FRA Commends Congressman Jones for Introducing Final Month's Pay Legislation

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) commends Representative Walter B. Jones (N.C.) for introducing an Association-recommended legislative proposal to offer financial assistance to survivors of military retirees. Jones' bill (H.R. 2944), the "Military Retiree Survivor Comfort Act," would authorize a surviving spouse to retain the deceased retiree's full final month retirement check if it is electronically deposited in a joint account. Upon the death of a retiree, the Defense Financial Accounting Service (DFAS) currently requires the survivor to notify the agency. Once reported, the retiree's pay is suspended and the survivor will receive only the portion of pay due to the retiree up through the date of his or her demise. FRA believes this practice should cease and that survivors with a joint account should receive a full month's payment, regardless of the day of the month on which the retiree passes away. The issue was brought to the attention of FRA by a widow who was unaware of the current policy and experienced financial difficulty when the military recouped a sum of money from a joint account bearing her name and that of the deceased retiree. "This legislation seeks to recognize [the] sacrifice [of military spouses] by forgiving the overpayment made to the surviving beneficiary if that beneficiary has a joint bank account with the military retiree," Jones explained. "In order to offset some of the minimal cost, the recipient receiving the overpayment would forgo the first month of Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) payments. The individual amounts will be small, but they will provide great comfort to those who are already losing much." "FRA salutes Rep. Jones for his leadership on this issue and will work with him to advance the current bill," said FRA's National Executive Secretary Joe Barnes. Similar legislation was also sponsored by Jones in the 107th Congress. The legislation is also endorsed by The Military Coalition (TMC) – a consortium of 35 nationally prominent military and veterans organizations. The federally chartered FRA is celebrating its 80th Anniversary as the oldest and largest professional military association representing the concerns of Sea Service personnel. FRA operates as the premier watchdog organization for safeguarding and enhancing military pay, health care and benefits by representing the concerns of its 130,000 members before Congress and appropriate federal agencies. For more information, or to contact your elected official regarding issues that effect Sea Service personnel, visit the Association's Web site at www.fra.org.