Charity to Provide Military Survivor Benefits During Shutdown

A Maryland-based charity has promised to ensure the families of fallen troops will be paid survivor benefits during the government shutdown.

The Fisher House Foundation will ensure benefits including a $100,000 payment will be paid within days of a death, Fisher House spokesperson Kerri Childress told CNN.

"Under a government shutdown, the Department of Defense has no authority to pay death benefits to these families," chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told CNN. As well as the payment, the benefits include funeral and burial reimbursements. It also includes a gratuity for travel to funeral or memorial services—or to Dover Air Force Base, where the bodies of troops who die overseas are typically sent.