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Mr. Chairman, Senator Inouye, members of the Subcommittee
As Co-Director of the NMVA, I am honored to testify on behalf of the National Military and Veterans Alliance. The Alliance has grown to thirty military, retiree, veterans and survivor associations representing over 3.5 million members.
The overall goal of the NMVA is a strong National Defense. In the long war, recruiting and retention have become paramount.
The willingness of our young people, today, to serve in this war will relate to their perception of how the veterans of this war are being treated.
The NMVA supports various incentives and bonuses to encourage participation.
Our serving members are patriots willing to accept peril and sacrifice to defend the values of this country. All they ask for is fair for their actions. At a time of war, compensation rarely offsets the risks. Let’s not undervalue our young warriors. These payments are an investment toward our National Security.
The targeted pay increases included in Senate Bill 2766 align with NMVA’s goals.
It is crucial that military health care is funded. NMVA’s is concerned that the president’s DoD Healthcare budget may have been under-estimated because of some suggested Pentagon initiatives. We ask that you to continue to fully fund military health care in FY 2007. We don’t want our serving members to be distracted from their mission with worries about their family’s health care.
And if our serving members pay the ultimate sacrifice, we need to provide every financial support to their families to help them in transition.
The Survivor Benefit Plan / Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset is a conflict between a purchased annuity and an indemnity program. It affects our serving members.
Recently Congress created active duty SBP as a benefit intended for families who lost service members. With the present offset the vast majority of our enlisted families receive NO benefit from this new program, because SBP is completely offset by DIC. This affects both younger and older surviving families.
Senate Bill 2766, Section 642 repeals the requirement of reducing SBP to offset DIC. The NMVA respectfully requests that this Subcommittee fund this provision.
Further, NMVA supports funding Sec. 606. which extends the continuation of housing allowance for spouses and dependents of members who died on active duty.
NMVA also supports funding of full payment of premium for coverage under the service members' group life insurance program during service in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM or Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
Our Active and Reserve serving member face enough challenges as they adapt to a lifestyle with an ever present war. The NMVA is confident in your ongoing support and the Alliance would like to thank the subcommittee for its efforts and this opportunity to testify. Please let us know how we can assist.
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