VFW and VFW Auxiliary

The Caring for Survivors Act of 2021

An extremely important set of bills recently came to my attention, and I thought I would share them with you, in hopes that you will join me in the fight to make these bills law.

The Caring for Survivors Act of 2021, bills H. 3402 and S.976, are identical one-page bills and are written with one goal in mind.

Right now, the survivor benefits for disabled civilian federal employees are equal to 55% of their gross disability while the individual was living. The amount for the survivor of a disabled military veteran is only 43%. Both bills amend the military survivor benefits to match both compensation rate and length of disability before eligibility.

These should be a no-brainer bills to pass. The disparity of the civilian vs. military compensation makes this a very easy issue to argue with a legislator. As of this moment, there are only 45 co-sponsors to this bill in the House (out of 445) and 10 co-sponsors in the Senate (out of 100.)

The last similar bill to this had about 90% co-sponsorship between both parties, where this is co-sponsored by less than 10%.

An important note about these bills - the survivor benefits are paid out as dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) meaning the monies paid to the survivor is done so tax-free through the VA. This bill does not change the nature of this income - those already receiving benefits as a surviving spouse will simply get a raise - this will not make your benefits taxable.

Everyone has one Representative and two Senators. Contact them today and either kindly ask them to become a co-sponsor on these bills, or if they're in the minority who have already done so, please contact them and thank them for their support.

Scott Jamieson of Tiverton, Rhode Island currently serves the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) Auxiliary as the 2021-2022 National Legislative Ambassador. A Life Member of Alvaro E. Vieira Auxiliary 5390 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, he joined on the eligibility of his grandfather Peter J. Rustek, who served in the United States Army during World War II.