Lawmakers Try to Fix Halt on Military Death Benefits Due to Shutdown

Reid gives big speech about it

Lawmakers scurried Tuesday to find a way to provide a death benefit to the families of soldiers killed that stopped last week when the government shut down.

The government shutdown is denying families of troops killed in combat, training or by other causes in the military from receiving an array of financial benefits, the Pentagon told USA TODAY.

On the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., offered a blistering assessment of the situation. In a rare move, he called all 100 senators to the floor to hear his speech, which hit on the shutdown more broadly as well as the death benefits.