Noteboom The Law Firm

Bill Aims to Help Parents of America’s Fallen Soldiers

June 2, 2010 - U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry and Rep. Vic Snyder (D-AR.) co-sponsored H.R. 4505 (the Thornberry-Snyder Bill) and Thornberry testified in front of the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee in support of the bill last week. If the bi-partisan bill passes, parents who have had at least one son or daughter die while serving in the military will be given access to State Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) veterans' homes.

A parent whose child has died while serving in the military is known as a Gold Star parent. As the law stands, Gold Star parents are only given care in veterans' homes if they have lost all of their children while in service to this country. Should the bill pass, a parent would be granted admission to a veteran's home if they had lost just one child while in the service. As Congressman Thornberry said, the "best way to honor these men and women is to provide their parents access to our state veterans' homes when they need them."

The federal VA finances some of the state VA's operations by paying a daily rate adjusted for every veteran in the home. The federal VA also grants to their state counterparts funds for construction and/or necessary renovations. The state, however, outright owns and operates all state veterans homes. It would take both federal and state money, then, to take care of these parents of fallen soldiers.

Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) co-sponsored the Senate's counterpart to this bill, S. 1450. The sentiment between the bills is shared. Offering care and comfort to the parents of fallen soldiers is the least this country can do to honor the sacrifices made by the fallen soldiers.