Honoring Civil Servants Killed in the Line of Duty Act

Honoring Civil Servants Killed in the Line of Duty Act is a Senate bill that would significantly increase and formalize federal death benefits for employees killed in the line of duty. It creates a new, federally administered death gratuity (5571) of starting $100,000 for deaths occurring on or after enactment, with annual adjustments tied to the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE). The head of the employing agency would pay the gratuity from agency salaries and expenses, in addition to any other death benefits already payable. The bill also raises and indexes funeral expenses, fixes and clarifies who can receive these gratuities (with a defined order of precedence), and adjusts related provisions to coordinate with existing death benefits under other laws. It adds emergency supplemental authority for disaster or other events that prevent timely payment, plus reporting and oversight requirements (notably a GAO audit and annual reporting on totals paid). In addition to the new Title 5 death gratuity, the bill makes aligned changes to existing law governing death gratuities for injuries incurred in connection with service with the armed forces and for deaths sustained abroad in the Foreign Service, including offsets between benefits and a redefinition of the beneficiary framework to emphasize named beneficiaries and survivors. It also broadens cross-references in Title 49 to incorporate the new provision and clarifies administration and eligibility rules. Overall, the bill aims to provide larger, indexed payments to survivors and to streamline and monitor how these benefits are paid and reported.