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Sen. Hutchinson asks for "debt forgiveness" for troops KIA


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Hopefully this shit gets passed. I can only imagine a family whether it be wife or parents trying to deal with a loss then getting a collection letter to pay 80 bucks much less trying to scrape up 800 bucks.

 

Senator seeks debt forgiveness for soldiers killed in combat

 

By ANNA M. TINSLEY

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

 

 

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Kay Bailey Hutchison

 

 

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison doesn't want families that are grieving for soldiers killed in combat to be bothered by military debt collectors.

She filed a bill to forgive those soldiers' debts to the Veterans Affairs Department.

"This bill is about honoring our fallen heroes by treating the families they left behind with dignity and by showing them we mean it when we tell them our nation is truly grateful," she said.

Currently, after a member of the military is killed, officials contact the family for collection of any debts owed to the VA. The department has tried to recover more than $56,000 from the families of 22 deceased soldiers, mostly for college loans. Three of the 22 cases occurred in Texas, according to Hutchison's office:

A soldier on his third tour in Iraq who was killed by a sniper's bullet and owed the government $389 for education. The family paid the debt.

An Army sergeant killed by a bomb during his second tour in Iraq who owed $2,282 in student loans. His family, including his wife and four children, paid the debt.

A Marine reservist killed in an explosion in Iraq who owed $845. The VA informed his mother of his death with a collection letter.

"The fact that the VA is forced to collect a few hundred dollars from bereaved mothers and fathers for something as simple as a small debt for education benefits is ludicrous," Hutchison said.

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dont vets get like a paycheck for going to war?

or any kind of money support from the gov?

they can use that to pay the debt.

 

this just rubbed me the wrong way i guess. as things stand its debatable whether widows are continuing to receive checks, and even in the best cases it can take over a year to start seeing that money. were compensation swift and guaranteed this could be a valid argument but from i understand this isnt the case.

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well, yes, i get you about the compensation money thing. but debt is debt and it shouldnt be canceled completely like magic.

those compensation checks can be of a certain amount, depending on the size of the debt.

 

im trying to be fair to everyone. the debt they might have is money taken from our taxes(depending of what kind of debt they are into).

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i can see your point...i guess for me it boils down to the ethics of the situation. if youre going to send husbands, wives, mothers and fathers off to die for, in this case, absolutely no justifiable reason, i think there should be some accountability. a lot of these widows are losing half of their income which is a huge blow. factor in children and it gets that much more difficult. id much rather see my taxes go towards taking care of those who have been hung out to dry by our government than see them use my money to tap our phones and buy more weapons.

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I think that this should bubble out further to any person killed in a tragedy that was basically unforeseen. Not just troops that are KIA.

 

It is completely unfair to the persons family to have to resolve that person's debt. Again I am not a lawyer or anything, and if documents were signed in both partners names this obviously couldn't count for those people. I'm talking about debts solely belonging to the party that has died. Especially if the person killed is the basically bread maker for that family.

 

Ah well, I guess life's a bitch then you....well you guys know the rest.

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Guest shai_hulud

This is reminiscent of England in the 19th century, where if a father died in debt, the son was obligated to pay the debt or go to debtor's prison.

 

Sadly, this administration doing this doesn't surprise me in the least. What surprises me is that the surviving family members paid the debt off.

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basically what boogiehands said.

im guessing alot of these guys took courses that would help themselves in their military career. so the government/armed services had a benefit there. it's not like they didn't have interest in it, meaning the individual. we're sending these people out there. if they're lucky they come back missing limbs and get shitty rehab at military hospitals. unlucky they die and while their families are grieving and trying to deal with the loss of the human being but also their income they get a bill for 80 bucks. just to see the mail with their name on it, open it up and see a bill to top it off.

it probably costs more to collect then the money owed.

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i can see your point...i guess for me it boils down to the ethics of the situation. if youre going to send husbands, wives, mothers and fathers off to die for, in this case, absolutely no justifiable reason, i think there should be some accountability. a lot of these widows are losing half of their income which is a huge blow. factor in children and it gets that much more difficult. id much rather see my taxes go towards taking care of those who have been hung out to dry by our government than see them use my money to tap our phones and buy more weapons.

 

so you do believe the government is a monster.

you arent wrong on that.

 

and i agree with that, in the sense that in the country we live today that bill will be a good thing.

 

 

in an idealistic way, not completely in favor.

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The pessimist in me wants to know where the money for that will come from (I'd love to see it pulled out of social security or some other bullshit program, which won't happen of course), but the grunt in me figures if I'm laying my ass on the line for this country, they can pay my debts if I get killed in the process.

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Technically it's illegal for a person in the military to be in debt. My roommate who's a marine told me that.

 

More on point, I think the fact that these people go to war so we don't have to, should alleviate them from paying for their college education completely. Why shouldn't that be included in the benefit of putting your life on the line? There is really no good reason that this should even be an issue. And I think that if this bill doesn't get passed, it would only take one call to a major news station to get it rolling again. Especially considering how seemingly no one wants this war to be continuing anyhow.

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well, yes, i get you about the compensation money thing. but debt is debt and it shouldnt be canceled completely like magic.

those compensation checks can be of a certain amount, depending on the size of the debt.

 

im trying to be fair to everyone. the debt they might have is money taken from our taxes(depending of what kind of debt they are into).

 

you are by far one of the oddest people in crossfire.

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Technically it's illegal for a person in the military to be in debt. My roommate who's a marine told me that.

 

More on point, I think the fact that these people go to war so we don't have to, should alleviate them from paying for their college education completely. Why shouldn't that be included in the benefit of putting your life on the line? There is really no good reason that this should even be an issue. And I think that if this bill doesn't get passed, it would only take one call to a major news station to get it rolling again. Especially considering how seemingly no one wants this war to be continuing anyhow.

 

It's not illegal for us to be in debt, but we are expected to be "financially responsible" under the UCMJ and can be punished in a non-judicial manner for having too much debt.

 

I'm content with the GI Bill as far as college money goes. I'm not looking to get into any Ivy League schools, so the amount I'll be getting for my $1200 investment is plenty in my eyes.

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thats fucked up... You got to figure that when you die, your debts are canceled and that the military wouldn't be trying to get a few hundred dollars out of some dead soldiers families after they die..

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Guest shai_hulud
thats fucked up... You got to figure that when you die, your debts are canceled and that the military wouldn't be trying to get a few hundred dollars out of some dead soldiers families after they die..

 

But...but...but the Army needs that money to buy new guns. What are you, un-American? Where's your sense of patriotism?

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Freedom isn't free...and neither is that college education, even if you're dead!

 

But really though, I don't think this is about something like a mortgage or an ongoing debt with a service attached. I think this is primarily about loans such as student loans or past debts that may have been accrued on credit cards or something. As to who absorbs the cost, the amount is so minimum I can't imagine it would really be an issue. I mean in most cases it would likely be the cost of employing that soldier for another year or two had he not died. It's not like Harvard medical school grads are jumping into the infantry after graduating...

 

Here is the press release:

 

http://www.senate.gov/~hutchison/pr012208a.html

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