Legislative Activities

Support Your Council President's Visit to Capitol Hill

By Klyne Nowlin, Col USAF (Ret), Legislative Affairs Chairman

Come Thursday, April 7th, CAPT William E. Knehans, Council President, will lead a Florida contingent to Capital Hill to persuade our two Florida senators and twenty-five representatives to get aboard and support MOAA's key legislative issues. Their mission is to visit every senator and representative's office, persuade them to cosponsor MOAA's key legislative issues, and provide a packet containing literature regarding other major legislative concerns. This year's key issues are (1) to eliminate the SBP/DIC offset, and (2) to accelerate the 2008 effective date of 30-year paid-up SBP coverage. 

The event is the annual MOAA gathering called Storming the Hill that brings 52 presidents of councils and chapters to Washington D.C. Each president represents their state and will be accompanied by members of MOAA's board of directors and staff. Florida will be represented by two teams. See suggested letter below for Florida's team members who, by the way, are all Florida chapter members. 

Chapter and club presidents can play a major role by contacting your senators and particular representative to let them know that your chapter or club approves of the Florida teams' objectives. This is especially important because this advance notice will let your senators, representative and their schedulers know that the teams represent you and your members, their state or district constituents. The following letter is provided for your use. For internet users, this letter can be downloaded at (https://www.moaafl.org/legislative.html)

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The Honorable Mel Martinez (or Bill Nelson)---The Honorable (Representative's Name)
United States Senate---U.S. House of Representatives
Washington DC 20510---Washington DC 20515

Dear Senator Martinez (or Nelson), or Dear Representative ( name)

As your constituent and member of the_______________Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America, MOAA, I am writing to inform you of an important visit to your office by Florida MOAA members who represent my chapter and who will discuss two SBP inequities. This visit will take place on Thursday, April 7, 2005, during MOAA's annual "Storming the Hill" event.

One Florida team consisting of Florida Council president CAPT William E. Knehans, LtCol. Fred Edwards, member of MOAA's board of directors, and Ms. Violet Smith, member of MOAA's advisory committee; or a second team made up of members of MOAA's board of directors Col Ron Buchert and LTG Jerry Hilmes, has requested an appointment with you to discuss: (1) SBP/DIC offset--to repeal the law that reduces SBP benefits to survivors of disabled servicemembers who died of service-connected causes by the amount paid for VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC); and (2) 30-year, paid-up SBP-- to change the effective date of 30-year, paid-up SBP from Oct 1, 2008 to Oct 1, 2006. 

The repeal of the SBP/DIC offset would end the dollar-for-dollar deduction of VA death benefits from military Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities. Because most SBP annuities are relatively low amount, the SBP/DIC offset often eliminates most, if not all, of the SBP, leaving many survivors with only the $1033 monthly DIC annuity. The 30-year, paid-up SBP proposal would move up the effective date and end disproportional financial penalties on earlier retirees, who have already paid almost 20% more in SBP premiums than post-1978 retirees will have to pay. About 53,000 widows currently have some level of SBP offset and about 135,000 retirees would benefit from an earlier effective date of paid-up SBP. 

As your constituent, I fully endorse the Florida teams' objectives and hope you will be available to meet with one of the teams during their visit to the Hill.

Respectfully,

(Be sure to include your name, address and telephone number)

• How to contact U.S. Senators and Representatives from Florida
• U.S. Congressional Districts Associated with Council Chapters

 Governor Jeb Bush
    https://www.eog.state.fl.us
    https://www.eog.state.fl.us/eog/govmailform.html

  How to contact U.S. Senators and Representatives from Florida

Postal Address for a Senator:

The Honorable ____________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Salutation for a Senator:

Dear Senator: _______________

Postal Address for a Representative:

The Honorable _______________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Salutation for a Representative:

Dear Congressman ____________

Phone Numbers and E-Mail Addresses of U.S. Senators and Representatives from Florida. (Note that all voice and fax numbers are prefixed with 1-202.)

An alternate method for contacting a legislator with a 'www' prefix is to open MOAA's web page https://capwiz.com/moaa/home/ .  When the 'Contact Your Legislator' page appears, enter the zip code of your  legislator and click on 'Search'.  When your legislator's picture screen appears, click on 'e-mail'.  On the next screen fill in sender's information, prepare message in the message format area and click 'Send Message'.      

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U.S. Congressional Districts Associated with Council Chapters

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Latest Legislative Issues

In addition to information provided here by the Florida Council, you may be interested in MOAA's comprehensive weekly legislative updates and monthly legislative spotlight. Click here to go to that site.

https://www.MOAA.org/legis/

Legislative Activities