WASHINGTON (June 7) – U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) today asked President Bush to direct the Department of Justice to award benefits authorized by Congress under the Hometown Heroes Survivor Benefits Act.
More than three and a half years after the bill, first introduced by Etheridge, became law, the Department of Justice has approved only six claims out of nearly 260 applications.
“The bureaucratic foot-dragging must end. Despite the clearly expressed intent of Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice has only approved six claims under the Hometown Heroes law,” said Etheridge. “Our first responders face stressful and strenuous situations everyday as they work to protect our communities. They deserve no less than our full support in ensuring their families are cared for when they make the ultimate sacrifice.”
In a letter he wrote to the President and signed by a bipartisan group of 101 Members of Congress, Etheridge asked the President to have his Administration expedite all outstanding claims and ensure that benefits are awarded in line with the intent of Congress. Etheridge sent a similar letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in April.
The law extends federal survivor benefits to the families of firefighters, police officers and emergency workers who die of heart attack or stroke in the line of duty. Many families have been waiting for a decision from the department on their claims since the bill became law in December 2003. In 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft mandated that Public Safety Officer Benefit claims be processed in 90 days.
The legislation was intended to create a presumption that the heart attack or stroke was caused by work in the line of duty, unless there was clear evidence to the contrary. However, the Department has placed an unnecessary burden on applicants by requesting volumes of paperwork including 10 years of medical history. Etheridge is concerned that the Department may be intentionally misinterpreting the direct, expressed intent of Congress and the President.
Heart attacks and strokes account for nearly half of firefighter deaths each year. A study published by the Harvard School of Public Health on March 22 found that firefighters face a much higher risk of death from a heart attack than the general population – up to 100 times greater when battling a fire. Etheridge’s bill was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the International Union of Police Associations and the Congressional Fire Services Institute.
This law is rooted in North Carolina, born out of a letter written to Etheridge by Mike Williams of Bunnlevel, who worked as the assistant chief of Flat Branch Volunteer Fire Department and in the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and inspired by the death of a North Carolina firefighter.
Read Etheridge’s letter to Bush here.