President Barack Obama signed a House bill on Thursday night that allows families of deceased service members to collect benefits during the government shutdown, the White House announced.
The bill “provides continuing appropriations for standard death gratuities and related survivor benefits for survivors of deceased military service members of the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes,” according to the White House statement.
Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that the president was “very disturbed” when he learned the Pay Our Military Act, which was passed before the government shutdown to ensure U.S. military members would receive pay for its duration, did not explicitly address the benefits.
