NewsBytes February 2, 2024
Pinnacle Award Presented to Jim Banks
Senior Enlisted Testify
Hearing on Military Survivor Issues
Budget Update
FRA Pinnacle Award Presented to Rep. Jim Banks
FRA National President John Handzuk and National Vice President Maria Behm presented the FRA Pinnacle Award to Representative Jim Banks (Ind.) in his Capitol Hill office this week. The FRA presents the Pinnacle Award to one Senator or Representative each year who has demonstrated leadership on FRA-supported legislation and a high level of support for FRA issues. Rep. Banks was selected by the delegates at the 95th National Convention last year.
Rep. Banks currently serves as the Chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee (HASC-MP). He also co-chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s Future of Defense Task Force and sits on the Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors. Jim Banks was first elected to Congress in 2016. He represents the third Congressional district in Indiana. He was elected to the state Senate in 2010. While in the state senate, he chaired the Veterans Affairs and Military Committee. He joined the Navy reserve in 2012 and took a leave of absence in 2014 to serve in Afghanistan. He received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal for his military leadership.
Senior Enlisted Testify on Capitol Hill
The House Armed Services Quality of Life Panel provided the military senior enlisted the opportunity to testify on quality-of-life issues. Representative Don Bacon (Neb.), Chairman of the Quality of Life Panel, noted that the All-Volunteer Force has been the very foundation of America’s national defense for the last five decades. The work of this Panel has revealed an alarming erosion of military quality of life that, if not addressed quickly, will place the very existence of our All-Volunteer Force at risk. I believe that reversing this decline will require a national commitment to change course while there is still time. This panel has focused on five primary issues: compensation, childcare, housing, spouse support programs, and access to health care. These are essential to the physical and mental well-being of our military service members and their families. It was noted several times at the hearing that these primary issues are not only impacting recruitment and retention but also readiness. “We must start today on reforming military compensation before it becomes one of those big problems,” Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) James Honea said in testimony before the Panel. “It’s not going to be solved by Saturday, or in just one year. But we need to be in front of the problem.” The other senior enlisted witnesses concurred with MCPON’s sentiment.
The senior enlisted testifying include:
- Master Chief Petty Officer James M. Honea, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, Department of the Navy
- Sergeant Major Carlos A. Ruiz, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Department of the Navy, USMC
- Chief Master Sergeant Joanne S. Bass, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Department of the Air Force
- Chief Master Sergeant John F. Bentivegna, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force, Department of the Air Force, USSF
- Sergeant Major Michael R. Weimer, Sergeant Major of the Army, Department of the Army
- Sergeant Major Troy E. Black, Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Office of the Secretary of Defense
The FRA supports having the senior enlisted testify on quality-of-life issues that provide Congress with the enlisted perspective. Members can watch the hearing at: Quality of Life Hearing | Armed Services Republicans (house.gov).
HVAC Hears Testimony on Military Survivor Issues
The House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing on military survivor benefits. The FRA submitted a statement for the record in conjunction with this hearing. The Association recognizes the sacrifices Survivors have endured and works to eliminate survivor benefit inequities. The Association also works to improve and protect existing survivor benefits issued by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The statement noted that at the request of the FRA Senators John Cornyn (Tex.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Representatives John Garamendi (Calif.) and Mark Amodei (NV) introduced the “Respect for Grieving Military Families Act” (H.R. 3232/S.1588), which would stop the Department of Defense from clawing back deceased military retirees' benefits while their families are still in mourning.
Surviving spouses who are unaware that the Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) should be notified immediately on the death of the military retiree are surprised to learn of this requirement. Those who had joint bank accounts, in which retirement payments were made electronically, gave little if any thought that DFAS could swoop down and recoup any overpayments of retirement pay from such accounts. This action could easily clear the account of any funds remaining, whether they were retirement payments or money from other sources. Instead of withdrawing the payment all at once, the bill would allow a gradual repayment over 12 months and gives the Secretary of Defense the option to forgive the overpayment.
Further, the statement noted that the FRA supports making the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits equal to other federal survivor benefits and is supporting the “Caring for Survivors Act” (H.R. 1083/S. 414). Currently, DIC is approximately 43 percent of a 100 percent disabled retiree’s compensation. Survivors of federal civilian workers have their annuity set at 55 percent of their Disabled Retiree’s Compensation. FRA supports raising DIC payments to 55 percent of VA Disability Compensation for a 100 percent disabled veteran. Increasing DIC payable to survivors of catastrophically disabled veterans to match other Federal survivor benefit plans is long overdue.
Members can weigh in on these issues at: https://www.votervoice.net/FRA/Campaigns/105290/Respond and https://www.votervoice.net/FRA/Campaigns/110434/Respond.
Members can view the hearing at: https://veterans.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=6360.
Budget Update
Press reports note that legislators are starting to get concerned about funding deadlines in early March as negotiations on bill-by-bill dollar amounts drag on for weeks, eating into the extra time members gave themselves with a recent Continuing Resolution (CR) stopgap measure.
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Rep. Kay Granger (Tex.), the Appropriations Committee chairs, have been tasked with dividing the defense and nondefense spending figures agreed to on Jan. 7 into all 12 appropriations bills. More than two weeks have gone by without an agreement. Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Susan Collins (Maine) told reporters she’s concerned about lawmakers’ ability to fund the government by the deadlines on March 1 and March 7.