On the recordNovember 30, 2012
Mr. President, I can explain this in 60 seconds. This is the widows and orphans offset. It is a moral issue because under the Veterans' Administration, someone who dies service connected gets compensation of about $1,100 a month for their widow. At the same time, many of those people have a life insurance contract, an annuity, called a survivor benefit plan. It pays equally the same amount. Current law offsets the two. The Senate has passed this six times in the last decade, and we have whittled away at that offset in conference, but the major part of the offset is still there. That is the essence for the widows and orphans. We have seen the movie ``Lincoln.'' Remember what Lincoln said in his second inaugural address; that the cost of war is borne not only by those who fight but by their widows and orphans. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Who yields time in opposition? The Senator from Tennessee.
