Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act
Official title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the requirement for reduction of survivor annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan for military surviving spo… Show full official titleShow less
Official title: To amend title 10, United States Code, to repeal the requirement for reduction of survivor annuities under the Survivor Benefit Plan for military surviving spouses to offset the receipt of veterans dependency and indemnity compensation, and for other purposes.
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Assigned to the Consensus Calendar, Calendar No. 1.
Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act
This bill updates the Department of Defense's Survivor Benefit Plan and how it operates in relation to other benefits. The plan currently provides a monthly annuity (based on a percentage of a service member's retirement pay) to an eligible beneficiary upon the death of the service member. Currently, if a surviving spouse is also entitled to dependency and indemnity compensation, the annuity paid under the plan will be reduced. The bill repeals certain provisions that require the offset of the plan annuity from amounts paid in dependency and indemnity compensation.
Under current law, upon the request of the surviving spouse, the military branch concerned is authorized to pay an annuity to the member's dependent children instead of to the surviving spouse. The bill restores the annuity to an eligible spouse who previously elected to transfer payment to a dependent child.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 553: Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act. 116th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-553/
"H.R. 553: Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act." 116th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-553/.
H.R. 553, 116th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-553/.
[H.R. 553: Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-553/)