NEW YORK - Intomorrow evening's State of the Union address, as well as in his budget proposal to Congress, President Bush will call for an increase in the death benefit paid to the families of fallen troops. Iraq Veteran and Executive Director of Operation Truth Paul Rieckhoff released the following statement today praising the President, but warned there is still much to do:

"On behalf of the troops we represent, I thank thePresident forcallingon Congress to boost the benefits paid to the families of our fallen troops, as well as Senators Sessions and Lieberman and Representative Bachus, who are moving legislation through Congress right now to boost the death benefit.

"The current death benefit ofroughly $12,500 isn't even enough to pay for burial costs, let alone ease the burden on a family that loses one of their loved ones who makes the supreme sacrifice. This is also a matter of morale. What does it say to one of our servicemembers about their worth to this country to see that number so low?

"Everyone in Washington says they support the troops. Now it is time for them to put their money where their mouth is, and support the President's call to raise the death benefit.

"But there is still a long way to go before troops' and Veterans' needs are truly taken care of.Tomorrow night, it is our sincere hope that the President will call for a boost infunding to the Veterans Administration (VA), greater access to the TRICARE program among Reservists and Guardsmen, and a better system to help transition the troops back to civilian life as they come home.

"The raise in the death benefit is a great start, but it is far from being 'mission accomplished.'"

Operation Truth (www.optruth.org)is a the nation's largest non-partisan organization representing Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.