The White House signaled Thursday that President Obama might not sign
a bill to pay death benefits to the families of fallen soldiers,
leading a top Republican senator to allege the president has hit a "new
low."
The Senate approved the bill Thursday afternoon, after it cleared the
House a day earlier. The bill would reinstate the $100,000 "death
gratuity" payments to military families, as well as resume funeral and
burial expenses -- after funding was suspended as a consequence of the
partial government shutdown.
But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney claimed the bill was "not
necessary," noting that charity group The Fisher House Foundation had
just entered into an agreement with the Pentagon a day earlier to
provide the benefits in the short-term.
"The legislation is not necessary," Carney said, adding that the
Defense Department has already agreed to reimburse the Fisher House.
"It does mean that we don't need legislation," Carney said, without explicitly saying Obama would reject the bill.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who pushed the bill in the Senate, blasted the White House over the response.
"Now, we're learning the president has taken his political obstinacy
to a new low and believes the legislation Congress has passed to right
this wrong is 'not necessary,'" he said in a written statement. "Not
only is this legislation necessary it's the moral obligation of this
nation and it's the spoken will of Congress that we deliver immediate
assistance to the families of fallen service members.
"I call on the president to sign this necessary legislation without
delay. Anything less would represent dereliction of duty by our
commander in chief," he said.
By voice vote Thursday, the Senate approved the measure that would
reinstate benefits for surviving family members, including funeral and
burial expenses, and death gratuity payments. The Pentagon typically
pays out $100,000 within three days of a service member's death.
Twenty-nine members of the military have died on active duty since the government shutdown began last Tuesday.
The Pentagon infuriated congressional Republicans and Democrats and
touched off a national firestorm when it claimed earlier that a law
allowing the military to be paid during the partial government shutdown
did not cover the death benefit payments. Congress passed and Obama
signed that measure into law before the partial government shutdown last
Tuesday, and lawmakers insist that the benefits shouldn't have been
affected.
Despite the Senate vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
sided with the White House. He said the voice vote was "for show" and
the Pentagon had essentially resolved the problem. He said the issue was
moot, but he didn't object to passage of the bill.
Across the Capitol, Republicans on a House Armed Services panel
excoriated Pentagon comptroller Robert Hale, accusing him of playing
politics with his interpretation of the original law. They said the law
was designed to pay the death benefits as well as keep all Defense
Department civilians on the job -- not to select the most essential.
"You went out of your way to make this as ugly as possible, to
inflict as much pain as possible on this department," said Rep. Mike
Coffman, R-Colo., who introduced the first bill days before the shutdown
in an attempt to exempt the military.
Hale responded that the law was poorly written and there never should have been a shutdown in the first place.
"I resent your remarks," the budget chief said. "I acted on the
advice of attorneys and our best reading of a loosely worded law."
He said it was "not a political judgment -- we were trying to do what the law said."
The chairman of the House subcommittee, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., told
Hale that while he welcomed the charity organization's help "to fill
this senseless void created by government lawyers narrowly interpreting
the law, it is Secretary Hagel's responsibility to make the hard policy
judgment and to do the right thing. That is to find a way to treat our
families with the respect and dignity they have earned."
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