From the moment you get that knock on the door to the moment you’re handed a folded American flag, Gold Star families face a lifetime shaped by loss. Last week we observed Gold Star Spouses Day on April 5. April is also the Month of the Military Child. I invite you to reflect on the sacrifices of our military families, especially those whose loved one paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Losing a loved one in service to our country hits differently. These families are asked to carry on with strength and dignity, embodying the very ideals their loved ones fought to defend. It’s often called an honor no one wants.

I recently had the privilege of meeting with members of the Gold Star Wives of America in my Washington, D.C., office. Their resilience, grace and determination to advocate for military families left a lasting impression. Their stories are powerful reminders of the human cost of service.

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The sacrifice of our military families can’t be overstated. Every lost servicemember comes with ripple effects—lives disrupted, futures derailed, and families left with only memories and a folded flag.

As the father of a beautiful little girl, I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child. One Gold Star mother recently told my office about losing her son in 2010 to an IED in Afghanistan. She said, “Increasing the death benefit will help new Gold Star Families in many ways.” For her, this initial bridge payment helped cover travel expenses for family members who wanted to pay their respects; for others, it helped cover funeral costs or other bills left unpaid.  

The sacrifice of our military families can’t be overstated. Every lost servicemember comes with ripple effects—lives disrupted, futures derailed, and families left with only memories and a folded flag.

Grief doesn’t end after the funeral. Families have to come to grips with the fact that their loved one will never have another birthday or celebrate another Christmas. Spouses will mourn anniversaries and have to decide when or if to stop wearing a wedding ring. 

Gold Star children will have to live with disappointment for the rest of their lives, facing the reality of walking down the aisle without a father or picking out a wedding dress without a mother. These are all the tragic possibilities that every service member knows they are risking when they sign up to serve and the realities far too many have to face. 

A girl reacts in front of a headstone during Memorial Day as visitors honor veterans and those lost in war at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, U.S., May 31, 2021.   (Reuters)

Beyond emotional hardship, there are practical concerns too. Young spouses often put their own careers on hold to support their military husband or wife. When the worst happens, they now need to figure out how to financially support themselves and their children and all while navigating extreme grief. 

The reality these families face underscores a critical question: Why haven’t survivor benefits kept pace with modern needs? The initial payment families receive upon the death of their loved one has not been updated in over 20 years. Other benefits, including social security, military retirement, and federal salaries, have been adjusted for inflation, but not “death gratuity” payments for our military families. It’s time to correct this wrong.

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That’s why I introduced the bipartisan Honoring Our Nation’s Obligation to Remember (HONOR) Gold Star Families Act. This legislation would increase the military death gratuity—often called the bridge payment—from $100,000 to $200,000 for the families of fallen servicemembers. 

The bill also adds a cost-of-living adjustment so that future payments automatically rise with inflation, helping ensure continued support for Gold Star families over time. This legislation was co-led by Armed Services Committee members Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii. It was also endorsed by the American Gold Star Mothers, the Gold Star Wives of America, Military-Veterans Advocacy and the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS).

Recent losses remind us that this burden is ongoing. Take the recent conflict with Iran, where 13 servicemembers have lost their lives. One of those soldiers was Capt. Cody Khork, a 35-year-old man who, according to his family, was deeply patriotic and was defined by “love of country.”

Another servicemember who lost her life was Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor. She is survived by a son in his senior year of high school and a daughter in fourth grade. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan was also killed in the conflict. 

His niece wrote on Facebook. “You’re our Hero with a servant’s heart, you lead with love and bravery, you gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country, an honorable soldier, and I believe God welcomed you Home with open arms saying, ‘Well done, my son, well done.’”

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The loss and heartache these families are experiencing right now cannot be quantified, but we can keep them in our prayers as they grieve, and we can support them in a meaningful way.

That’s why I made the HONOR Gold Star Families Act retroactive. My bill will apply to all families who have lost a loved one in Operation Epic Fury regardless of when my bill is signed into law. 

Our Gold Star moms, dads, children, spouses, and siblings have given so much for our nation. It’s time we give back to them—and this bill is just one way to do that.  

FIRST ON FOX: A conservative watchdog urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to toss Washington, D.C.’s National Guard lawsuit, arguing the city cannot sue itself because it is part of the federal government.

“To start, one cannot sue oneself,” Oversight Project lawyers wrote in a brief in the case. “And that is what this case ultimately is—the United States suing itself. Moreover, it is a foundational principle of the law that a municipal corporation cannot sue its sovereign creator.”

The appeal sits at the intersection of Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington last year and D.C.’s long-running fight over self-government. What began as a lawsuit over the president’s deployment of forces into the capital has now evolved into a threshold legal battle over whether the district has the right to challenge that move in federal court at all.

Oversight Project lawyers told Fox News Digital in an interview that if the appellate court judges in Washington were to agree with them, the decision would reach far beyond the National Guard lawsuit, which arose last year when the Trump administration began deploying military forces to blue cities in several jurisdictions to support immigration officials and, in D.C.’s case, to make the city “safe and beautiful.”

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Members of the National Guard patrol around Washington, D.C., on March 26, 2026. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

“If the judges find our argument valid, it’s going to kind of restore the normal system, which is D.C. is entirely subordinate to the federal government and these disputes are resolved politically,” Oversight Project lawyer Sam Dewey said.

The proper recourse for D.C. against the federal government on any issue would be for the D.C. Council to turn to the president and Congress, not the courts, Dewey said.

The case stemmed from D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb suing last September, arguing Trump encroached on the city’s perceived independence by disregarding “Congress’s decision, half a century ago, to afford the residents of the District ‘the powers of local self-government.’”

A three-judge panel temporarily paused a lower court’s injunction against the administration while the appeals court continues to examine the merits of the case. Two of the judges on the panel, both Trump appointees, wrote in a concurring opinion that the pause was necessary because D.C. did not, in fact, have standing to sue, echoing what the Oversight Project detailed in its new amicus brief in the case.

“We have never recognized that the District possesses an independent sovereignty that can give rise to an Article III injury from actions of the federal government,” the two Trump-appointed judges wrote.

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The Trump administration deployed federal officers and the National Guard to the District in order to place the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital in 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump began deploying National Guard forces to cities across the country last year as part of an effort to support immigration authorities, who faced waves of protests and riots over their deportation efforts. The Supreme Court stepped in, however, saying the deployment was likely unlawful under the law Trump invoked. The order applied to cities including Portland, Oregon; and Chicago, but not D.C., because of the district’s unique status.

In D.C., Trump extended roughly 2,600 National Guard soldiers’ presence through the end of 2026, and the president has signaled he hopes to further extend that timeline, despite continued opposition from D.C.’s Democratic leadership.

“This is actually training. I never want to take them out of D.C. I mean, maybe somebody later on will do it,” Trump said in a Cabinet meeting last month.

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People participate in a rally against the Trump Administration’s federal takeover of the District of Columbia, outside of the AFL-CIO on August 11, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Briefing in the lawsuit is set to stretch through May and the appeals court could schedule oral arguments after that before making a decision on the legality of the National Guard’s presence and activities.

Fox News Digital reached out to Schwalb’s office for comment.