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The Pentagon says it is not allowed to pay these families a death gratuity, so long as the shutdown continues. The same goes for the family of a Marine who died in Afghanistan on Saturday and any others who die during the budget impasse.

Military veterans will lose many of their veterans’ benefits in “late October” if the government shutdown persists, according to newly-released U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs documents. The VA has been continuing to make payments to veterans in the days since the Oct. 1 government shutdown, but agency officials say the pool of available money is dwindling. “Claims processing and payments in the compensation, pension, education and vocational rehabilitation programs are anticipated to continue through late October. However, in the event of a prolonged shutdown, claims processing and payments in these programs would be suspended when available funding is exhausted,” said...

Hyundai is offering to defer car payments for federal workers kept from their jobs by the government shutdown. The automaker announced on Tuesday that it would allow Hyundai owners to stop making car payments for as long as the shutdown keeps them out of work.

Looking for input from anyone who is using or has used Amac. I've received literature from Amac - The Conservative Alternative to AARP, and would like to hear reviews from anyone currently using it. Please, this is a serious question, and I would like serious answers. Thank you all.

Legally married same-sex couples enjoy the same federal rights as other married couples when it comes to pensions, 401(k)s, health plans and other employee benefits, even if they live in states that don’t recognize their union, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The new guidance is the latest effort by the Obama administration to clarify questions left unanswered after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in June which invalidated part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. … “This decision represents a historic step toward equality for all American families, and I have directed the department’s agency heads to ensure that they...

Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, reportedly will no longer offer health insurance coverage to about 180,000 employees at its approximately 8,000 US stores. Going forward, workers will need to buy coverage on so-called healthcare exchanges with an employer-provided subsidy. The company apparently attributed the major change to its benefits package to healthcare cost increases as well as Obamacare, according to the Wall Street Journal. Healthcare exchanges or marketplaces are supposed to be up in running as of October 1 under Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act. During an August 2009 town hall meeting, President Obama promised that “If you...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will extend its health care benefits to its U.S. workers’ domestic partners, including those of the same sex, starting Jan. 1. The nation’s largest private employer, which has been a target of attacks by labor groups for what they criticize are skimpy wages and benefits, said Tuesday that the changes were made so it could have one uniform policy for all 50 states at a time when some states have their own definitions of what constitutes domestic partnerships and civil unions. Employees can enroll their domestic partners from Oct. 12 through Nov. 1. Wal-Mart defines domestic partners...

Health insurance benefits for same-sex couples and domestic partners will soon be offered by the nation's largest retailer. According to CNNMoney.com, Walmart sent workers a postcard this week informing them that domestic partners of U.S. employees will be eligible to receive benefits starting Jan. 1. Domestic partners of opposite genders that have been in a committed relationship and living together for at least one year will also be covered under the upcoming changes, according to the article. Workers will be able to enroll from Oct. 12 through Nov. 1.

WASHINGTON — Same-sex military couples will qualify for full benefits, including government-provided healthcare and housing allowances, as long as they are legally married, under new rules announced by the Pentagon. The requirement for same-sex couples to be married is a shift for the Pentagon, which in February announced that full benefits would be provided to members of the military and same-sex spouses if they attested they were in a “committed relationship.” But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday that finding a way for unmarried, long-term couples to qualify for benefits “is no longer necessary,” since a Supreme Court ruling in...

The “First in Flight” State, North Carolina, has now become the first state in the Union to reject federal money and put an end to unemployment benefits for 70, 000 people on Monday. The state legislature made the decision citing saving businesses money and to make extra payments on a debt they have which is due in 2015, rather than had been assumed in 2018. WRAL reports: State officials adopted the package of benefit cuts and increased taxes for businesses in February, a plan designed to accelerate repayment of a $2.5 billion federal debt. Like many states, North Carolina had...

Helping another person even when doing so could adversely affect you is considered a virtue by many. People are often applauded as heroes, as they should be, when they help others. But what happens when a well-intended action results in unanticipated harm? Expand that thought one more step: What is the effect if the resulting harm should have been known, but the persons taking action out of supposed "altruism" based their actions on emotions rather than on data? They meant to help, but they ended up hurting someone or some group -- either themselves, the intended beneficiary of the action...

