Media Mention: 'The Disgrace of War Widows Fighting for Benefits'

Author Bob Geiger reports on Kristen Fenty's 'Widow's Tax' advocacy at The Huffington Post.

Here's an excerpt of Geiger's story:

Kristen Fenty knows a thing or two about pain and struggle. 

Like all Gold Star Wives -- women whose spouses have died or been killed while on active duty in the U.S. military -- she has learned to live with the grief of losing her life partner, the disintegration of the life she imagined and, like so many war widows, the burden of instantly becoming a single parent and shepherding a child through the loss of her father.

What Kristen Fenty didn't expect was six years of getting raked over bureaucratic coals in simply trying to receive and keep the benefits to which surviving military families are entitled. . .

Read the full story here.

The Face of the Affected

‎Kristen Fenty and I have been passing out this sheet to members of Congress to help educate them on the unfair Survival Benefit Plan offset issue. It features a picture of Kristen's daughter Lauren, who was 28 days old when her father, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph J. Fenty, was killed in Afghanistan.

In one powerful image, it captures the reality of Lauren's life: that this precious child will never be able to know her father as she so richly deserved.

I encourage all our friends and fellow citizens to be outspoken in defense of surviving military families and to support HR178 & S260, much needed legislation that eliminates the unfair offset levied upon the earned benefits of our fallen heroes. 

I see it as a small, yet powerful gesture that we as the citizens of a grateful nation can make in support of the thousands of surviving military families that are affected by this issue.

Please follow this link to contact your elected representatives today.

New support for the Survival Benefit Plan Reform Cause

I am pleased to report that our effort to ensure that Congress stands behind the families of military heroes who died upon the battlefield or from a service-related cause now has the support of the team at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP.

The members of this full-service law firm are experts in government relations and we are deeply grateful that they are willing to stand with us as committed advocates before the Congress.