[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 118 (Monday, July 15, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H5779-H5780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LET'S END THE WIDOW'S TAX

  (Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, last week, House 
Democrats had the chance to bring the Military Surviving Spouses Equity 
Act on the floor to repeal the widow's tax.
  Roll Call described, today, the bill as a ``broadly supported 
bipartisan bill'' with 365 cosponsors. This was the first legislation 
to achieve the Consensus Calendar and would have received a standalone 
vote, having 86 percent cosponsorship.
  Roll Call said: ``Wilson's bill, the Military Surviving Spouses 
Equity Act, would end a disparity between government payments made to 
surviving spouses of servicemembers who die on Active Duty.
  ``The `widow's tax' . . . requires the surviving spouses to forfeit 
much of their DOD Survivor Benefit Plan annuity when they receive 
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation from the VA.
  ``The Rules Committee did not give Wilson a heads-up that they were 
going to put language in the NDAA rules to remove his bill from the 
Consensus Calendar.''
  This was a partisan political gimmick. It is not too late to bring it 
back up as a standalone bill to help the spouses.
  In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget 
September the 11th in the global war on terrorism.

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