Letters to the editor

Compensation system for military widows unfair

I am sure that most Americans are not aware of the great injustice that has been done to military widows and orphans.

Congress should repeal the law that reduces military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities by the amount of any survivor benefits payable under the VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) program.

Under current law, the surviving spouse of a retired member who dies of a service-connected cause is entitled to DIC from the Department of Veterans Affairs. If the military retiree was also enrolled in SBP, the surviving spouse's SBP benefits are reduced by the amount of DIC. A pro-rated share of SBP premiums is refunded to the widow upon the member's death in a lump sum, but with no interest.

The offset also affects all survivors of members who are killed on active duty. There are approximately 61,000 military widows/widowers affected by the DIC offset, plus their children. This increases an already devastating hardship on these families.

SBP and DIC payments are paid for different reasons. SBP is purchased by the retiree and is intended to provide a portion of retired pay to the survivor. DIC is a special indemnity compensation paid to the survivor when a member's service causes his or her premature death. In such cases, the VA indemnity compensation should be added to the SBP the military member paid for, not substituted for it.

It's also noteworthy as a matter of equity that surviving spouses of federal civilian retirees who are disabled veterans and die of military-service-connected causes can receive DIC without losing any of their purchased federal civilian SBP benefits.

Those who give their lives for their country deserve fairer compensation for their surviving spouses and children.

In each of the last two years, the Senate has passed Sen. Bill Nelson's (D-Fla.) amendment to repeal the SBP-DIC offset in its version of the Defense Authorization Act, only to have the provision dropped in final negotiations with the House.

The DIC offset to SBP should be repealed, because the two benefits are paid for different reasons and as a matter of equity with federal civil service practices.

Once again Senator Nelson has introduced a joint SBP-DIC and SBP Paid up bill. The Military Retiree Survivor Equity Act, S.935, would repeal the SBP-DIC offset and move up the effective date of paid-up SBP to 1 Oct. 2007. In the House, Representative Solomon Ortiz (D-TX) has introduced H.R.1927, a companion bill to Nelson's S. 935. Also in the House, Representative Brown (R-SC 1st) introduced H.R. 1589 which repeals the provisions of Title 10 which require the offset of DIC payments from SBP annuities.

At this writing our two senators and our representative Dean Heller have not joined in to co-sponsor these bills.

I have received letters from Reid and Heller stating how they support our troops and their families, so why don't they co-sponsor these bills?

I urge you to please call, write or e-mail our members of Congress and ask them to support these bills. It is the right thing to do.

Sandra Shaw

Carson City

Bypass taking time, but that's OK

I have to agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Steve Ferguson. Carson City has great potential.

Unfortunately, he and many others do not understand why a project like the freeway bypass takes so long to complete.

We citizens really do want it to take awhile to complete, and we do not want our leadership to expedite the process too quickly. We want them to have public hearings and to take their time with the bids and getting the correct contractors for each phase of the project.

Each phase must be accomplished fully and correctly before the next phase can be completed. Thank you for taking your time and doing the project correctly.

The city fathers have had hearings on what we want developed in our fair city. They have a very good master plan for a revitalized Carson City.

This master plan can be accessed from Carson City's web site: http://www.carson-city.nv.us/Index.aspx?page=688

JOE EIBEN

Carson City