VFW Commander: Unfunded death benefits for fallen troops a ‘slap in the face’

MADISON – While the families of fallen military service members wondered how they would cover the cost of funerals, traveling expenses and mortgages, it must have been a real comfort to know that at least members of Congress can still get on the elliptical or get in some laps in the pool.

The elite, members-only congressional spa and gym remained open, reportedly at House Speaker John Boehner’s order, while the partial government shutdown dragged into its ninth day Wednesday.

While politicians and the press picked at the issue, Wisconsin Veterans of Foreign War Commander Renee Simpson was not amused.

“That’s a slap in the face,” Simpson, a disabled veteran who served in Bosnia told Wisconsin Reporter Wednesday. “Now we have these family members, who lost their loved ones overseas, that aren’t going to get their gratuity for the loss of their loved ones, but we’re saying (Congress) can still go to the gym.”

While Congress is free to exercise, the Pentagon had ordered that it will not pay death benefits to families of military members killed in combat while the shutdown and the budget impasse that caused it go on.

Read more at WisconsinReporter.com

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