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Bill would ensure sole survivors get benefits

A bill awaiting President Bush’s signature would provide retroactive benefits to about 55 service members who separated from the military because they were the sole surviving member of a family in which one or more military siblings were killed in action or severely injured.

Among the benefits is the receipt of separation pay even for those with fewer than six years of service, which normally is not allowed, and the ability to keep any bonus pay even if they do not serve for their full military obligation.

Sole survivors also would be eligible for veterans’ education benefits, home loans, job training and unemployment compensation; military exchange and commissary privileges for up to two years after separation; and transitional health insurance.

Congress gave final approval to the bill Aug. 1 but it has not yet been delivered to the White House because lawmakers passed a flood of legislation just before beginning their summer recess.

The bill, HR 6580, makes the changes retroactive to anyone who has left the service under sole survivor policies since Sept. 11, 2001. The Congressional Budget Office, in an analysis of the bill dated Aug. 15 but released Aug. 20, said the bill is expected to apply to fewer than 20 newly separating people each year in addition to the 55 getting retroactive benefits.

Called the Hubbard Act, the bill is named for an Iraq war veteran, Jason Hubbard, who took a sole survivor discharge from the Army several months short of completing a three-year enlistment after two brothers, Jared and Nathan, died.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of many co-sponsors of the Hubbard Act, said the bill is not providing any extra favors to survivors, just ensuring they don’t suffer even more by being denied separation benefits.

“America’s sole survivors, such as Jason Hubbard, have served this nation honorably and suffered deep family tragedies,” she said in a statement. “It’s simply wrong to deny them separation benefits.”