President Bush will propose an increase of about $250,000 in government payments to families of U.S. troops killed in combat zones.
The plan to increase the tax-free "death gratuity" from $12,420 to $100,000 and provide an extra $150,000 in insurance will be part of the fiscal 2006 budget proposal, a Pentagon official said. The hike would be retroactive to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
