WASHINGTON — For soldiers looking to provide for their loved ones after they die, there are two checks.

One is the check they know their families automatically will receive. The other is a death benefit they pay for each month.

The problem: Under current law, the first check often reduces the second to nothing.

To change the law, U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., has filed a bill, and the surviving relatives of an S.C. Marine have lent their voices and faces to the campaign.

“I thought I might be able to make this path a little easier for those who, unfortunately, will follow,” said Jenn McCollum, the widow of Marine Capt. Dan McCollum, a 1992 Irmo High graduate.

McCollum spent part of this week in Washington lobbying for the bill, which would affect 55,000 military families. On a poster for the campaign now circulating through the halls of Congress, she holds her toddler, who holds a photo of his father in his Marine dress blues.

Supporters of the campaign say the current rules deliver an unfair financial blow to survivors.

Specifically, soldiers such as Dan McCollum pay into the Pentagon’s Survivors Benefit Plan so their survivors can collect a portion of their retirement pay. But that check is reduced by the amount of a second benefit.

This benefit is sent to the families of those who die on active duty or of a cause related to military service. Called Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, it comes from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In many cases, the VA indemnity wipes out all Pentagon Survivors Benefit Plan insurance, said Lee Lange, vice president of the Washington-based Military Officers Association of America, which is sponsoring the campaign.

Soldiers know the VA will send their families an indemnity check if they die, Brown says, but they pay for the Survivors Benefit Plan to strengthen the safety net.

“They paid for it. They should be able to collect it,” Brown said.

Brown’s bill has 36 co-sponsors. A similar bill has been filed in the Senate.

Changing the law would cost $6.6 billion over the next 10 years. Brown says he is looking to pay for it with cuts to other parts of the federal budget.

Reach Markoe at (202) 383-6023 or lmarkoe@krwashington.com