WASHINGTON -- The National Defense Authorization Act, which passed in the House of Representatives 377-48 Wednesday, contains good news for thousands of military widows in Arkansas and across the country.
The bill gradually repeals a longstanding federal law that had prevented tens of thousands of grieving spouses from receiving full survivors' benefits.
Despite Wednesday's vote, Elly Gibbons of Fort Smith isn't celebrating yet. She's waiting for the bill to be signed into law and to receive the first benefit payment at her doorstep.
For three years, she has made it her job most days to lobby Congress through phone calls, emails and office visits to restore $5.7 billion in military survivors' insurance benefits that were promised, then withheld, from widows and widowers like herself.
Countless times, Gibbons heard all the reasons why restoring those insurance payments wasn't possible.
Now, Congress is poised to approve the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020, which will phase in the benefits over three years.
"It has been a long and difficult journey," Gibbons said Wednesday.
The bill, which had the support of all four House members from Arkansas, still has to go to the Senate for approval. The White House has urged Congress to approve the $738 billion measure so President Donald Trump can sign it.
The compromise language, which emerged from the House-Senate conference committee, phases out the provision, which critics had labeled the widow's tax.
The National Defense Authorization Act also contained language expanding the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery and contained several other provisions championed by members of the all-Republican state congressional delegation.
The bill now heads to the Senate for its approval. The White House has urged Congress to approve the $738 billion measure so that President Donald Trump can sign it.
Organizers of the quiet, no-budget congressional campaign to restore the payments say volunteer efforts by Gibbons and hundreds of other surviving spouses eventually convinced lawmakers.
"I was told that the grassroots advocacy by my surviving spouses, [their] calls, emails and tweets, is what made the difference," said Kathy Prout of Coronado, Calif., who organized a Facebook group that helped lead the campaign. Its name is "Military Widows: SBP-DIC Offset."
"This is how democracy should work. No money paid to professional lobbyists, just a bunch of widows walking the halls of Congress, calling all the time, emailing, educating Congress about this issue," Prout said.
Linda Moore-Duncan of Fairfield Bay said "it's pretty amazing what our grassroots effort has done."
Moore-Duncan, working with Prout's Facebook group, started a Twitter account this year so she could tweet about the issue to congressional members and point to her husband's sacrifice for his country.
"Usually my story was the same to all senators and representatives: 'You sit down at your table for special events and holidays. But when our family sits down, we have an empty chair.'"
Moore-Duncan's husband, Chief Master Sgt. William Kyle Duncan Jr., died in retirement of cancer caused by Agent Orange exposure during his service in Vietnam. Coincidentally, Gibbons' husband, Chief Master Sgt. John Gibbons, also died of Agent Orange-related cancer from exposure in Vietnam.
The passage of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act will phase out a law that was unofficially known as the widow's tax. Not actually a tax, the law reduced or eliminated payments from a Department of Defense annuity program called the Survivors Benefit Plan that were supposed to go to more than 65,000 surviving spouses, including more than 900 in Arkansas.
Most, like Gibbons and Moore-Duncan, had husbands who signed up at retirement for the Survivor Benefit Plan to help the wives who might outlive them, and they made monthly payments. Fewer surviving spouses, like Prout, had military spouses who died on active duty.
But when they died because of military injuries or illnesses, the law wouldn't allow their survivors to collect the promised insurance because they also qualified for an unrelated benefit from the Veterans Administration.
For most widows, the restored survivors' insurance payments will mean up to $10,000 more per year, according to Department of Defense estimates. For some, it will be more.
"For widows with young children at home, it will be a huge thing," Moore-Duncan said. "For me, it will pay for medicines, doctor's appointments and the expenses to run a household."
Beyond the financial help, she's proud to be a part of restoring insurance benefits that her husband believed he had provided for her.
"He would have been so disappointed when he passed away to think I wouldn't get that," she said. "Now, he would be proud. He would say, 'Good for you, Linda. You fought for that.'"
Gibbons said that when the bill is finally law, she won't miss making the phone calls to Congress or hours watching committee meetings on C-Span.
"However, I felt it was my mission to honor my husband, who served his country and made the arrangements for me to receive a portion of his military pension," she said.
Arkansas lawmakers welcomed the bill's passage Wednesday.
"Elimination of the widow's tax is a big victory that has been a long time coming for surviving family members," U.S. Sen. John Boozman of Rogers said in a news release.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, a retired Arkansas Army National Guard colonel, also approved.
"The widow's tax has long been an unfortunate hardship for those who have felt some of the greatest sacrifices made for our country. I'm pleased that the elimination of this unjust tax was rightfully included in the National Defense Authorization Act," the congressman from Rogers said in a written statement.
"There have been many attempts to fix this problem over the years, and I'm glad a workable agreement was reached."
All four House members from Arkansas and both U.S. senators had co-sponsored legislation to eliminate the provision dealing with widows.
Delegation members also supported provisions expanding the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery. The bill would transfer roughly 141 acres in North Little Rock from the Army National Guard to the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs. The existing cemetery, which opened in 2001, consists of 81 acres.
Boozman called it a common sense solution.
"This land is costly to maintain and not useful to the Guard for training," he said. The transfer will provide veterans with a "final resting place that appropriately acknowledges their service and sacrifice."
In news releases, delegation members highlighted other provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act that they had championed that are now poised to become law.
Boozman noted language enlarging Arlington National Cemetery, expanding Military Services Adaptive Sports Programs for wounded warriors, and increasing the number of full-time Air Force Reservists.
Sen. Tom Cotton of Dardanelle emphasized language cracking down on Chinese fentanyl traffickers, allowing all prisoners of war medal recipients to be buried at Arlington with full military honors, increasing home-schooled students' access to JROTC programs, and facilitating the transfer of occupational licenses for military spouses.
U.S. Rep. French Hill of Little Rock highlighted the Arkansas cemetery expansion and the World War I Medals Review Act. It seeks to ensure that the valor of minority service members is properly recognized. Hill also emphasized provisions countering fentanyl and imposing sanctions on human rights violators from Syria.
Womack noted the Arkansas cemetery expansion, efforts to improve military housing and a provision authorizing 3.1% pay raises for military personnel.
A Section on 12/12/2019