Bill Nelson, U.S. Senator from Florida: Media Release: Defense spending bill gives new benefits to military widows, while banning hiding funds from Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. - An estimated 55,000 widows and orphans of U.S. military members killed on active duty or fully disabled retirees stand to receive a long-sought upgrade in benefits thanks in large part to the efforts of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson.

Among the major military-related projects likely to be funded in connection with a broader $517 billion national defense spending plan is a provision, offered by Nelson, that eliminates an offset between survivor benefits and disability compensation.

The military’s current practice is to reduce survivor benefits paid by the Defense Department by the amount received in survivor benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs for survivors who qualify for both. The provision eliminating that practice was included in the defense spending bill passed Thursday by the Armed Services Committee.

Nelson’s provision passed the full Senate last year but then was removed during closed door meetings by House and Senate negotiators – a move Nelson thinks is unlikely to happen again especially with elections coming up in the fall.

The defense bill also includes a new policy statement, requested by Nelson, to making it illegal to spend money in a way not approved by Congress, specifically by parking the money somewhere in he budget where it can be used for undisclosed projects. The practice of “parking” funds recently was investigated, at Nelson’s request, by the a military inspector general, who found no illegal activity surrounding allegations that the Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base hid $20 million from Congress at the request of a Pentagon comptroller.

Another provision of the bill, adamantly opposed by Nelson, would reduce the number of carriers in the Navy’s fleet from 12 to 11, meaning the Navy intends to retire the Jacksonville-based USS John F. Kennedy.

The provision was inserted into the defense spending plan, despite Nelson’s objections, by the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Virginia’s U.S. Senator John Warner. Nelson said today that he still will try to have the provision stripped from the bill before full Senate passage of the bill, or at least win a public commitment from the Navy that it will replace the ship with other vessels.

Just yesterday, the House Armed Services Committee included in its version of the military’s spending plan a measure directing the Navy to maintain the current 12 carrier fleet – setting the stage for what could be an eventual House-Senate showdown over the fate of the Kennedy.

Other key Florida-related provisions of the bill include:

- Language supported by Nelson that eliminates an unpopular Bush administration plan to raise health care premiums and fees for many of the 1.9 million retirees who participate in TRICARE, the military’s health care program. Critics of the plan contend the higher fees would have cost some families as much as an additional $100 a month. At the end of 2004, Florida had more than 186,000 TRICARE eligible military retirees;

- A requirement that the Army audit wounded soldiers’ pay accounts to uncover unresolved pay problems. Over the last several months, media reports have highlighted pay problems experienced by wounded service members and their families. The provision requires the Army to report its finding to the Congress within 120 days of the bill’s passage. Additionally, the provision directs the Pentagon to establish a call assistance center to help members of the Armed Forces or their families experiencing military pay problems;

- $4,000,000 for the Joint Chemical and Biological Defense Program activities at the Air Force Research Lab at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City. These funds will be used to develop reactive/regenerative "smart" materials and polymers for clothing, air purification, self-decontamination and medical water sterilization applications;

- $1,600,000 for Florida A&M University research to help the Army develop advanced models for low cost processing technologies for a variety of materials under consideration in future combat systems;

- $2,000,000 for Florida State University to continue its research into nanotube based materials that can be used for future armored vehicles and systems;

- $2,000,000 for the University of Florida to continue research into nanotechnology based, intelligent, remote sensing systems that can detect chemical, biological and radioactive materials;

- $10,000,000 for Florida A&M University’s research into long-range optical sensors that can detect and identify explosive and radiological materials;

- $2,500,000 for the University of Central Florida and the Institute for Human- Machine Cognition in Pensacola to continue research into technologies that will improve and assist human operators interaction with computers and robotic systems;

- $6,200,000 to accelerate procurement of the Warrior Skills and Convoy Trainer WSCT)/EST 2000 a combat simulation system manufactured in Orlando. This will help the Air National Guard at its regional training centers prepare airmen to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan;

- $1,000,000 to help establish the Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center (WHSAC) at Florida International University. This new center, in partnership with U.S. Southern Command headquarted in Miami, will provide military and civilian leaders access to regional experts from government, academic, and the private sectors to advance the understanding of critical issues within the Western Hemisphere;

- $3,000,000 for research to continue development of scramjet engines capable of speeds eventually up to Mach 7. This effort is an Air Force Research Lab partnership with NASA with a portion of the work done in Palm Beach Gardens.

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