A bill that would remove unfair restrictions on survivor benefits faced by spouses under age 55 has moved further than ever on the way to becoming law.

The MOAA-supported Love Lives On Act (H.R. 1004 | S. 410) would allow surviving spouses to maintain certain benefits, including Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and Survivor Benefit Plan payments, regardless of the age at which they remarry. Current law revokes these benefits if the spouse remarries before age 55, leaving many young spouses a stark choice: Restore a two-parent household or maintain financial security.

[TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Lawmakers to Support the Love Lives On Act]

The Senate version passed unanimously out of that chamber’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee on March 18, making it eligible for a vote by the full Senate once a means to pay for the legislation is identified. It's the first time the legislation has reached this stage of Senate consideration.

Momentum also has continued on the House side, with that chamber’s version unanimously clearing the House Veterans’ Affairs Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs subcommittee March 26, making it eligible for the full committee’s review and vote. The bill followed a similar path in the 118th session but ultimately was not considered by the full committee.

More Work to Do

The progress shows lawmakers are taking the issue seriously – of more than 12,800 bills introduced in the 119th Congress as of March 27, only about 680 had been “ordered reported” by a committee and sent to the full chamber for consideration.

But with less than 100 bills signed by the president into law this session, the fight is far from over. Lawmakers still need to identify a funding mechanism to pay for the bill and cannot move forward to a vote without it. If and when funding is identified, the bill will move forward to a vote in both the Senate and House chambers.

[KEEPING OUR PROMISE: Fixing a System That Penalizes Surviving Spouses]

Why It Matters

The average surviving spouse of a post-9/11 servicemember is 25 to 35 years old, according to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), leaving many with young children of the deceased servicemember to raise on their own. To put this in perspective: Operation Enduring Freedom began Oct. 7, 2001. A military spouse who was 25 at the time would turn 50 this year, still five years shy of the age of remarriage without penalty.

Transforming a strong family unit into a single-parent household overnight and then financially incentivizing the surviving spouse to remain single is not “indemnity.” An indemnity payment is to “compensat[e] a person for damages or losses they have incurred due to a specified accident, incident, or event”.  

These survivor benefits are owed by the government to the surviving family because of its liability in the loss of the servicemember’s life. Indemnity does not have an age restriction. Many surviving spouses feel they are being forced to choose between providing financially for a fallen servicemember’s children … or providing a second parent.

This conditional support for surviving families based on the age of the surviving spouse at remarriage must end. The Love Lives On Act, would correct this injustice; ask your lawmaker to support this legislation as it continues to move forward through both chambers.