Don't Tax our Fallen Public Safety Heroes Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I am very pleased to be here to join my colleague Senator Ayotte in applauding the passage in both the House and the Senate--today in the Senate--of H.R. 606, the Don't Tax Our Fallen Public Safety Heroes Act.

As Senator Ayotte said so eloquently, this is legislation we have worked on for over a year. It was first introduced in the last Congress. Now, it is finally on its way to the President's desk to become law, and it couldn't be happening at a more important time.

This is National Police Week, but maybe more important for New Hampshire, this week we celebrate the memory of Officer Stephen Arkell of Brentwood. He was killed in the line of duty just a year ago this week. Last night, Officer Arkell's name was added to the Roll of Honor of police officers killed in the line of duty at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC.

Officer Arkell was not only a terrific police officer, he was a very good and decent man. As I read in one newspaper, he was the kind of police officer who would rather write a warning than a ticket, and he aimed to end fights with words instead of handcuffs.

Well, it has been a full year since we lost Officer Arkell. We don't forget, and we will never forget his example of courageous public service. Day in and day out, our public safety officers, our police, our firefighters, and their families make enormous sacrifices.

Now, family members fully understand the dangers of their spouses' jobs. They live with that constant worry. But when the worst happens in the line of duty to a loved one, the last thing a surviving family should have to worry about is navigating the Federal Tax Code. For too long, families of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty have had to wrangle with the IRS to exempt death benefits from taxation. They have had to hire lawyers and wait years for a ruling from the IRS and, in the meantime, their urgently needed benefits are held up.

This is just unacceptable, and today it ends. Thankfully, the House and Senate have passed a bill to exempt these death benefits from taxation, ending any ambiguity that may have existed. So this is legislation that should not just help the Arkell family, but it should help families across this country.

I applaud the work of my colleague Senator Ayotte on this bill, all of our colleagues in the Senate who have helped to make this happen and also those in the House who understood the need to help support our fallen public safety heroes. When the President signs this bill into law, this problem will finally be cleared up once and for all.

Again, I thank my colleague Senator Ayotte for all of her work on this issue. I am delighted it is finally done and look forward to making sure it gets implemented in a way that continues to support the surviving families.

I yield the floor.

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