Posted on: Monday, May 17, 2004
MILITARY UPDATE
Plan ends drop-off in widow benefits
By Tom Philpott
Using money unspent from an Air Force tanker program, the House Armed Services Committee has voted for a speedier phase out of a sharp drop in survivor benefits for military widows and widowers at age 62.
What lawmakers call the widow's feature of the military Survivor Benefit Plan has existed since SBP began in 1972. Retirees, spouses and widows have been angered over the years to learn that SBP benefits fall from 55 percent of covered retired pay down to as low as 35 percent at age 62.
The committee's Total Force Subcommittee voted May 5 to phase out that drop in benefits over five years, but said it couldn't start until 2009 because any increase in mandatory spending under the Defense Department's five-year budget must be paid for with an equivalent spending reduction.
As the full committee considered final amendments to the 2005 defense authorization bill May 12, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., announced that money had been found to begin phasing out the widow's tax next year. The cost of more than $2 billion over five years would be covered by money previously earmarked for the Air Force to lease tanker aircraft.
With no dissent heard, the committee approved Miller's amendment to raise SBP benefits, starting with 270,000 beneficiaries age 62 and older. As of Oct. 1, 2005, their SBP would climb to 40 percent of covered retired pay. It would increase again to 45 percent on April 1, 2006, and to 50 percent a year later. It would be fully restored, to 55 percent, on April 1, 2008.
Major military associations have made SBP reform their top legislative goal this year with a fall election approaching. Indeed, moments before the vote, committee Democrats and Republicans squabbled over who deserved credit. Miller praised committee leaders and mostly Republican supporters. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., committee chairman, praised Miller, noting that his recent bills to reform SBP had attracted more than 300 co-sponsors apiece, and the backing of thousands of retirees and survivors.
But Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., said Miller was remiss not to mention Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, who had filed a discharge petition in an attempt to force Miller's bill out of committee. Marshall suggested that the petition forced the Republican-led committee to back SBP reform this year.
That angered Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., chairman of the Total Force subcommittee, who said the petition had no influence on the committee and that Marshall was wrong to cast a partisan light on a vote that resulted from hard work by Miller and committee leaders.
Although House passage is virtually assured, Senate approval is a bigger hurdle. The defense bill crafted by the Senate Armed Services Committee contains no mention of SBP reform. The Senate in March left headroom in its 2005 budget resolution for $2 billion to phase out the age 62 offset over 10 years. It did so on a floor amendment from Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., approved without a recorded vote. Republicans, in fact, aren't keen on Landrieu's plan to pay for SBP reform through corporate taxes.
Questions, comments and suggestions are welcomed. Write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111, or send e-mail to: milupdate@aol.com. Or visit Tom Philpott's Web site.
