Death benefit too low?

Miyuki Cawley lives the hectic life of a single mother.

Before her husband was killed serving his country in Iraq, she knew a much simpler life. Grocery trips, picking up the kids from school and operating a small tailoring business in her spare time have been replaced with waiting tables, late nights studying and finding a minute to see her kids.

"Everything has changed," Cawley said. "There is not one aspect of my life that is still the same."

Staff Sgt. James W. Cawley, 41, died March 29, 2003, during a firefight near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah when he was struck by a coalition Humvee. He was the first Utahn to die in the conflict in Iraq.

As a Salt Lake City police detective, James Cawley often worked overtime to make sure his wife could stay at home and raise their two children, Cecil, 10, and Keiko, 8.

When he went off to war, James Cawley told his family not to worry about what could happen to them should he die — the military would take care of them, his sister Julie Cawley Hanson said.

When he died, the military wrote Miyuki Cawley a $6,000 military death benefit check — which was sliced in half after taxes.

"I just couldn't believe if he really didn't know or didn't understand, or if he was just naive enough to think that was enough," Cawley Hanson said.

The spouse's death benefit has since doubled and is tax exempt, but several national lawmakers say that's still not enough.

During the past week, lawmakers — both Democrat and Republican — have introduced bills to Congress that will boost death and insurance payments to survivors of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., introduced legislation Wednesday that would increase the one-time tax-free death gratuity payment for military spouses to $100,000.

The Honoring Every Requirement of Exemplary Service (HEROES) Act would also increase the maximum life-insurance coverage for service members to $400,000.

And on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., introduced similar legislation that would also increase the death gratuity to a one-time tax free payment of $100,000. But under Frist's plan, the maximum coverage for military life insurance would cap at $300,000. The bill would also extend medical insurance coverage to children of deceased service members.

Both bills would apply retroactively to cover those lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.