[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 20075-20077]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING A CHILD OF A DECEASED MEMBER OF 
                            THE ARMED FORCES

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 175) expressing 
the sense of Congress that courts with fiduciary responsibility for a 
child of a deceased member of the Armed Forces who receives a death 
gratuity payment under section 1477 of title 10, United States Code, 
should take into consideration the expression of clear intent of the 
member regarding the distribution of funds on behalf of the child.
  The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
  The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 175

       Whereas the death gratuity payable under section 1477 of 
     title 10, United States Code, upon the death of a member of 
     the Armed Forces, is intended to provide funds to meet the 
     immediate needs of the survivors of the deceased member;
       Whereas such section designates the surviving spouse and 
     any children of a deceased member as the highest and second 
     highest priority, respectively, to receive the death gratuity 
     payment; and
       Whereas a member with a child or children, but no spouse, 
     usually designates another individual to be responsible for 
     that child or children and may express a desire that such 
     individual receive the death gratuity payment on behalf of 
     the child or children: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring),  That it is the sense of Congress that courts 
     with fiduciary responsibility for a child of a deceased 
     member of the Armed Forces who receives a death gratuity 
     payment under section 1477 of title 10, United States Code, 
     should take into consideration the expression of clear intent 
     of the member regarding the distribution of funds on behalf 
     of the child.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 175 deals with a tragic 
situation where a member of the Armed Forces dies leaving a surviving 
child but no spouse. This resolution expresses a sense of Congress that 
State courts with fiduciary responsibility for the child of a deceased 
member of our Armed Forces should take into consideration the express 
desires of the fallen soldier as to how funds related to the soldier's 
service should be distributed on behalf of a surviving child.
  When an American soldier makes the ultimate sacrifice, not only does 
our country suffer a terrible loss, but that soldier's family suffers 
directly. Among many other concerns, a family faces a number of 
immediate financial challenges; and, unfortunately, these challenges 
come in the midst of their grief. These financial and emotional 
hardships are compounded when the deceased servicemember was a single 
parent.
  I thank the mover of the bill for his leadership and the cosponsors, 
thank the members of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Conyers and the 
ranking member Mr. Smith.
  This bill helps the surviving family members of a fallen soldier 
better cope with these financial hardships. Congress established a 
death gratuity intended to address some of these expenditures families 
must cover during the traumatic period following a loved one's death.
  The current system administering the death gratuity, however, often 
makes it difficult for those left with the responsibility of caring for 
a fallen soldier's child to access these funds. A death gratuity 
payable to a minor child is placed in trust until the child gains 
majority status. In the interim, the relevant State court has 
discretion to release funds for the care and needs of the child.
  The problem here is that the Armed Forces personnel who are single 
parents currently have no formal way to designate, for the purposes of 
the death gratuity, a caretaker for their minor child in the event of a 
servicemember's death.
  It is our duty to do all we can to ensure that the children left 
behind are cared for as their parent requested. When servicemembers 
make it clear who they would like to care for their children in the 
event of their death, those wishes should be an important factor for 
the court to consider.
  It is almost like the tragedy of 9/11 and a bill that I authored 
after those parents are deceased to ensure that the children of the 9/
11 tragedy, the orphan children, would have their benefits promoted and 
supported and rendered first. This legislation, and rightly so, wants 
to give parents the opportunity to designate who should be the 
custodian for these funds so children can be taken care of first and 
foremost. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 175 deals with a tragic 
situation where a deceased member of the Armed Forces leaves a 
surviving child, but no spouse.
  This resolution simply expresses the sense of Congress that State 
courts--with fiduciary responsibility for the child of a deceased 
member of our Armed Forces--should take into consideration the 
expressed desires of the fallen soldier as to how funds related to the 
soldier's service should be distributed on behalf of the surviving 
child.
  When an American soldier makes the ultimate sacrifice, not only does 
our country suffer a terrible loss, but that soldier's family suffers 
directly. Among many other concerns, the

[[Page 20076]]

