I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4403 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize space-available travel 

on military aircraft for unremarried surviving spouses of retired members 

of the uniformed services and the unremarried surviving spouses of 

veterans who died from a service-connected or compensable disability, 

and for the dependents of such spouses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Mr. WALZ (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. BUYER, and Mr. FILNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 

Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize spaceavailable travel on military aircraft for unremarried surviving spouses of retired members of the uniformed services and the unremarried surviving spouses of veterans 

who died from a service-connected or compensable disability, and for the dependents of such spouses. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Patriots Ac3 cess to Convenient and Economic Air Travel Act of 2009’’ 

4 or ‘‘SPACE–A Travel Act of 2009’’. 

5 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF UNREMARRIED SURVIVING 

6 SPOUSES OF DECEASED RETIRED MEMBERS 

7 AND CERTAIN OTHER VETERANS FOR SPACE8 AVAILABLE TRAVEL ON MILITARY AIRCRAFT. 

9 (a) ELIGIBILITY.—Chapter 157 of title 10, United 

10 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 2641b 

11 the following new section: 

12 ‘‘§ 2641c. Space-available travel on Department of De13 fense aircraft: unremarried surviving 

14 spouses of deceased retired members and 

15 certain other veterans; dependents 

16 ‘‘(a) UNREMARRIED SURVIVING SPOUSES.—(1) The 

17 unremarried surviving spouse of a retired member of the 

18 uniformed services shall be provided transportation on De19 partment of Defense aircraft, on a space-available basis, 

20 on the same basis as a spouse of a retired member. 

21 ‘‘(2) The unremarried surviving spouse of a former 

22 member of the uniformed services who is entitled to de23 pendency and indemnity compensation under section 1311 

24 of title 38 shall be provided transportation on Department 

25 of Defense aircraft, on a space-available basis, on the same 

26 basis as a spouse of a retired member. The Secretary of 


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1 Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans 

2 Affairs, shall develop an effective method to identify sur3 viving spouses eligible for transportation under this para4 graph. 

5 ‘‘(b) DEPENDENTS.—The dependent of a surviving 

6 spouse described in subsection (a) who is accompanied by 

7 the surviving spouse shall be provided transportation on 

8 Department of Defense aircraft, on a space-available 

9 basis, on the same basis as the surviving spouse. 

10 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION TO SPONSOR ACCOMPANIMENT RE11 QUIREMENT.—The requirement that dependents of a re12 tired member be accompanied by the sponsoring member 

13 in order to receive space-available transportation shall not 

14 apply to transportation provided under this section.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

16 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

17 after the item relating to section 2641b the following new 

18 item: 

‘‘2641c. Space-available travel on Department of Defense aircraft: unremarried 

surviving spouses of deceased retired members and certain 

other veterans; dependents.’’. 

Æ 


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