
(HorizonPost.com) – A group of 49 military and veteran non-profit organizations is calling on Congress to expand the Gold Star definition to include families of service members who were not directly killed in combat.
The organizations sent a letter to senior members of Congress last month asking lawmakers to establish a more “inclusive definition” of Gold Star that would recognize service members and veterans who “died while serving or from a service-connected injury or illness.”
The groups are seeking to have the Gold Star definition include, not just those killed in action but also those “who die from visible and invisible wounds,” including suicide or exposure to deadly toxins.
Such a broad category would include President Biden’s family since his son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, allegedly from his exposure to burn pits while serving as a lawyer in the Army National Guard in Iraq several years earlier.
The 49 organizations, which included AmVets, Blue Star Families, the American Red Cross, Swords to Plowshares, and the Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce, told the lawmakers that expanding the Gold Star definition would include roughly 3 million people, including some survivors.
They argued that previous legislation failed to include consistent language in defining what a Gold Star family is and said by “creating a consistent, legal definition,” Congress would ensure that future legislation would improve benefits for all surviving military families.
In 2022, Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa and Massachusetts Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation to create a federal holiday in September called Gold Star Families Day.
The bill described Gold Star families as the immediate loved ones of a service member who died while serving or from a service-related illness or injury.
The definition outraged the families of those killed in combat, as well as some senior Pentagon officials, prompting some senators to withdraw their support for the legislation. Ultimately, the bill died without receiving a vote.
The Biden White House has declined to discuss how it would like Gold Star to be defined. The National Security Council said in a statement that President Biden respected and was “deeply grateful” to all military families who are grieving.
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