Sponsors (7)
The bill expands and clarifies survivor and child Social Security protections and shields low-income recipients from offsets—providing more stable income for many families and disabled survivors—but increases Social Security costs and administrative complexity for SSA and for state/local budgets.
Disabled surviving spouses (including widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses) will be eligible for unreduced survivor benefits and retain entitlement despite later remarriage or months spent caring for a child, increasing and preserving their monthly income.
Children ages 16–17 and full-time elementary/secondary students up to age 19 will be eligible for Social Security child-in-care benefits, providing continued family income while youth remain in school.
Surviving spouses who delay filing can increase their monthly survivor benefit (up to the deceased worker's primary insurance amount or old-age benefit) beginning Jan 1, 2027, giving some survivors higher long-term payments.
Taxpayers and the Social Security system will face higher outlays because broader unreduced survivor benefits, extended child benefits, delayed-filing increases, and protections for means-tested programs raise program costs.
The Social Security Administration will face greater administrative complexity and workload (eligibility checks for older children/students, new survivor rules and calculations, mailing booklets), which could delay determinations and slow service.
Some survivors may see only limited additional benefits because increases are capped at the deceased's PIA or old-age benefit, and families may face short-term budgeting uncertainty until Jan 1, 2027 takes effect.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Expands and increases Social Security survivors benefits, raises child-in-care age, requires SSA outreach, and directs means-tested programs to disregard the added Social Security income.
Official title: To amend title II of the Social Security Act to increase survivors benefits for disabled widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 16, 2026 by Mary Gay Scanlon · Last progress July 16, 2026
Expands Social Security survivors benefits by removing several age- and timing-based restrictions for disabled surviving spouses, increasing delayed-claiming credits for widows and widowers, and raising the child-in-care age limit. It requires Social Security to publish and mail explanatory materials and directs that the added Social Security income not be counted by federal, state, or local programs for eligibility or benefit-calculation purposes. Most changes take effect January 1, 2027.