Collins proposes increase in money paid to families of war victims

By Deirdre Fulton

WASHINGTON – When Maine Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins heard about the deaths in Iraq of two marines who had ties to Maine, she started thinking about how the United States compensates the families of those servicemen and women who die in action.

She discovered that the immediate benefit given to families of victims to help with pressing financial needs is only $6,000 and has not increased since 1991, the year of the first Gulf War. To address the issue, Collins introduced legislation on Wednesday that would double the payment to $12,000.

"We can never fully repay the debt that we owe to those who have lost their lives in serving our nation," she said in an interview yesterday. "But this is a small step that we can take to honor their memory and to help recognize their sacrifice."

The payment to family members is typically issued within 72 hours and is in addition to general death benefits. Collins has also suggested that the legislation be retroactive to 2001 so that the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan can also get the increased benefits.

Military associations call the increase overdue and say victims' families need more help than they have received in the past.

"For so long, nothing's really been done to recognize the families," said Jacqueline Garrick, executive director of America's Heroes of Freedom, a group started to educate and assist families and survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks. Garrick speculated that "given the backdrop" of war in Iraq, it would be unlikely for Congress not to pass Collins' legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Collins said that she hoped Congress would "move swiftly" to pass the bill and that she had spoken to the Defense Department and secured the support of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who indicated that the Pentagon will back the legislation.

Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.