FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM ON DUTY AND DEATH IN THE MILITARY
Editorial
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
www.star-telegram.com
January 28, 2008 - The fact that federal law requires the secretary of veterans affairs to contact the family of a soldier killed in combat to collect an outstanding VA debt is incomprehensible to most Americans.
But it's just one more unforeseen consequence of calling U.S. military personnel back to duty after they've completed their tours and attempted to move on with their lives.
As Title 38 of the U.S. Code stands today, if a member of the armed forces dies -- the specifics of the cause of death don't matter -- and owes money to the VA, the secretary is required to contact the family for repayment.
Twenty-two families have been asked to pay mostly GI bill education debt from the estates of loved ones who died in combat or of a service-connected injury incurred in a combat zone.
Rightfully outraged by this development, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas last week filed the Combat Veterans Debt Elimination Act to remove the provision that requires the VA to seek collection of unpaid debt from the families of soldiers who die from combat-related injuries. Hutchison, who has been joined by Sen. John Cornyn as a co-sponsor, is asking to make the law retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001.
Hutchison's legislation applies to veterans' education benefits and does not apply to money owed the United States under housing and small-business benefit programs.
The Texas senators are pushing to bypass the usual legislative channels of assigning the bill to committee and waiting what can be a torturously long time before a bill comes to the full Senate for consideration.
Americans can help make this happen by contacting the Senate majority and minority leaders -- Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, respectively -- about fast-tracking this bill to passage.
Regardless of one's support for or opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it's hard to fathom any American thinking it's appropriate to add to the burdens of an already grieving family by asking for reimbursement on a VA loan.
Mark them "Paid in full."
It is the nation that owes these families for the price they paid.