[$785] 795. Decisions by the Administrator Except in the event of suit as provided in section [784] 794 of this title, or other appropriate court proceedings, all decisions rendered by the Administrator under the provisions of this chapter shall be final and conclusive on all questions of law or fact, and no other official of the United States shall have jurisdiction to review any such decisions. [$786] § 796. Deposits in and disbursments from trust funds 91ST CONGRESS 1st Session } SENATE { REPORT No. 91-400 INCREASE IN DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION FOR SURVIVORS OF SERVICEMEN AND VETERANS SEPTEMBER 16, 1969.-Ordered to be printed Mr. TALMADGE, from the Committee on Finance, REPORT [To accompany S. 1471] The Committee on Finance, to which was referred the bill (S. 1471) to amend chapter 13 of title 38, United States Code, to increase dependency and indemnity compensation for widows and children, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill (as amended) do pass. SUMMARY OF THE BILL AS REPORTED The bill as reported would provide an overall increase of 13 percent in the dependency and indemnity compensation program for the widows and orphans of servicemen and veterans whose death was service-related. It would do this by (1) increasing a widow's monthly dependency and indemnity compensation payment from $120 plus 12 percent of the monthly basic pay now being received by a serviceman whose rank and years of service are the same as that of the deceased serviceman or veteran to $130 plus 12 percent of this monthly pay; (2) providing a minimum widow's monthly DIC benefit of $170 (equivalent to the benefit received by the widow of a sergeant with 3 years of military service); (3) allowing an additional $20 monthly for each minor child; (4) increasing by 10 percent monthly payments to children where there is no widow entitled to receive DIC, and to certain children age 18 and over; (5) allowing an additional $50 monthly to widows requiring regular aid and attendance; this amount would be increased to 37-010-69—1 $75 if the deceased husband's death was related to combat action or other extra-hazardous duty; and (6) extending dependency and indemnity compensation to certain widows whose husbands were insured under National Service Life Insurance on a premium-free basis. GENERAL STATEMENT By law monthly dependency and indemnity compensation payments are paid to the survivors of servicemen and veterans whose death is related to their military service. As the name implies, the purpose of the payments is to provide at least financial compensation for the loss suffered by these survivors. Thus dependency and indemnity compensation payments to widows and orphans are not based on the survivors' needs. DIC payments to widows are related to the deceased serviceman's or veteran's military rank and length of service; generally, no additional amounts are paid for minor children. If there are minor children but no widow is entitled to receive DIC, the children receive monthly payments specified in the law, regardless of their deceased father's rank. DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION PAYMENTS TO WIDOWS Before 1957, two major types of benefits were offered to the widows of deceased servicemen and veterans whose death was service-related: monthly death compensation payments, and a $10,000 gratuitous indemnity. The monthly death compensation payment was $87 to a widow whose husband's death was related to wartime military service. and $69.60 to a widow whose husband's death was related to peacetime military service. Additional amounts were paid for minor children. Peaceume rates were set at 80 percent of wartime rates. After extensive study, the Congress in 1956 completely revised the survivor benefit program. It was decided that higher monthly payments over a widow's lifetime would provide a more secure financial base for a widow than the gratuitous indemnity and the flat-rate death compensation program. The $10,000 indemnity was therefore eliminated and the death compensation program was prospectively replaced by the new dependency and indemnity compensation program. Social security coverage was also extended to servicemen, although a widow of a serviceman would not generally be eligible to receive social security benefit until age 60 unless she had minor children. Enacted after the end of the Korean conflict, the new program from the first was designed primarily to fit the needs of survivors of career servicemen whose death occurred during peacetime service. Unlike death compensation, DIC benefits were the same for deaths related to both wartime and peacetime service. And unlike death compensation or any other veterans' benefits, DIC payments were related to the rank of the serviceman or veteran. As long as the United States was not engaged in hostilities, it would be expected that few deaths would occur among lower ranking draftees, and most persons receiving DIC payments would be the survivors of career servicemen. The original DIC law set the widow's monthly payment at $112 plus 12 percent of the monthly basic pay currently received by a serviceman whose rank and years of service were the same as that of the deceased veteran. This formula was intended to provide for automatic increases in DIC payments as military pay was increased. It became clear within a few years, however, that the formula worked unevenly: it preserved the adequacy of DIC benefits for widows of higher ranking officers, but it was not sufficient for the widows of enlisted men. In 1963, the Congress attempted to meet this problem by raising the base amount from $112 to $120; the 12-percent factor was not changed. Despite this modification, much the same situation obtains today as in 1963. Benefits for widows of higher ranking officers have kept up adequately with rises in the cost of living; benefits for widows of officers in the lower grades and higher ranking enlisted men could be brought up to an adequate level with a modification in the base amount of $120; and benefits for widows of lower ranking enlisted men have fallen far behind increases in the cost of living. This situation is depicted in table 1. The inadequacies of the present DIC program have been magnified by the fact that we are no longer in a peacetime situation. Most young men serving in Vietnam are draftees who intend to return to civilian life once their military obligation is completed. A Department of Defense study released earlier this year stated that the rank of sergeant (pay grade E-5) with 3 years of service generally represents the dividing line between civilians fulfilling their military obligation and persons who intend to make a career of the military service. As table 2 shows, the first five pay grades-the noncareer ranks-represent five-sixths of American deaths in Vietnam. These are precisely the ranks for which DIC benefits are now the most inadequate. Thus the dependency and indemnity compensation program has proven more or less adequate in fulfilling the purpose for which it was intended-providing protection to the survivors of career military servicemen during peacetime. It has not met the needs of survivors of noncareer servicemen who are fulfilling their military obligation in a time of war. The committee bill is designed to meet these needs without sacrificing the aim of providing adequately for the survivors of career Servicemen. First, the committee bill would increase the base amount of the DIC formula from $120 to $130; the 12-percent relation to military basic pay would not be changed. Second, the committee bill would provide a minimum widow's DIC benefit of $170, equal to the amount received by the widow of a sergeant (pay grade E-5) with 3 years of service. In effect, this minimum would assure that the widows of virtually all noncareer enlisted men would receive this minimum benefit. The Veterans' Administration estimates that about one-half of the 165,000 widows now receiving dependency and indemnity compensation would receive the minimum benefit. The Committee on Finance has always recognized the need for at least a minimal level of social security benefits. The committee feels it is time that this social security rationale be applied to the dependency and indemnity compensation program. |