family faces a number of immediate financial challenges, and 
unfortunately, these challenges come in the midst of their grief. These 
financial and emotional hardships are compounded when the deceased 
service member was a single parent.
  To help the surviving family members of a fallen soldier better cope 
with these financial hardships, Congress established a death gratuity 
intended to address some of the expenditure's families must cover 
during the traumatic period following a loved one's death.
  The current system administering the death gratuity, however, often 
makes it difficult for those left with the responsibility of caring for 
a fallen soldier's child to access these funds. A death gratuity 
payable to a minor child is placed in trust until the child gains 
majority status. In the interim, the relevant State court has 
discretion to release funds for the care and needs of the child.
  The problem here is that Armed Forces personnel who are single 
parents currently have no formal way to designate, for the purposes of 
the death gratuity, a caretaker for their minor child in the event of 
the service member's death.
  It is our duty to do all we can to ensure that the children left 
behind are cared for as their parent requested. When service members 
make it clear who they would like to care for their children in the 
event of their death, these wishes should be an important factor for 
the court to consider.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  H. Con. Res. 175 will help the children of fallen soldiers by 
providing necessary guidance to the courts about how to treat the 
expressed desires of a deceased service member when it comes to 
distribution of the death gratuity. I ask my colleagues to join me in 
supporting this resolution so that the wishes of soldiers are given 
proper respect and consideration.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, it represents a bipartisan conviction that is unanimous 
in this Chamber that we owe those who serve in the uniform of the 
United States and who fall in that service everything. And we owe their 
families who share their sacrifice the same.
  H. Con. Res. 175, brought to this floor today by the gentleman from 
Iowa (Mr. Latham), will be an expression of a Congress acting on that 
gratitude and on that debt. It is a highly technical matter, but as I 
am sure the gentleman from Iowa will explain and the gentlelady from 
Texas explained, this is an issue that impacts the lives of people that 
this Nation cherishes the most.
  There are a number of cases where the children of single-parent 
servicemembers killed in action and their guardians have not been able 
to access death benefits intended for them. This resolution addresses 
cases where specific instructions were left by a servicemember as to 
the distribution of benefits to caretakers.
  In order of priority, death benefits are currently distributed to a 
surviving spouse, children, and other classes of persons such as 
siblings designated by the deceased. Benefits of a single parent's 
minor children must be held in trust by a State court which appoints a 
trustee who supervises the distribution of funds on behalf of the 
children. This consumes time and money in instances where the deceased 
clearly designated a caretaker to serve as a de facto trustee.
  The fiscal year 2008 national defense authorization bill will include 
a provision allowing servicemembers to begin predesignating caretakers 
as recipients as part of the death gratuity payment. However, neither 
House nor Senate provisions help families that have already been 
affected. Although H. Con. Res. 175 takes the form of a congressional 
concurrent resolution and therefore has no legal effect, it is 
confidently hoped that attorneys for minor children will use the text, 
once passed by the House, to convince State courts to honor the wishes 
of deceased single parents who designated caretakers for this purpose.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Latham) in 
particular for his tender care of the service families of these 
American heroes, for his advocacy on behalf of families whose loved 
ones paid the ultimate price while defending our great Nation. I urge 
the House to adopt H. Con. Res. 175.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield such time as he may 
consume to the principal author of H. Con. Res. 175, the gentleman from 
Iowa (Mr. Latham).
  Mr. LATHAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana for 
recognition and for the kind words. I appreciate that very much. The 
gentlewoman from Texas, thank you for your support. And I want to thank 
Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith for working together to bring 
this very important resolution to the floor quickly after it was 
introduced.
  I also want to thank Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton 
and Ranking Member Hunter for their valuable input on this resolution 
and important work on this issue.
  Many servicemembers who are single parents rely upon grandparents or 
other caretakers to care for their children while they are deployed. If 
the servicemember is tragically killed in action, these caretakers are 
left without access to the death gratuity payment to help raise the 
servicemember's children.
  I am grateful that the House and Senate Armed Services Committees 
have addressed this issue, including in the 2008 defense authorization 
bill provisions allowing servicemembers to begin designating caretakers 
as recipients of all or part of the death gratuity as we go forward. 
However, it is important that we also consider those families that have 
already been affected by the situation, which is the purpose of this 
resolution today.
  There have been as many as 143 recent cases where minor children were 
the recipients of the death gratuity which they cannot access until 
reaching the age of 18. In some of these cases, such as the one 
involving the Jaenke family from Iowa Falls, Iowa, in my district, the 
fallen servicemember left specific written instructions that part of 
the death gratuity be used to care for her daughter. Naval Petty 
Officer 2nd Class Jamie Jaenke, who was tragically killed by a roadside 
bomb in Iraq last summer, was survived by her 9-year-old daughter 
Kayla, who is being cared for by her grandparents. Kayla's family has 
experienced countless financial hardships as a result of not having 
access to the death benefits for the purposes that Jamie intended.
  While the situation may not affect a large number of families, the 
bottom line is I believe the wishes of our servicemembers with respect 
to their death benefits should be honored.
  Our Nation will be forever grateful for Jamie's dedication and 
service and the sacrifice she has made for our Nation. It is a 
fundamental duty of Congress to ensure that the children of fallen 
servicemembers, like Kayla, are cared for. We owe this to our 
servicemembers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Mr. Speaker, I 
urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I urge the Senate to 
act in a quick manner to resolve this unfortunate situation.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me simply rise again on 
behalf of many of my colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee to 
commend to the attention of all Members H. Con. Res. 175 regarding the 
payment of survivor benefits to family members of deceased service 
personnel.
  It is a highly formalistic sounding bill, highly technical, but I 
think you could sense, Mr. Speaker, the emotion in the voice and the 
countenance of its principal author. I would expect that Mr. Latham of 
Iowa is here on this floor for Kayla and for the children of those 143 
soldiers who find themselves caught in a confused bureaucracy and 
unable to access the benefits to which they are entitled and to which 
the hero that they lost as a parent and a loved one intended them to 
enjoy.
  So, again, I urge my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 175, and I 
rise with

