WASHINGTON — A bipartisan coalition of 177 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter to the chairman and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, urging the repeal of what's known as the "Widow's Tax."
It strips benefits from more than 65,000 surviving military spouses.
Sen. John Yarmuth's, D-KY. amendment to eliminate the SBP DIC Offset passed in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act, the budget for the military.
The lawmakers are urging committee conferees to keep the legislation to end the offset in the final agreement as they begin deliberations on the NDAA.
Surviving military spouses have been fighting for 40 years for a permanent fix to this law that unfairly impacts them and their families.
In fact, Congress has repealed benefit compensation laws that unfairly impacted veterans and survivors six times.
The DIC is a benefit the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs determined spouses are eligible to receive. The monthly $1,300 tax-free payment is given to survivors of service members who die in the line of duty, or if their death is due to a service-related injury or disease.
In 1972, Congress established the SBP -- an annuity military members pay into with their own money.
Surviving spouses thought they would receive a combined monthly payment of the SBP and DIC.
But, that law prevents them from collecting both federal benefits, even though, the SBP is an insurance program. Families lost out on at least $12,000 a year.
Update: Since our coverage, Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) filed a motion to instruct NDAA conferees to include the House-passed language repealing the SBP-DIC Offset in the final conference version of the bill.
So here's how you can help. The surviving military spouses want you to call the Senate conferee committee members below and ask them to please VOTE YES on Senator Jones’s motion to instruct defense conferees to adopt House language to repeal the widows tax.
Jim Inhofe (R-OK) (202) 224-4721
Roger Wicker (R-MS) (202) 224-6253
Deb Fischer (R-NE) (202) 224-6551
Tom Cotton (R-AR) (202) 224-2353
Mike Rounds (R-SD) (202) 224-5842
Joni Ernst (R-IR) (202) 224-3254
Thom Tillis (R-NC) (202) 224-6342
Dan Sullivan (R-AK) (202) 224-3004
David Perdue (R-GA) (202) 224-3521
Kevin Cramer (R-ND) (202) 224-2043
Martha McSally (R-AZ) (202) 224-2235
Rick Scott (R-FL) (202) 224-5274
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) (202) 224-3344
Josh Hawley (R-MO) (202) 224-6154
Jack Reed (D-RI) (202) 224-4642*
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) (202) 224-2841
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (202) 224-4551
Richard Blumenthal D-CT) (202) 224-2823
Mazie Hirono (D-HI) (202) 224-6361
Tim Kaine (D-VA) (202) 224-4024
Angus King (I-ME) (202) 224-5344
Martin Heinrich (D-NM) (202) 224-5521
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) (202) 224-4543
Gary Peters (D-MI) (202) 224-6221