Broader Survivor Payouts Sought

A Pentagon plan to nearly double government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan should extend to military personnel who die on active duty anywhere in the world, Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the proposal to raise the cash payments from about $262,000 to about $500,000, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the panel’s ranking Democrat, said the payouts should “apply to survivors of all members who die on active duty,” not just those who die in Pentagon-designated combat zones.

The Pentagon plan, announced Monday, would increase immediate payments to survivors through a one-time $100,000 “gratuity” -- now about $12,000 -- and enhanced life insurance coverage. Veteran groups and lawmakers have been pushing for such increases, which would be retroactive to October 2001, when the Afghanistan war began.

Republicans as well as Democrats have introduced legislation to raise the death payments, part of an effort in Congress to improve conditions for those who serve in the armed forces, for their families and for veterans. “We are happy the president is following our lead,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said of the Pentagon proposal.

Lawmakers said they hoped to include the enhanced benefits in the $80-billion emergency spending bill the White House is expected to seek for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Military officials testifying at the hearing said they supported the Democrats’ proposals.

“I believe a death is a death, and I believe this should be treated that way,” Gen. T. Michael Moseley, vice chief of staff of the Air Force, told lawmakers.

Under questioning, David Chu, the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, said the administration would work with Congress to determine who would be eligible for the increased benefits. Now, he said, “our premier objective is to those fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The cash payments are part of a military death benefits package that also includes annuities, monthly payments and medical and education benefits for spouses and children. Under the Pentagon plan, a tax-free payment of $12,420 would grow to $100,000.

The government would also pay for $150,000 in additional life insurance for troops, raising that benefit to $400,000.

The death gratuity, introduced in 1908, was raised to $6,000 after the 1991 Persian Gulf War and to $12,000 in 2003. At that time, Congress also made it tax-free -- before that, half was taxable -- and tied future increases to military pay raises.

Chu did not offer cost estimates for the increased benefits. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who worked with the Pentagon on the legislation, said it would cost about $460 million in the first year, including about $280 million in retroactive payouts.

Under the proposal, survivors of the 53 military members who were killed in the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon would not receive the higher gratuity, a spokeswoman said.

As of Monday, 1,415 Americans had died in the Iraq war, according to the Pentagon, and 156 had died in Afghanistan and other locations designated part of the administration’s war on terrorism.