FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 28, 2004

LARSON FIGHTS TO GUARANTEE FULL SURVIVOR BENEFITS TO MILITARY SPOUSES

WASHINGTON, D.C.- U.S. Congressman John B. Larson (CT-1) today signed onto a discharge petition to bring legislation to the floor of the House that would allow hundreds of thousands of military spouses to keep their full survivor benefits. A discharge petition is a legislative procedure to force the House Leadership to bring a bill to the floor for a vote. It requires the signatures of 218 House members - a majority - to pass.

Under current law, when the spouse of a military retiree reaches age 62, the survivor benefits guaranteed to them because of their spouse's military service automatically drop from 55% of the deceased spouses military retired pay to 35% - or by more than a third. Over the next 10 years, 200,000 military spouses are expected to lose benefits under this survivor benefit penalty, and it will eventually affect the 1.2 million military retirees enrolled in the Survivor Benefit Plan.