[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 121 (Wednesday, August 5, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8856-S8857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SERVICE MEMBER BENEFITS EDUCATION

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I want to share a story I heard 
about retired MSG Michelle Fitz-Henry.
  Michelle served our Nation for over 20 years. Her husband, Senior 
Chief Petty Officer Ted Fitz-Henry, was a Navy SEAL who served our 
Nation for 21 years.
  Michelle told me that before her husband left home for the Middle 
East they went into the living room. He said to her, you know if 
anything happens to me, SBP is there for you.
  When he said SBP, he was referring to the Survivor Benefit Plan, an 
annuity that the Department of Defense (DOD) pays to survivors--the 
widows and orphans--of two groups of servicemembers.
  The first group of survivors includes those who lost a loved one 
serving on active duty.
  In 2001, Congress passed a law allowing active duty servicemembers 
who are not eligible for retirement to be included in the SBP program. 
The SBP program provides the survivors of these fallen heroes with a 
monthly payment based upon the age of the spouse and the year the 
servicemember entered the service.
  This was the right thing to do. It showed the Nation's gratitude for 
servicemembers' sacrifice. If a servicemember dies on active duty 
because of a military-connected cause, the servicemember and his or her 
family are automatically enrolled in the SBP program.
  There is a second group of survivors who can also enroll in the SBP 
program. A veteran who is classified as a retiree--someone who has 
served for at least 20 years--is eligible to enroll in the program. 
After they leave the service, retirees can contribute a portion of 
their retirement pay to SBP. This contribution entitles their survivors 
up to 55 percent of the retiree's base retirement pay after his or her 
death.
  Since 1972, retirees have paid into the program with a portion of 
their retirement income in order to improve their family's financial 
security upon their death. Some retirees have paid into the program for 
over 30 years.
  What Michelle and Ted did not know was that the SBP they thought they 
could count on--approximately $1,200 per month--would be reduced, 
dollar-for-dollar, by another benefit from the Department of Veterans 
Affairs dependency and indemnity compensation, DIC, program.
  DIC is a monthly benefit payment to the survivors of all 
servicemembers who have died from a service-connected condition. That 
includes both those who die on active duty and veterans whose deaths 
resulted from a service-related injury.
  What many SBP participants and their future survivors do not know is 
that the SBP-DIC dollar-for-dollar offset can leave widows and orphans 
with up to $1,200 less per month than they had expected to receive. 
When planning a family budget this unforeseen reduction can be 
devastating.
  For example, if a widow's husband served for over 20 years, retired, 
paid into the SBP program and then died of a service-connected 
disability, she may think that she is entitled to both the full SBP and 
DIC payments. However, if she planned to receive $1,300 per month from 
SBP and $1,200 per month from DIC, she could be surprised to learn that 
the dollar-for dollar offset would reduce her $1,300 SBP payment by the 
$1,200 DIC payment and she would be left with DIC intact, but only $100 
in SBP per month.
  As this body knows well, for 8 years I have fought to repeal the law 
that offsets the monetary payments between the SBP annuity and the DIC 
benefit. This body may recall that in 2005 we took a step in the right 
direction and passed by 92-6 an amendment to repeal the unjust SBP-DIC 
offset. In the 2008 Defense authorization, we cracked the door to 
eliminating the offset by getting a ``special payment'' of $50 per 
month. This special payment, called the special survivor indemnity 
allowance, is received by the widows and orphans whose SBP payments are 
offset by the DIC they receive. This year, the Congress increased the 
special payment to $310 per month, by 2017, for the widows and orphans 
impacted by the SBP-DIC offset. This increase came from savings found 
in the tobacco legislation, which became law on June 22, 2009.
  Michelle allowed me to speak of her case, but she isn't alone. When 
widows, veterans, and constituents speak to me in support of my efforts 
to repeal this offset, they often tell me that they did not know that 
the offset existed.
  If Michelle and Ted, with 39 years of combined service upon his 
death, didn't know about this offset then we have a bigger problem out 
there: the Services don't adequately educate our servicemembers and 
their families about their benefits, especially the offsets to their 
benefits. This year, we will change that.
  The amendment I filed to the fiscal year 2010 National Defense 
Authorization Act, Senate Amendment No. 1808 to S. 1390, will increase 
servicemembers' and their families' awareness of their service-related 
benefits during transitions and events in a servicemember's career.
  My amendment will require the Services to provide information to 
servicemembers and their families about their disability, death, 
education, and survivor benefits, including any offsets.
  My amendment requires the Services to provide this information when a 
servicemember enters or leaves the service either through retirement or 
at the end of his or her service. The services must also provide 
information when a servicemember is classified as having a service-
connected disability and is unfit to perform their duty.
  We all believe it is important for servicemembers and their families 
to receive certain benefits because of their service to the Nation. It 
is my guess that we also believe that servicemembers and their families 
should know about those benefits. We sometimes take for granted that 
we're doing enough, but I believe we can do more and benefits education 
is a small but important step toward taking better care of our people.
  Now I want to be clear, the Services are making honorable efforts to 
educate our troops about their benefits, but we all agree that we can 
do better. I asked the Services about their procedures, and I was 
surprised that there

[[Page S8857]]

are few standards or requirements that compel the Services to educate 
servicemembers and their families about disability, death, education 
and survivor benefits. Thus, I believe that our joint approach with the 
Services will go a long way to bring uniformity of content and access 
to all servicemembers and their families.
  So, after gathering the information, I spoke with the Pentagon about 
the changes I was proposing and the possibility that I would file 
legislation. The Department provided numerous improvements to the 
legislation, including additional requirements for more information to 
be provided to servicemembers and their families. I appreciate their 
engagement and their thoughtful responses. I think it made for a better 
bill and a better amendment.
  Requiring benefits education about service-related benefits will help 
achieve the basic goal of raising awareness, not only about 
servicemembers' benefits, but also about the offsets to those benefits.
  This legislation is another step in the right direction; another step 
toward raising awareness about the law that requires the unjust SBP-DIC 
offset.
  However, as awareness is raised we must continue to work hard to 
enact a law that will repeal the unjust offset. Our servicemembers not 
only earned or purchased this annuity; they and their survivors rely on 
the government to provide them with accurate information and the 
benefits they expect and deserve. We must continue to right these 
wrongs.

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