ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996            TAG: 9601170028
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS 

SPECIAL BENEFIT TO BE RESTORED FOR RAIL RETIREES

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board says it will restore a railroad retirement benefit that was cut in January as a result of the budget fight between Congress and President Clinton.

A special benefit called a "vested dual benefit" that is paid to retirees who qualified for both Social Security and railroad retirement before 1975 was reduced by two-thirds in January. Funding for the benefit, which is provided through general federal revenue appropriations, lapsed because of the budget fight.

The benefit, which goes to about 20 percent of railroad retirees and averages about $130 a month, will be restored in full on Feb. 1. Additionally, a retroactive payment to replace the amount cut from checks to retirees in January will be mailed the last week in January.

For the most part, railroad retirement benefits are paid for by contributions from the railroads and their employees in essentially the same way Social Security benefits are funded for the rest of the working population. When Congress eliminated duplication of Social Security and railroad benefits in 1975, it established the special benefit to help partially compensate those who had qualified for both.

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