Jim Cooper Proposes Ban On Death Gratuity For Lawmakers' Spouses

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Huffington Post

Jim Cooper Proposes Ban On Death Gratuity For Lawmakers' Spouses
The Huffington Post | By Ashley Alman Posted: 11/23/2013 6:08 pm EST | Updated: 11/23/2013 6:14 pm EST

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) introduced a resolution in the House this week, proposing a ban on death gratuities for spouses of deceased lawmakers.

When a member of Congress dies in office, an item is inserted into the next appropriations bill, granting the equivalent of one year's pay to the survivors of the lawmaker.

On Saturday, Cooper told The Hill that members of Congress should not receive such "special treatment," but should secure their families' futures through life insurance, "like regular citizens."

"The death gratuity became customary starting in 1918 before the birth of modern life insurance (1924), the creation of Social Security (1935), the establishment of civil service pensions (1942), and health benefits under Medicare (1965)," Cooper said. "A lot has changed since 1918, and the gratuity custom should have been abandoned a long time ago."


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/23/jim-cooper-death-gratuity_n_4330544.html

[Autumn]

1. I'm good with this idea.

rec

[bucolic_frolic]

2. "like regular citizens"????

He will lose financial support for his campaigns fast

This is blasphemy in Washington

[Mass]

3. Yep, because it is obviously the most important thing to do. Typical blue dog idiot.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. I know of no other examples of Federal officialdom whose spouses get a year's pay as a benefit

..and I think getting congress a group life policy would be fairly cheap and consistent with what other Federal workers do.

[Mass]

5. May be, but there are a lot of more important things to do. This is grandstanding,

If Cooper wants to become a populist, he can support increasing Social Security and minimum wage.

He can reform this as well if he really wants, but this is something that will do no good for nobody (how many congresspeople die in office every year?).

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. I don't have stats. I'd guess 1-2 per Congress

There are over 400 of them and they skew older.

I think Cooper would like to tackle an issue that actually has a chance of passing with bi-partisan support. If he's really interested in saving taxpayer money, he should champion defense procurement reform.

[karynnj]

8. I doubt there would be much savings at all - in fact, it COULD be more expensive

A group policy would use actuarial tables to calculate the expected cost and they would build in some profit. As it takes some stamina to run for office - even for an incumbent, they may be healthier than a random group with the same demographics.

It is very hard to see where this saves much at all.

[Thor_MN]

11. It would save all the money paid out.

If congress secured their familie's futures like regular citizens (as suggested) they would get their own personal life insurance, not a government paid life insurance policy.

[karynnj]

14. I may be wrong, but I think many in the private world have employer paid

life insurance - I did and still do as a retiree of a major company. In some ways, this is like the Republicans complaining that the government pays part of their health care insurance.

[Lasher]

18. That's true but it used to be more prevalent.

I retired from a major US corporation. We once had a retiree life insurance benefit that was highly similar to the one in the OP - one year's salary equivalent to the last year that the retiree worked. This degraded over the last 3 decades along with pensions and medical benefits. By the time I retired I got a $10,000 death benefit instead of one year's salary. And younger folks retiring today from the same employer probably won't get a death benefit at all.

[Major Nikon]

10. It's not exactly the same thing

Federal employees (and most other large scale employers) do provide death benefits which provide a lump sump benefit to survivors which roughly equal the amount of a severance package. Many unionized businesses and other corporate entities also provide survivors with a years salary. So it's not as if the practice is unheard of.

I'm sort of on the fence about the issue. On the one hand, many (if not most) members of congress are independently wealthy. On the other hand, some aren't (Dennis Kucinich is a good example). I'm not really a big fan of cutting the pay and benefits of members of congress because this only means the only ones who can afford to do it are those who are independently wealthy.

[elleng]

19. Federal government employees HAVE a group life insurance policy,

through Met Life, and I assume (maybe mistakenly) that congressmembers can participate too. Its a good policy.

[OmahaBlueDog]

22. This is what I'm saying

Let them participate in that....

[SoapBox]

15. Idiot? Why are we funding the widow of some fat cat pol, for a year?

I think it's damn time for this 1918 perk to be gone.

[karynnj]

7. I wonder if life insurance on all Congress people would be more expensive.

The benefit - a year's salary is typical of what some companies provide their employees. As is, it is as if the Congress is self insuring that.

If the average Congress person is healthier than the average person in his/her demographic group, then it may well be cheaper to leave it as is.

[nikto]

9. Good idea----AND TAKE AWAY THEIR SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE AS WELL...

Until ALL Americans can get Single-Payer too.

[elleng]

20. They, and other federal employees,

do not have 'single-payer' health care, but very good insurance options through the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan.

http://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/

[Jackpine Radical]

12. He's gonna save, what, a penny per taxpayer with this grandstanding tomfoolery?

Let 'em have their stupid death benefits if they do things for the public welfare to earn it.

Double those death benefits if they pass Single Payer.

Quadruple the damn things if they significantly expand Social Security.

Give them to them eightfold if theyinstate an actual progressive income tax like we used to have before Raygun.

[SoapBox]

16. No. Why are we funding this? Why do the widows get a years wages?

Politicians today are mostly VERY well off. They can save and/or have insurance like the rest of us. What companies pay widows a years wage? Walmart? Kmart? Target? Macy's? Not!

[AzDar]

13. Totally agree.

[jmowreader]

17. I have a better idea

Let's ban the party caucuses.

[gopiscrap]

21. I agree