Legislative Updates

H.R. 1804

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) and House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) are teaming to bring a special bill to the House floor for a vote on Wednesday, April 1 that would be of significant benefit to thousands of military widows and more than a million currently serving military and federal civilians.

H.R. 1804 would increase the Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance payable to military widows currently affected by the deduction of VA survivor benefits from military Survivor Benefit Plan annuities. Under current law, this $50 monthly allowance will increase to $100 over the next five years. H.R. 1804 would raise that amount to $95 monthly for 2010, and by varying amounts in subsequent years, reaching $345 monthly by 2016. This is short of our ultimate goal of repealing the offset, but represents another important step toward that goal. And the prospect of immediate passage tomorrow represents a "bird in the hand" that we should make every effort to support.

For currently serving military and federal civilian personnel, the bill would authorize a Roth option for the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The Roth option allows members to deposit after-tax dollars in a tax-deferred TSP and draw the proceeds tax-free in retirement. For many military and federal civilians, this is a much more advantageous option than the regular TSP, under which deposits are made with pre-tax money, but are fully taxable upon withdrawal in retirement.

This bill represents a "win-win" proposition for military and federal civilian communities