Capt Hank
01-20-2005, 18:14
** Legislators Gear Up on Key MOAA Goals
Legislators are preparing to put the 109th Congress in high gear. Combined bills addressing two top issues for 2005 - repealing the law that requires reducing Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities for VA death benefits in cases of duty-related deaths and moving up the 2008 effective date of 30-year, paid-up SBP coverage - are expected to be introduced next week.
Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Henry Brown, sponsors of legislation to eliminate reduction of SBP by the amount of VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) payments for the past four years, plan to introduce new bills combining the issue with paid-up SBP. Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ), who have previously sponsored bills to accelerate implementation of paid-up SBP, have agreed to join Nelson and Brown as primary cosponsors of their respective bills.
About 53,000 widows currently have some level of SBP offset and about 135,000 retirees would benefit from an earlier effective date of paid-up SBP.
Now is the time to start asking your senators to sign on as original cosponsors of the Nelson-Corzine bill and your representatives to cosponsor the Brown-Saxton bill in the House. The bills will be introduced sometime after Jan 24. MOAA will report bill numbers as soon as received.
You can help by using MOAA's Web site (http://capwiz.com/moaa/home/) to send an e-mail or letter to your legislators urging them to become cosponsors of these important bill's. If you're not familiar with these two issues, you can view fact sheets at http://www.moaa.org/legislative/handbook/default.asp#Survivor.
Legislators are preparing to put the 109th Congress in high gear. Combined bills addressing two top issues for 2005 - repealing the law that requires reducing Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities for VA death benefits in cases of duty-related deaths and moving up the 2008 effective date of 30-year, paid-up SBP coverage - are expected to be introduced next week.
Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Henry Brown, sponsors of legislation to eliminate reduction of SBP by the amount of VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) payments for the past four years, plan to introduce new bills combining the issue with paid-up SBP. Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ), who have previously sponsored bills to accelerate implementation of paid-up SBP, have agreed to join Nelson and Brown as primary cosponsors of their respective bills.
About 53,000 widows currently have some level of SBP offset and about 135,000 retirees would benefit from an earlier effective date of paid-up SBP.
Now is the time to start asking your senators to sign on as original cosponsors of the Nelson-Corzine bill and your representatives to cosponsor the Brown-Saxton bill in the House. The bills will be introduced sometime after Jan 24. MOAA will report bill numbers as soon as received.
You can help by using MOAA's Web site (http://capwiz.com/moaa/home/) to send an e-mail or letter to your legislators urging them to become cosponsors of these important bill's. If you're not familiar with these two issues, you can view fact sheets at http://www.moaa.org/legislative/handbook/default.asp#Survivor.