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Bush signs sole-survivor benefits bill

President Bush on Friday signed into law an expansion of military benefits to sole surviving members of a military family who decide to leave the military.

The law applies retroactively to sole surviving members of families in which one or more siblings were killed or severely injured in the military. It is called the Hubbard Act, named for an Iraq war veteran, Jason Hubbard, who took an early discharge from the Army after two of his brothers were killed in Iraq. Because his discharge left him several months short of completing the three-year enlistment for which he had signed up, the combat veteran was denied some benefits.

The Hubbard family was at the White House when the bill was signed into law.

“This day is about Jason and his brothers, and it is about sole survivors and their families,” said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., a sponsor of the bill who represents Clovis, Calif., where the Hubbard family lived. “The Hubbard Act is an overdue change in our laws, and while it cannot ease the burden of loss faced by grieving families, it will make certain sole survivors are treated with dignity and respect when they return home from war.”

The Hubbard Act casts a wide swath through pay and benefits, allowing sole survivors to receive veterans’ education benefits, home loans, job training, unemployment compensation, transitional health insurance and commissary and exchange shopping privileges after their discharge. It also makes them eligible for separation pay, something traditionally limited to those with six or more years of service, and allows them to keep any enlistment or re-enlistment bonus they have received even if they do not complete their full obligation.

The law’s provisions cover anyone who left service under sole survivor polices since Sept. 11, 2001.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, estimated earlier this month that about 55 people will get retroactive benefits as a result of the law and that, from now on, about 20 people a year also will benefit from the relaxed policies.