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Motion sensors and razor-wire coils ring the ammunition depot on this vast Marine Corps base. Sentries stand watch in the lobby of the headquarters complex. Military police officers patrol the barracks every few hours. But no building here boasts the defenses of the giant, government-run supermarket, whose bright, wide aisles are stocked with seemingly every brand of every food product available in America — Heinz ketchup, Oscar Mayer bacon, Lay’s chips — all sold at close to wholesale prices. The cost of ordering the goods, filling the shelves and checking out customers is all borne by...

Amnesty, and particularly citizenship, for people who broke the law to get here is bad policy because it rewards law breakers and advantages them over law abiders. It’s also very costly, as a study released by the Heritage Foundation demonstrates, The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer: Executive Summary Unlawful immigration and amnesty for current unlawful immigrants can pose large fiscal costs for U.S. taxpayers. Government provides four types of benefits and services that are relevant to this issue: Direct benefits. These include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. Means-tested welfare benefits. There...

President Obama said Tuesday that Americans who already have health insurance are “already experiencing most of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, even if they don’t know it,” responding to a question about what Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mt.) has dubbed the “train wreck” of implementing Obamacare: OBAMA: The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, has now been with us for three years. It’s gone through Supreme Court tests. It’s gone through efforts to repeal. A huge chunk of it has already been implemented and for the 85, 90 percent of Americans who already have health insurance, they’re already experiencing most...

The Texas Constitution bans the city of Austin, Travis County and area school districts from offering domestic partner benefits to employees in same-sex relationships, according to a legal opinion released Monday by Attorney General Greg Abbott. Domestic partnerships, as recognized by the local governments, are close enough to the definition of marriage to violate a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions that 76 percent of Texas voters approved in 2005, the opinion stated.

Welfare Terrorist: Tamerlan Tsarnaev stylin' with his Mercedes and iPhone - all on the taxpayer's dime. 'Aint the U.S. "asylum" system great?- Americans are disgusted with everything to do with the late Chechen Muslim terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev. They are enraged by the innocent victims he slaughtered and maimed in Boston last week. They are outraged by how their own government let him slip through their fingers, despite repeated warnings. And now we have the last thing we need : yet another outrage about the Boston jihad leader: he was on welfare.That's right, the Boston Marathon bombings mastermind was living on...

The labor market is one of the most regulated markets in our economy. Minimum wage laws effectively tell teenagers they cannot work unless they can produce $7.25 an hour. When the ObamaCare mandate kicks in next year, that hurdle will climb to more than $15 an hour for many potential employees. OSHA regulations dictate what risks workers may and may not take while on the job. Wage and hour laws dictate what wage rate a worker can accept in order to be able to work at nights and on weekends. Those same laws tell many parents they can't take off...

A state representative is proposing a bill that would prevent people who lose a job because of a failed drug test from receiving unemployment benefits. Rep. Ken Goike, R-Ray Township said the inspiration for House Bill 5412 came from a story he was told by a relative. Rep. Goike said his brother-in-law is a plant manager in Macomb County and was set to hire 100 employees. Rep. Goike said his brother-in-law told him that half of the applicants couldn't be hired because they failed the drug test necessary to run the equipment. Rep. Goike Rep. Goike said he's not requesting...

By denying coverage to spouses, employers not only save the annual premiums, but also the new fees that went into effect as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The federal government has begun visiting employment insurance recipients at home as part of an "examination" being conducted while the program undergoes an overhaul. The majority of individuals selected for a random audit are receiving invitations, in person, to appear at their customary EI interviews as part of the project, which wraps up next month. Some recipients are already on edge, given the changes to the program that have seasonal workers fearing their benefits might be cancelled. ...snip... "Every year, unfortunately, in our employment insurance system, hundreds of millions of dollars are identified or are lost through false or fraudulent...