Tuberville Bill Passes Senate VA Committee

Statement

Today, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee (SVAC) favorably voted on Senator Tuberville's legislation, the Supporting Families of the Fallen Act, setting it up for consideration before the full Senate. Senator Tuberville spoke about the importance of his bill to increase servicemembers' and veterans' life insurance coverage amount for the first time since 2005.An excerpt of his remarks is below, and video of his full remarks can be viewed here.

"I pray that no family ever receives the news that their a loved one died in service to our great country; but if that happens, those military families should be taken care of," Senator Tuberville said.

"This legislation is one way to ease their financial worries and provide some peace of mind. And this effort is long overdue -- the maximum coverage amounts for these life insurance policies have not been updated in more than 15 years. I know many of my colleagues who do not serve on the VA Committee with me are committed to supporting our nation's veterans and their families -- this bill is a small, commonsense step to do just that. I urge more of my colleagues to offer their support to my bill so we can bring it to the Senate floor for a full vote."

BACKGROUND:

In September, Senator Tuberville introduced, the Supporting Families of the Fallen Act, a bill to increase the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) and Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI) coverage for the first time since 2005. Specifically, the bill would increase the maximum coverage amounts for service member and veteran group life insurance policies from $400,000 to $500,000. Read more here and here.

When speaking about his Supporting Families of the Fallen Act in September, Senator Tuberville stated, "Our service members and their families should not have to worry what they would have to do should tragedy strike."

Source