"Service members who signed up for the program earliest and paid the highest premiums will have to wait up to 36 years to attain ‘paid-up' status versus 30 years for those who retired after 1978," said Saxton, whose Third Congressional District has the most veterans in New Jersey. "My current bill seeks to remedy this problem by moving up the starting date to 2003. This is the only fair thing to do for military retirees with the longest SBP standing."
 
The SBP provides a monthly income to the surviving spouse of a military retiree who chooses to participate. The retiree accepts reduced retired pay in exchange for an annuity that would benefit the surviving spouse upon the retiree's death. The surviving spouse would receive 55% of the deceased's retired pay until age 62 when the spouse would receive 35% due to Social Security.

In 1998, Saxton cosponsored a bill H.R. 3107, which was incorporated in the 1999 National Defense Authorization Act and signed into law. As passed, participants who have been enrolled in the SBP for 30 years and have reached the age of 70 can enter a "paid-up" status, whereby they would stop paying further SBP premiums and continue to receive SBP benefits for their survivors in the event of their death. Unfortunately, however, the effective date of the provision was delayed until October 1, 2008. As a result, those who entered the program earliest-  1972 to 1977-  will have to wait up to 36 years to attain "paid-up" status versus 30 years for those who retired after 1978. Additionally, those who entered the SBP earliest must continue paying premiums for an extra 1-6 years. H.R. 669 will accelerate the implementation date of the "paid-up" SBP provision to Oct. 1, 2003. Retirees who joined the SBP in 1972 would then be in "paid-up" status and upon their death their surviving spouses will still receive all the benefits.

Congressman Saxton's SBP bill does not allow surviving spouses of military retirees to receive SBP benefits any sooner, because the spouse receives the same benefits regardless of when the retiree attains "Paid Up" status on his SBP, or regardless of when the retiree dies. However, this bill will save the retiree and his family from paying up to six years of additional SBP premium payments.