April 24, 2007


On behalf of the more than 100,000 members of the Association of the United States Army, I write to support of H.R 1927. It addresses two significant problems with the military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). The first is the dollar-for-dollar deduction of VA benefits for service-connected deaths from the survivors’ SBP annuities. The second is the delayed effective date of 30-year paid-up SBP coverage, which imposes undue financial penalties on the earliest SBP enrollees.
We support your view that if military service caused a retired member’s death, the Dependency Indemnity Compensation (DIC) paid by the VA to the survivor should be added to the SBP benefits the retiree paid for, not substituted for them. In the case of members killed on active duty, a surviving spouse with children can avoid the dollar-for-dollar offset only by assigning SBP to the children. However, that forces the spouse to give up any SBP claim after the children attain their majority – leaving the spouse only a $1,063 monthly annuity from the VA. Surely, those who give their lives for their country deserve fairer compensation for their surviving spouses. The bill would extend the eligibility for receiving both SBP and DIC payments to those widows who had previously made the choice of the child-only option for SBP.

Regarding paid-up SBP, the 2008 effective date in existing law allows those who retired after 1978 to stop paying SBP premiums once they have paid for 30 years and attained age 70. But tens of thousands of the “Greatest Generation” retirees who signed up for SBP as early as 1972 – and who paid nearly two decades of higher premiums before the premium reduction in 1990 – will have to pay premiums for up to 36 years. AUSA supports your initiative to remedy this inequity by advancing the effective date to October 1, 2007.

The Military Coalition very much appreciates your introduction of legislation to restore equity to this very important survivor program, and we look forward to working closely with you to gain enactment of it in the 110th Congress.

GORDON R. SULLIVAN
General, USA Retired