Tony Thurmond: “today, I am again introducing legislation that would correct the long-standing injustice to the widows or widowers of…”

“today, I am again introducing legislation that would correct the long-standing injustice to the widows or widowers of our military retirees. The proposed legislation would immediately increase for surviving spouses over the age 62 the minimum Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity from 35 percent to 40 percent of the SBP covered retired pay. The bill would provide a further increase to 45 percent of covered retired pay as of October 1, 2004 and to 55 percent as of September 2011. As I outlined in my many statements in support of this important legislation the Survivor Benefit Plan advertises, that if the service member elects to joint the Plan, his survivor will receive 55 percent of the member's retirement pay. Unfortunately, that is not so. The reason that they do not receive the 55 percent of retired pay is that current law mandates that at age 62 this amount be reduced either by the amount of the Survivors Social Security benefit or to 35 percent of the SBP. This law is especially irksome to those retirees who joined the plan when it was first offered in 1972. These service members were never informed of the age-62 reduction until they had made an irrevocable decision to participate. Many retirees and their spouses, as our constituent mail attests, believed their premium payments would guarantee 55 percent of retired pay for the life of the survivor.”