Press Releases

Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) reintroduced the Honoring Civil Servants Killed in the Line of Duty Act, bipartisan legislation to provide death benefits to the families of civil servants who are killed while on official duty.

“For too long, families of civil servants who give their lives in service to our nation have been denied proper benefits upon the deaths of their loved ones,” said Congressman Connolly. “That must change. I am proud to join my friend Brian Fitzpatrick to introduce this important legislation today.”

“Civil servants who give their lives in service to our nation deserve the same honor and support as those in the military and Foreign Service,” said Congressman Fitzpatrick. “This bipartisan bill fixes outdated policy and ensures their families receive the benefits and recognition their sacrifice demands.”

Unlike their counterparts in the U.S. Military and the Foreign Service, the families of employees in the civil service who die in the line of duty are not provided adequate benefits when their loved ones make the ultimate sacrifice.

The Honoring Civil Servants in the Line of Duty Act raises the one-time benefit to the survivors of a civil servant killed while serving the nation from the current $10,000 (set in 1997) to $100,000, bringing the amount more in line with what is paid to the survivors of military and Foreign Service employees killed in the line of duty. The bill also increases the amount provided for funeral expenses from $800 (an amount unchanged since Lyndon B. Johnson was in office) to $8,000.

In addition, the legislation would:

Provide automatic cost-of-living adjustments to the death and funeral benefits provided to survivors of the deceased; Expand the scope of who qualifies as a beneficiary; Clarify who qualifies as a federal civil servant for the purposes of the benefit; Ensure that agencies treat the benefit as mandatory and not discretionary; Make administrative, conforming changes to the Foreign Service and military death benefits; and Authorize funding in certain cases where a major event may cause a large number of federal civilian deaths.

Text of the legislation is available here.