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| Wilson Cosponsors Effort to Fix Death Gratuity Law for Combat Troops and Their Families |
May 25, 2007 |
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Legislation Ensures Financial Help Goes to the Designated Caretaker of Children
Washington, DC – Rep. Heather Wilson today announced she has cosponsored bipartisan legislation to fix the law so that service men and women who are parents can better provide for their families by choosing their children’s caretaker as the recipient of the death gratuity if killed in the line of duty.
The bill, H.R. 1115, is supported by veterans’ organizations throughout the country. It would allow a service man or woman who is the parent of a child under 18 to designate a parent, brother or sister to receive the gratuity as the guardian of the child.
There have been 140 cases in which minor children have been the recipients of the death gratuity. The need for the change has been spotlighted in the Washington Post (“The Forgotten Familes” by Donna St. George, Feb. 16, 2007) about an Iowa family.
“We need to fix this law. A service member with a child should have the peace of mind that the person they have entrusted with their child’s future will have this financial help available,” Wilson said.
In the Iowa case, a single mother was killed in Iraq and left her 9-year-old daughter in the care of the grandmother. The Navy Petty Officer filled in her mother’s name on a form, wrote out her wishes in a letter, and expected her mother to have the financial help raising the child.
But that scenario is not provided for in current law. As a result, the grandmother does not receive the gratuity to help her raise and provide for the child over the next nine years until she is an adult. Instead, the money was placed in trust for the child, leaving the grandmother without the financial help. The child will also receive significant life insurance money upon turning 18, but there is no financial assistance for the remaining nine years of her childhood.
The fix proposed by H.R. 1115, introduced by Rep. Tom Latham who represents the Iowa family, is consistent with current law, in which a parent or sibling receives the gratuity if there is no spouse or child. He proposed the legislative fix as an amendment to the National Security Authorization Act earlier this month, but the amendment was not ruled in order.
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