House OKs survivors bill

Charity also pledges military death benefits

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (left) and Army Secretary John McHugh pay their respects Wednesday as an Army team transfers the remains of Pfc. Cody Patterson, 24, of Philomath, Ore., and four other servicemen who died in Afghanistan from a transport plane at Dover Air Force Base, Del.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (left) and Army Secretary John McHugh pay their respects Wednesday as an Army team transfers the remains of Pfc. Cody Patterson, 24, of Philomath, Ore., and four other servicemen who died in Afghanistan from a transport plane at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House unanimously passed a measure Wednesday that would restore death benefits for the survivors of U.S. military personnel after payments were halted by the federal government shutdown.








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Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s administration announced that a charity would pick up the costs of the payments during the shutdown.

When most government funding ended Oct. 1 in a standoff between Obama and House Republicans, the Pentagon stopped paying the $100,000, tax-exempt “death gratuity” that’s intended to provide immediate cash to the survivors of U.S. military personnel.

“Our men and women serving in uniform in dangerous places all over the globe deserve the peace of mind of knowing that, during the worst of times, their families will receive the benefits they deserve immediately,” Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican and author of the legislation, said on the House floor. “This bill removes any ambiguity on this point.”

While the measure received bipartisan support, some lawmakers blamed either the Democratic administration or the House Republicans for the lapse in benefits.

Republicans said the Pentagon interpreted too narrowly a previously passed bill authorizing continued pay for military personnel by saying it doesn’t include death benefits. Democrats said allowing the partial government shutdown led to the disruption.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the legal authority to make those payments” until government funding resumes, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said Saturday. He said the September legislation that provided for military personnel to continue receiving their pay lacked provisions authorizing the death benefit.

In addition to the $100,000 death payment, the military has halted benefits for survivors, including burial expenses and travel to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to receive the remains of loved ones, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a Pentagon spokesman.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that Obama was “disturbed” to learn that death benefits weren’t being paid, adding that Obama had asked the Office of Management and Budget to look into the matter.

Carney said the Pentagon told lawmakers before the shutdown that the death-benefit payments were not covered by the bill and would be cut off. However, he repeatedly refused to say when the president was first told that death benefits would not be paid.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said later Wednesday that the Fisher House Foundations, which works with veterans and their families, had approached the Pentagon about making the payments.

“The Fisher House Foundation will provide the families of the fallen with the benefits they so richly deserve,” Hagel said, adding that the Pentagon would reimburse the foundation after the shutdown ended.

A senior defense official said the government could not actively solicit funds from private organizations but could accept an offer. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the offer by name and insisted on anonymity.

Hagel flew to Dover earlier Wednesday for the arrival of flag-draped coffins bearing four of the five U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan over the weekend. Joining Hagel on the trip from Washington were Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno.

The remains of every U.S. military member killed overseas are flown to Dover for processing. Family members often attend the arrivals, but high-ranking Pentagon officials usually do not.

Among the soldiers whose remains were taken to Dover on Wednesday was Pfc. Cody Patterson, 24, of Philomath, Ore. Patterson’s family allowed members of the media to witness the return of his remains, but an Army liaison officer who works with mortuary officials at Dover said the family did not want to talk to reporters.

The other soldiers whose remains were returned were 1st Lt. Jennifer Moreno, 25, of San Diego; Sgt. Patrick Hawkins, 25, of Carlisle, Pa.; and Sgt. Joseph Peters, 24, of Springfield, Mo. In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Army Special Operations Command said Hawkins and Patterson were members of the 3rd Battalion,75th Ranger Regiment, and Peters was a special agent assigned to the 286th Military Police Detachment.

Family members wishing to be there for their loved ones’ return had to pay their own way or seek help from outside groups.

The lapse in death benefits is “heartbreaking for all of us,” said Ami Neiberger-Miller, a spokesman for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a nonprofit group based in Arlington, Va., that provides counseling to grieving families of fallen troops. The $100,000 death benefit typically serves as “bridge money” that “you’re able to use to bring your family together,” she said.

The benefit also can be used to pay immediate expenses that are otherwise difficult to cover after the loss of a fallen soldier’s salary, Neiberger-Miller said.

“If your car payment is due in two weeks, this money is really important,” she said.

Shannon Collins, whose son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Collins, was killed in Afghanistan over the weekend, said “the government is hurting the wrong people.”

“Families shouldn’t have to worry about how they’re going to bury their child,” she said in an interview with NBC News. “I don’t necessarily have $10,000 to bury my son.”

Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday that Congress intended that the family allowances would continue uninterrupted.

“Judging by the Department of Defense’s own summary of those programs, we believed that ‘death gratuities’ would continue to go to the families of those heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice,” the California Republican said in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was shocked that families were handed an IOU after U.S. military personnel died for their country.

“It’s an unbearable loss, but now they’re being denied death benefits because of this senseless shutdown,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “It’s shameful and embarrassing.”

Christensen, the Pentagon spokesman, said the government continues to process claims under the Service members Group Life Insurance program and to pay benefits such as a monthly stipend based on a deceased service member’s base duty pay.

The 425-0 House vote sends the legislation to restore the death benefits to the Senate, but it was unclear whether the Democratic-led chamber would take up the measure or whether Obama would sign it.

Obama has threatened to veto other legislation passed by the House in recent days that would reopen individual funding streams, arguing that a piecemeal approach to ending the shutdown was unacceptable and that the entire government must be reopened. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Obama administration had yet to issue a formal veto threat for the death-benefit bill.

Information for this article was contributed by Timothy R. Homan, David Lerman and Tony Capaccio of Bloomberg News; and by Randall Chase, Robert Burns, Julie Pace and Bradley Clapper of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/10/2013

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