Political Quotes

“I am delighted to join my friend and colleague from Alabama, Senator Jones, to urge support for the final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, which finally-- finally--contains repeal of what is commonly called the military widow's tax. I want to commend Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Reed for including this important provision in the bill and for their excellent job in crafting the legislation overall. This significant bill contains numerous provisions critical to our national security and important to the great State of Maine, but right now I want to join my colleague Senator Jones in celebrating and highlighting one long-fought-for provision, and that is the repeal of the Survivor Benefit Plan and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset, commonly referred to as the military widow's tax. Let me explain exactly what the problem is. Many military retirees purchase, with their own money, a form of insurance called the Survivor Benefit Plan. If they subsequently die of a military-connected illness, their surviving spouse qualifies for a dependency and indemnity compensation benefit from the VA. Unfortunately, these two programs are offset dollar for dollar for our military families. This makes no sense. The retirees are paying for this extra insurance with their own money.…”