The Pentagon confirmed that it will not be able to pay death benefits to the families of troops who have been killed in combat because of the current government shutdown, NBC News reported.
House lawmakers, however, said that they are planning to vote Wednesday on a bill to restore funding for the payments, while Speaker John Boehner accused the Obama administration of needlessly withholding the money.
"Unfortunately, as a result of the shutdown, we do not have the legal authority to make death gratuity payments at this time. However, we are keeping a close eye on those survivors who have lost loved ones serving in the Department of Defense," said Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a Defense Department spokesman.
Boehner said that a bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama last week to pay for soldiers' families should have enabled the pentagon the ability "to pay all kinds of bills, including this. I think it's disgraceful that they're withholding these benefits," the House Speaker said.
Boehner said a bill will be written, with the intention that it would be passed by the House and Senate, before President Barack Obama will then sign it.
The Pentagon reportedly said that it has specific instructions from its budget office not to make payments for soldiers' death that happened ever since the government shutdown began at midnight on October 1.
"If the department was allowed to make death gratuity payments at any point during shutdown, they would've been paid with great relief," one official at the Pentagon said.
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