Washington, D.C. (February 04, 2004) - Congressman Jeff Miller (R-Fl-01) today called for passage of his bill to phase out the reduction in benefits in the military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). The bill responds to the inequity that is experienced by the vast majority of military survivors, who face a reduction from 55% to 35% in their SBP annuities at age 62.
“This benefit to military spouses isn’t what Congress intended or what enrollees were promised. The program isn’t providing the level of protection military survivors need and deserve,” Miller said at a press conference. “Military survivors lose one-third of their Survivor Benefit Plan annuities at age 62. It isn’t the plan Congress intended.”
Retirees who were asked to sign up for the program in the 1970s and early 1980s weren’t informed of the drop in benefits after age 62. As the result, large numbers of retirees and survivors feel betrayed by having been asked to sign an irrevocable contract to pay lifetime SBP premiums without being told what annuity level they were actually buying.
“Retirees and survivors deserve no less than the SBP deal they were promised,” said Miller. “We need to step up and deliver what the aging survivors of our ‘Greatest Generation’ retirees were promised, and we need to provide the proper level of protection necessary for future generations of retirees.”
“In Northwest Florida, a promise made is a promise kept,” Miller added. “The people of the First District sent me to Washington to make sure the Federal Government keeps its promises to our veterans and retirees, and that’s what I intend to do.”
Miller received a letter of thanks and strong endorsement of the bill from the 33 military and veterans’ associations of The Military Coalition, which represents more than 5.5 million members of the uniformed services and their families. The measure had 200 co-sponsors at the time of introduction.
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