Blake Hall
The Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA), the program that grants military widows a monthly stipend, is in danger of expiring. If Congress does not renew this legislation, widows will lose thousands of dollars of their annual income overnight.
The fate of SSIA rests upon the defense authorization bill, one of the most contentious pieces of legislation to pass through Congress on an annual basis. Without an extension, SSIA will expire on Sept. 1, 2017. Since defense authorization bills usually aren’t finalized until late fall, program supporters worry that if the program isn’t renewed on the 2017 bill, Congress won’t be able to revisit the issue until late 2018.
Military widows receive an average $310 a month from SSIA to supplement their incomes. However, that amount is reduced by the payment widows receive from Disability and Indemnity Compensation (DIC). About 63,182 widows were eligible for both SSIA and DIC, and the offset eliminated all SSIA benefits for 38,798 spouses.
The Sun Herald reported that removing that offset would help iron out funding issues in the program.
“Congress never passes the (defense) authorization bill by the first of October. So if we’re going to avoid expiration (of the SSIA), something has to be in this year’s bill either to eliminate the offset, phase out the offset or at least extend, if not increase, the SSIA,” said Steve Strobridge, director of government relations for Military Officers Association of America.