September 30, 2005
Contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093

(Washington, DC) President George W. Bush signed into law today a measure which makes permanent a $150,000 increase in life insurance coverage for military men and women, up from $250,000 to $400,000.

"The increase was set to expire on today, October 1, and had the President not signed the bill, the insurance coverage would have dropped back dramatically," said Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

As House and Senate negotiators discussed the legislation, Craig, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, played a key role in a debate regarding military spouses. Under some legislative proposals, a spouse would have been able to nullify the decision of the servicemember regarding who would receive the money in the event of tragedy.

Representatives from a number of veterans' organizations declared their opposition to allowing the wife or husband of any sevicemember from either being notified of changes in beneficiaries or coverage amounts, or being allowed to nullify such changes.

"I agree with the service organizations that the nullification section went a step too far. But after listening to several widows testify before our committee, including Tiffany Petty from my home state of Idaho, I became convinced that there should be a notification provision in the legislation," Craig said.

The Idaho Republican crafted language to protect widows ? language Congress adopted and which President Bush has now made law. Under the law, spouses will now be notified by the military if their military spouse chooses not be insured. The new law also requires the service to notify the spouse if the servicemember names someone other than the spouse, or child of the member, as the beneficiary.

"I hope that it leads to serious discussions between wives and husbands about what will happen financially if tragedy strikes," Craig said.

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