Military Officer - February 2006 - (Page 34) washingtonscene Want More Defense Bill Details? ■ A more detailed sum- mary of FY 2006 National Defense Authorization Act provisions appears on MOAA’s Web Base, www .moaa.org/legislative/ 2006ndaa. Link up to learn more. purpose of the coverage, and the association will reengage on this front this year as well. In the meantime, Congress deserves credit for making some administrative improvements, such as allowing demobilizing members 90 days after separation to sign up, protecting periods of earned coverage for remobilized members, and extending six months of coverage to survivors if the member passes away. ■ Military pay raise: All active duty, Guard, and Reserve members will receive a 3.1 percent pay raise — one-half percentage point higher than private-sector pay growth. ■ Reserve housing allowance: Guard and Reserve members mobilized for more than 30 days will be eligible for full locality-based housing allowances, rather than having to wait 140 days under current law. ■ Military manpower changes: Army strength is increased by 10,000 and the Marines by 1,000. ■ Active duty death benefits: The military death gratuity is increased to $100,000 for all deaths in the line of duty (not just the combat-related deaths covered in current law), including all deaths since Oct. 7, 2001. In addition, survivors of all members who died in the line of duty (rather than just combat deaths) since Oct. 7, 2001, will be eligible for the recent $150,000 increase in the maximum Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI). ■ Commissary privatization protection: The new law bars any further studies of commissary privatization for the next three years. ■ Combat pay during hospitalization: Servicemembers hospitalized with combat wounds will be eligible to receive a special pay of $430 a month for the duration of their hospitalization or until they start receiving the new SGLI traumatic injury benefits. This represents the combined total of various combat zone pays and allowances. ■ Guard and Reserve pay differential: Mobilized Guard and Reserve members will be eligible to receive a monthly pay differential equal to their monthly civilian pay FEBRUARY 2006 loss (up to $3,000 a month) once they have been on active duty for at least 18 months, for at least 24 of the last 60 months, or if remobilized involuntarily within six months of their last active duty tour. Few are expected to qualify because of other rules limiting active duty time. Reps Soft on SBP Many SBP cosponsors haven’t signed discharge petition. T he failure of Congress to adopt the Senate-passed SBP fixes last year prompted MOAA to focus on exactly why the House wouldn’t agree to address this grievous inequity. After all, a total of 253 individual House members — a hefty 58 percent majority — have endorsed at least one of two bills (Rep. Henry Brown’s (R-S.C.) H.R. 808 and Rep. Chet Edwards’ (D-Texas) H.R. 2131) that would eliminate the deduction of VA survivor benefits from SBP for survivors of members who died of service-connected causes. Yet the House wouldn’t accept similar legislation passed by the Senate. MOAA is troubled that, when Edwards introduced a discharge petition aimed at bringing this legislation to the floor for a vote, only 146 of those 253 cosponsors were willing to back up their cosponsorship by signing the discharge petition. If 218 of them sign, the bill must be brought to the floor for a vote. Cosponsorship doesn’t mean much if legislators aren’t willing to back up their words of support with real legislative action. See page 36 for a list of representatives who have cosponsored SBP legislation but (as of Dec. 22) have declined to sign the discharge petition. If your legislator is on the list, please contact his or her office and make it 34 MILITARY OFFICER http://www.moaa.org/legislative/ http://www.moaa.org/legislative http://www.moaa.org/legislative
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