[[Page 20077]]

a humble sense of gratitude for the tireless work of the gentleman from 
Iowa in bringing this legislation so quickly and so thoughtfully to the 
floor of this Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, allow me to rise and yield 
myself such time as I may consume to thank Mr. Latham for his 
sensitivity and leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, let me acknowledge that there are men and women as we 
speak on the front lines in the battle for their Nation. Many in Iraq 
and Afghanistan but many lose their lives elsewhere around the world in 
the Nation's uniform.
  This is an instructive and important legislative initiative, but can 
we imagine being lost in battle, a fallen soldier who's not able to 
provide for his or her family or his child? H. Con. Res. 175 and the 
backdrop of those who are now losing their lives in battle will help 
the children of these fallen soldiers by providing necessary guidance 
to the courts about how to treat the expressed desires of a deceased 
servicemember when it comes to the distribution of a death gratuity.
  Hopefully, the constituent of Mr. Latham and many others will find 
refuge and relief. It is certainly not the Nation's desire to leave 
them wanting and destitute.
  This particular bill provides comfort to those who need comfort and 
financial support for those who are suffering.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution so the 
wishes of the soldiers are given proper respect and consideration and a 
grateful Nation is truly grateful.
  Let me also thank the ranking member, Mr. Smith; the full committee 
chair, Mr. Conyers; Mr. Berman and Mr. Coble of which this particular 
amendment and legislation has come through. And we ask that the 
legislation be passed with great support in this body.
  I ask my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. 
Con. Res. 175, which helps children of fallen soldiers access military 
death benefits. I would like to express my deep appreciation to my 
friend, Congressman Latham, for taking the lead on this issue. I am 
proud to be a cosponsor of this important legislation.
  On June 5th, 2006, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaime Jaenke was 
killed in Iraq when her Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. Ms. Jaenke, 
from Iowa Falls, was the first female from Iowa to die in the Iraq 
conflict.
  Jaenke left behind a daughter, Kayla, who is cared for by Jaenke's 
parents. She had designated her mother, Susan, as the beneficiary of a 
$100,000 death benefit intended to help survivors. However, under law, 
only spouses or children are allowed to receive the benefit, so it must 
be kept in a trust for Kayla until she turns 18.
  But the Jaenkes need the money now. They incurred unanticipated 
expenses such as hiring a lawyer to get legal guardianship and 
obtaining health insurance for Kayla. They also had funeral costs and 
other expenses, even as their horse stable was losing money.
  Congressman Latham's resolution would express the sense of Congress 
that courts should have the discretion to redistribute death benefits 
to caretakers if the service member left clear intent for the use of 
these funds. This would be a Godsend to the Jaenkes and the at least 
143 identical cases where other families are affected by these same 
circumstances.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress needs to act, and they need to act fast, to 
help the families of those who have given so much for their countries. 
These families already have to face the anguish of losing a son or a 
daughter. They should not have to worry about the financial strain of 
dealing with unexpected expenses. I urge all of my colleagues to send a 
strong message to our military families that we understand the need for 
flexibility in protecting these families from unintended consequences.
  Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my support for House 
Concurrent Resolution 175, of which I--along with the entire Iowa 
delegation--am a cosponsor.
  I would also like to thank the gentleman from Iowa for his leadership 
on this issue.
  This resolution expresses the sense of Congress that courts should 
take into consideration the expression of clear intent by a member of 
the United States Armed Forces regarding the distribution of death 
gratuity payments to their surviving children.
  Such payments are intended to provide for the immediate needs of the 
survivors of deceased servicemembers. However, under current law, 
children cannot directly receive the payments until the age of 18, even 
if they are designated as the recipient by the servicemember.
  The wishes of those who serve our country should be honored to the 
greatest extent possible. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, 
I am proud that the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act 
passed by this House allows servicemembers to designate up to 50 
percent of their benefit payment to someone other than a spouse or 
child, thereby assuring that children under the care of individuals or 
family members other than the servicemember's spouse are properly 
provided for by the gratuity system.
  This resolution reaffirms the commitment of Congress to providing for 
the children of those who have served our country, and I strongly urge 
its passage.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Con. Res. 175.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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