Protecting Our Widows and Widowers in Retirement Act

This bill changes how Social Security calculates monthly benefits for widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses. A surviving spouse would receive the greater of the deceased spouse's full benefit amount or, for a fully insured survivor, 75 percent of the combined total of the survivor's own retirement or disability benefit and the deceased spouse's benefit amount. The 75 percent option would be capped at the benefit of a hypothetical worker who earned 1 1/3 times the national average wage and retired early. The bill also states that any benefit increase from this change would not count as income when deciding eligibility for or the amount of Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The changes would apply to benefits paid for months after December 2026.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Linda T. Sánchez Democrat sponsor
• 6 cosponsors