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S. 1204 119th Congress Senate

Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act

Official title: A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain spouses eligible for services under the disabled veterans' outreach program, and for other purposes.

Introduced: March 31, 2025 Introduced by: Margaret Wood Hassan Democratic · New Hampshire See on congress.gov
Armed Forces and National Security Military personnel and dependentsVeterans' education, employment, rehabilitationVeterans' pensions and compensation
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 Everywhere this bill has been 8 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Dec 19, 2025
Held at the desk.
Dec 19, 2025
Received in the House.
Dec 19, 2025
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Dec 18, 2025
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Dec 18, 2025
Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8895; text: CR S8895)
Dec 18, 2025
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Mar 31, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Mar 31, 2025
Introduced in Senate
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What's happening now December 19, 2025

Held at the desk.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act

This bill expands eligibility for the Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program to the spouses of certain veterans and members of the Armed Forces. Such program is administered by the Department of Labor and generally provides career and employment services to disabled veterans.

The bill expands eligibility for the program to spouses of

  • persons who died while members of the Armed Forces;
  • persons who died of a service-connected disability;
  • members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty who, for more than 90 days, are listed as missing in action, captured by a hostile force, or forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by a foreign government power;
  • persons who have a total permanent disability resulting from a service-connected disability; and
  • persons who died while an evaluated total disability was in existence.
 Related & companion bills 2
  • HR 3031 Identical bill Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act
  • S 2296 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
 Bill text 2 versions

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 7

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 7 filings →
 Cosponsors 8
All 8 Democratic 4 Republican 4
R
Cassidy, Bill
Louisiana · Mar 31, 2025
 R
Cornyn, John
Texas · Mar 31, 2025
 D
Hickenlooper, John W.
Colorado · Mar 31, 2025
 D
Kaine, Tim
Virginia · Mar 31, 2025
 D
Kelly, Mark
Arizona · Mar 31, 2025
 R
Lankford, James
Oklahoma · Mar 31, 2025
 R
Schmitt, Eric
Missouri · Mar 31, 2025
 D
Smith, Tina
Minnesota · Mar 31, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 1204: Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1204/
MLA
"S. 1204: Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1204/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 1204, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1204/.
Markdown link
[S. 1204: Gold Star and Surviving Spouse Career Services Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-1204/)
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