, Lange 
     said. For many widows of enlisted service members, the money 
     amounts to less than $5,000 a year.
       About 800,000 of the nation's 1.9 million retirees are 
     paying 6.5 percent of their retirement pay to participate 
     in the plan, and more than 250,000 survivors are 
     collecting the benefits.
       Service members automatically are enrolled in the program 
     when they retire but can opt out if they and their spouses 
     sign a form.
       The controversial drop is called a Social Security offset. 
     The theory behind the drop was that the plan should give a 
     survivor access to about 55 percent of the member's retired 
     pay--but from all sources related to military service, 
     including Social Security.
       The offset began as a dollar-for-dollar reduction but was 
     changed in 1985 to the current plan. Survivors whose spouses 
     were eligible to retire by Oct. 1, 1985, may have the offset 
     computed under the old system or the new to gain the best 
     benefit. The offset is computed only upon death of the 
     retiree.
       Veteran's organizations--including the Military Officers 
     Association, the Non-commissioned Offers Association, the 
     American Legion and the Fleet Reserve Association--want 
     Congress to eliminate the benefit reduction.
       The Military Coalition, a group of 33 military and veterans 
     groups, plans to push for elimination of the cutback as an 
     issue of fairness and equity for the survivors.
       That's how Combs of Bossier City sees it.
       ``I would tell Congress to worry about the widows. Worry 
     about the women that are left behind and don't have very much 
     money and are never really able to get on their feet,'' Combs 
     said.
       ``Imagine if all the wives told their husbands to get out 
     of the military, that they could make a better living on the 
     outside, then where would we be? But we didn't do that 
     because they made a promise to us. And now we are having to 
     fight for it.''
                                  ____


                                 S. 401

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``SBP Benefits Improvement Act 
     of 2003''.

     SEC. 2. FULL AMOUNT OF SURVIVOR BENEFITS FOR SURVIVING 
                   SPOUSES WHO ARE 62 YEARS OF AGE OR OVER.

       (a) Phased Increased of Basic Annuity.--(1) Subsection 
     (a)(1)(B)(i) of section 1451 of title 10, United States Code, 
     is amended by striking ``35 percent of the base amount.'' and 
     inserting ``the product of the base amount and the percent 
     applicable for the month. The percent applicable for a month 
     is 35 percent for months beginning on or before the date of 
     the enactment of the SBP Benefits Improvement Act of 2003, 40 
     percent for months beginning after such date and before 
     October 2007, 45 percent for months beginning after September 
     2004, and 55 percent for months beginning after September 
     2013.''.
       (2) Subsection (a)(2)(B)(i)(I) of such section is amended 
     by striking ``35 percent'' and inserting ``the percent 
     specified under paragraph (1)(B)(i) as being applicable for 
     the month''.
       (3) Subsection (c)(1)(B)(i) of such section is amended--
       (A) by striking ``35 percent'' and inserting ``the 
     applicable percent''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following: ``The percent 
     applicable for a month under the preceding sentence is the 
     percent specified under subsection (a)(1)(B)(i) as being 
     applicable for the month.''.
       (4) The heading for subsection (d)(2)(A) of such section is 
     amended to read as follows: ``Computation of annuity.--''.
       (b) Phased Elimination of Supplemental Annuity.--(1) 
     Section 1457(b) of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
       (A) by striking ``5, 10, 15, or 20 percent'' and inserting 
     ``the applicable percent''; and
       (B) by inserting after the first sentence the following: 
     ``The percent used for the computation shall be an even 
     multiple of 5 percent and, whatever the percent specified in 
     the election, may not exceed 20 percent for months beginning 
     on or before the date of the enactment of the SBP Benefits 
     Improvement Act of 2003, 15 percent for months beginning 
     after that date and before October 2007, and 10 percent for 
     months beginning after September 2007.''.
       (2) Effective on October 1, 2013, chapter 73 of such title 
     is amended--
       (A) by striking subchapter III; and
       (B) by striking the item relating to subchapter III in the 
     table of subchapters at the beginning of that chapter.
       (c) Recomputation of Annuities.--(1) Effective on the first 
     day of each month referred to in paragraph (2)--
       (A) each annuity under section 1450 of title 10, United 
     States Code, that commenced before that month, is computed 
     under a provision of section 1451 of that title amended by 
     subsection (a), and is payable for that month shall be 
     recomputed so as to be equal to the amount that would be in 
     effect if the percent applicable for that month under that 
     provision, as so amended, had been used for the initial 
     computation of the annuity; and
       (B) each supplemental survivor annuity under section 1457 
     of such title that commenced before that month and is payable 
     for that month shall be recomputed so as to be equal to the 
     amount that would be in effect if the percent applicable for 
     that month under that section, as amended by this section, 
     had been used for the initial computation of the supplemental 
     survivor annuity.
       (2) The requirements for recomputation of annuities under 
     paragraph (1) apply with respect to the following months:
       (A) The first month that begins after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.
       (B) October 2007.
       (C) October 2013.
       (d) Recomputation of Retired Pay Reductions for 
     Supplemental Survivor Annuities.--The Secretary of Defense 
     shall take such actions as are necessitated by the amendments 
     made by subsection (b) and the requirements of subsection 
     (c)(1)(B) to ensure that the reductions in retired pay under 
     section 1460 of title 10, United States Code, are adjusted to 
     achieve the objectives set forth in subsection (b) of that 
     section.
                                 ______