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Resolution urges Congress to ensure surviving spouses continue to receive service members' retirement pay
Summary
Senate Joint Resolution 1 would urge Congress to allow surviving spouses of U.S. military retirees to receive the retiree's military retirement pay after the retiree's death; veterans groups and survivors testified in support at the committee hearing.
Senator Lisa Krasner introduced Senate Joint Resolution 1, which urges the United States Congress to enact legislation allowing the surviving spouse of a U.S. military retiree to receive the retiree's military retirement pay after the retiree's death.
Krasner described the current Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), an optional federal annuity that retirees may elect at the cost of a reduction in their lifetime retirement pay to provide an annuity to the surviving spouse. Under the current system, benefits are capped and a retired service member must select the SBP at retirement for the surviving spouse to receive the annuity. Krasner cited Department of Defense figures that about 30,000 military retirees live in Nevada and that 3,700 surviving spouses in the state currently receive an SBP annuity. She also referenced a national average base pay figure used to contextualize the benefit cap.
Multiple veterans and veterans organizations testified in favor. Lieutenant Colonel John Strahan (U.S. Army, retired) described the sacrifice of military families and explained that SBP is an elective annuity program. "When I retired in 2015, I was given the option to elect the survivor benefit plan or decline it. I elected it," he said, noting the program's mechanics and the fact that premiums do not get refunded if the spouse predeceases the retiree.
The United Veterans Legislative Council, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans representatives supported the resolution and urged the legislature to send the state's voice to Congress. Supporters urged Congress either to remove the enrollment requirement and continue retirement pay to surviving spouses or to increase the survivor cap and simplify benefits.
During questioning, members raised technical questions about whether the resolution would affect veterans who had previously declined SBP enrollment and about how a national change would be structured. The sponsor and committee counsel said they would follow up to clarify the resolution's intended scope and language before any further action.
No organized opposition appeared at the hearing; a handful of private citizens and veterans testified in support.
