HM 781

1
House Memorial
2A memorial to the Congress of the United States urging
3Congress to amend federal law to eliminate the offset for
4Dependency and Indemnity Compensation administered by the
5United States Department of Veterans Affairs imposed on
6benefits received by military widows and widowers through
7the Survivor Benefit Plan administered by the United
8States Department of Defense.
9
10     WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln advised the nation in
11his second inaugural address to "care for him who shall have
12borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan," and
13     WHEREAS, in 1957 Congress established the Dependency and
14Indemnity Compensation (DIC) program in the Department of
15Veterans Affairs for survivors of servicemembers who died as the
16result of military service, and
17     WHEREAS, the stated purpose of DIC was to compensate for the
18loss of family income and to indemnify the deceased servicemember's
19family for the pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life
20caused by the servicemember's death, and
21     WHEREAS, DIC payments to surviving spouses are based on the
22individual servicemember's pay grade and time in service, and
23     WHEREAS, in 1972, Congress created the Survivor Benefit Plan
24(SBP) within the Department of Defense as a retirement benefit
25earned when a servicemember died on active duty as "retired eligible"
26with 20 years of military service, retired with a disability
27retirement of less than 20 years of military service, or retired
28with 20 years of military service, and
29     WHEREAS, SBP is an insurance-style program created to be
30similar to the federal Civil Service Retirement System's survivor
31benefit plan that allows eligible servicemembers and military
32retirees to elect to have premiums deducted from their pay in order
33to provide the servicemember's family with a continued portion of his
34or her earned retirement pay after the servicemember's death, and
35     WHEREAS, since 1972 there have been a number of legislative
36actions and court cases that have had an impact on both the
37Department of Veterans Affairs' Dependency and Indemnity
38Compensation program, the Department of Defense's Survivor
39Benefit Plan, and what is commonly referred to as the "DIC-SBP
40offset," and
41     WHEREAS, at present, military widows and widowers who are
42eligible to receive both DIC and SBP are being unfairly deprived
43of monetary benefits to which they are entitled through the
44reduction, in the form of an offset, of Dependency and Indemnity
45Compensation from benefits they receive through the United
46States Department of Defense's Survivor Benefit Plan, and
47     WHEREAS, however, this offset is not imposed upon veterans
48or military retirees employed as civil servants by the Federal
49Government who enroll in the Federal Civil Service survivor
50benefit plan and die of service-connected causes, and
51     WHEREAS, many of these military widows and widowers have
52their entire annuity eliminated by the DIC-SBP offset, and
53     WHEREAS, many of these military widows and widowers are
54elderly and live on a fixed income and, as a result of the DIC-
55SBP offset, are being deprived of their full benefits, thus
56further compounding their pain and suffering by making them bear
57an unjust financial hardship, and
58     WHEREAS, in 2009, a Federal Court of Appeals affirmed the
59findings of the United States Court of Federal Claims in Sharp
60v. United States, recognizing a partial repeal of the DIC-SBP
61offset and directing the Department of Defense to pay full
62survivor benefit plan annuities to widows and widowers who
63remarry on or after December 16, 2003, and on or after attaining
64age 57, and
65     WHEREAS, however, over 53,000 military widows and widowers
66are still subject to the DIC-SBP offset, and
67     WHEREAS, this nation should never fail to recognize and
68acknowledge the need for the equitable and appropriate care and
69treatment of military widows and widowers whose spouses have
70died in battle defending the United States or as a result of
71service-connected causes in service to our nation, and
72     WHEREAS, to that end, it is imperative that Congress amend
73federal law to eliminate the offset for Dependency and Indemnity
74Compensation administered by the United States Department of
75Veterans Affairs imposed on benefits received by military widows
76and widowers through the United States Department of Defense's
77Survivor Benefit Plan, NOW, THEREFORE,
78
79Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
80
81     That the Congress of the United States is requested to
82amend federal law to eliminate the offset for Dependency and
83Indemnity Compensation established within the Department of
84Veterans Affairs imposed on benefits received by military widows
85and widowers through the United States Department of Defense's
86Survivor Benefit Plan.
87     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
88presented to the President of the United States, to the
89President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
90United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
91the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.