H.R. 3478: Amend the Internal Revenue Code to Permit Military Death Gratuity to be Contributed to Certain Tax-Favored Accounts

H.R. 3478: AMEND THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE TO PERMIT MILITARY DEATH GRATUITY TO BE CONTRIBUTED TO CERTAIN TAX-FAVORED ACCOUNTS -- (House of Representatives - November 02, 2005)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, our men and women in uniform serve this Nation with great honor and distinction. Many give their lives for this country. It is for this reason I have introduced H.R. 3478, a bill to permit military families who receive the death gratuity to invest the full amount into certain tax-favored accounts.

Mr. Speaker, as the Members may know, a death gratuity is a $100,000 payment paid to survivors of servicemembers whose death resulted from combat-related circumstances. Current tax law limits the amount that recipients of the death gratuity can place in tax-preferred accounts such as Roth, IRA, Health Savings Accounts, Archer Medical Savings or Coverdell Education Savings Accounts. This legislation would change that to allow recipients to contribute up to the full amount of the gratuity payment to any one of those accounts.

Mr. Speaker, as the families of our fallen heroes try to put their lives back together, they need all the help they can get. They should not have to worry about saving the death gratuity to pay for health care, college, or other expenses and then have the government come in and tax the interest on that savings. This bill would help to ensure that that does not happen.

The need for this legislation, Mr. Speaker, was brought to my attention by Captain Michael Ceres, a constituent stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River. Captain Ceres, who just returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom, contacted my office and suggested that Congress institute this change to ease the burden on grieving military families.

Mr. Speaker, I am able to report that the Joint Committee on Taxation has scored this legislation at no cost, meaning that the actual cost of this proposal is less than $500,000 over 9 years.

We owe it to our fallen military heroes to expand the options of families who receive the death gratuity, families who have paid the ultimate cost with the loss of their loved one.

H.R. 3478 has also received the endorsement of The Military Coalition, a consortium of prominent national military and veterans organizations that represent more than 5.5 million members plus their families.

Mr. Speaker, 36 organizations support H.R. 3478. Let me just name a few: the Air Force Association, AMVETS, Association of the United States Army, Marine Corps Reserve Association, National Guard Association of the United States, Naval Reserve Association, United Armed Forces Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and many others.

And, Mr. Speaker, let me also say that we have bipartisan support for this legislation already, and I will insert into the RECORD those groups that do support this legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, in this letter from the Coalition, they wrote: ``The new $100,000 death gratuity provides greatly improved compensation for the military survivors and their families. H.R. 3478's provision to allow survivors to invest death gratuity lump sums in Roth IRAs and certain other savings accounts is a logical extension of efforts to increase protection and benefits for military widows and their families.

``We pledge our strong support in seeking enactment of this important legislation.''

Mr. Speaker, today, I call upon my colleagues to support H.R. 3478 to expand the options of our military families whose loved ones have given their lives in the name of freedom and in the defense of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I close by asking God to please bless our men and women in uniform, I ask God to please bless the families of our men and women in uniform who have lost ones, and I ask God to please bless America.

http://thomas.loc.gov