Veterans' Families Could See New Benefits

By Elizabeth Saloom, November 6, 2003

Other bills pending in the House and Senate would benefit the families of service veterans as well.

In early October, the House passed the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003 by 399-to-0. The legislation states that the remarriage of a veteran's surviving spouse after age 55 will not bar the payment of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation if the spouse was already entitled to it. The bill would make all remarried surviving spouses of veterans eligible for burial in a national cemetery.

It also provides health care, vocational training and rehabilitation, and a monthly disability allowance to any natural child of a parent who served in the Korean Demilitarized Zone if the child suffers from spina bifida and was conceived after the parent's military service.

Spina bifida is a disorder involving incomplete development of the brain and spinal cord, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders.

The Senate passed similar legislation in this area last May. Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter's Veterans Survivors Benefits Enhancements Act of 2002 would increase education assistance for survivors and dependents. The measure would provide surviving spouses with children under age 18 a $250 monthly increase in dependency and indemnity compensation for a five-year period.

Similar to the House bill, the Senate's measure would make surviving spouses eligible for burial in national cemeteries, even if they remarry, and would provide health care, rehabilitation and a monetary allowance to the child of a Vietnam-era veteran with spina bifida.

The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee passed the legislation and it now awaits action by the full Senate.

Another bill, the Agent Orange Veterans' Disabled Children's Benefits Act of 2003, was proposed in the House. It would provide health and other benefits to any individual with spina bifida and is the natural child of a veteran who, while in the military, was exposed to any Vietnam-era herbicide agent.