Berkley resurrects vets’ burial cost bill

WASHINGTON -- The federal government should pay more of the costs for burying military veterans, according to Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

The government pays $300 to private and state military cemeteries to help reduce the burial cost for a veteran's family.

Berkley has resurrected a bill that would increase that federal payment to $750, which would be the first increase since 2001.

"I sense push back from the Republicans because of the cost," said Berkley, who is a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

"But I'm going to the mat on this one," she said. "We ask these people to pay the ultimate price, and then we say the price is too high to bury them. How absurd is that?"

Berkley's bill also would increase compensation to $4,100 from $2,000 for the burial in national cemeteries of veterans who die in combat or because of their military service.

For veterans who do not die of military-related causes but still wish to be buried at a national cemetery, the bill would raise the burial allowance to $1,270 from $300.

Berkley first introduced the bill more than four years ago, but it stalled in the Republican-controlled House.

With Democrats in charge, Berkley said the bill's prospects have improved. The bill, which was introduced July 31, and has 16 co-sponsors so far.

Calls to the Republican staff of the House Veterans Affairs Committee were not returned.

"When I first began campaigning in American Legion halls and whenever I met with veterans, the cost of burying loved ones always came up," Berkley said.

Jack Porrino, superintendent of the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, said the federal compensation of $300 is far below the actual burial cost of about $1,000.

"Every state cemetery would agree with me on that," said Porrino, who supports Berkley's legislation.

Tim Tetz, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services in Reno, said the increase in federal payments is long overdue.

"The Veterans Administration created this partnership with state cemeteries to offset the burden of burial costs and allow veterans to be buried close to home," Tetz said. "But the cost is increasing for states and veterans' families while the federal responsibility has remained the same."

Berkley also has proposed another bill which would extend the $300 burial plot allowance to veterans of any war and veterans who were discharged from active service for a disability incurred or aggravated during the line of duty.

Republicans seemed more receptive to this bill, which was the subject of a July 31 hearing by the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs, Berkley said.