[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO KIMBERLY HAZELGROVE

  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, today I rise to honor Kimberly Hazelgrove 
for her service and sacrifices for our country and her successful 
efforts to advocate for families like her own who lost loved ones 
serving our Nation.
  Kimberly Hazelgrove is a former sergeant first class in the U.S. 
Army. In 2004, her husband, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian Hazelgrove 
was killed in a helicopter crash near Mosul, Iraq. That loss was 
devastating enough, but after his death, Ms. Hazelgrove also lost the 
military benefits her family earned serving the United States and that 
she needed to support her family. They lost those benefits because of a 
1970s-era law that causes Gold Star families to lose out on financial 
benefits that their spouses paid into and earned.
  For 16 years, Ms. Hazelgrove advocated on Capitol Hill for the repeal 
of that law, the Survivor Benefit Plan-Disability and Indemnity 
Compensation offset, while raising her family as a single mother. She 
said, ``I was angry . . . Very angry for the inequities that I was 
seeing, not only for myself, but for a lot of my friends going through 
it and it just lit a fire, and I found a stronger voice than I had 
before.''
  My office and I met with Ms. Hazelgrove and took up her cause. Gold 
Star families like hers have sacrificed so much for this country and 
nothing should get in the way of providing them with benefits that they 
have paid into and earned. We worked together with colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to write legislation that will fix this, and this 
past December, because she never gave up, we got it done. We passed a 
fix in the Senate, and the President signed it into law. Because of Ms. 
Hazelgrove's perseverance and strong advocacy, 67,000 military spouses 
will now get the benefits they have earned to support themselves and 
their families.
  Thank you, Kimberly, for raising your voice and for all the work you 
do to fight for fellow Gold Star families. I am sure my Senate 
colleagues will join me in honoring Ms. Kimberly Hazelgrove for her 
exemplary efforts.

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