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.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Blumenthal (for himself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Klobuchar, Mrs. Murray, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Surviving Widow(er) Income Fair Treatment (SWIFT) Act reforms Social Security survivors benefits to provide more financial support to widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses, particularly those with disabilities. It removes age restrictions that currently limit benefits for disabled survivors and creates new incentives for delaying benefits claims, similar to how the system rewards delayed retirement for retirees.
Who Benefits and How
Disabled widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses are the primary beneficiaries. Currently, disabled survivors aged 50-59 receive reduced benefits; this bill eliminates that age requirement entirely, allowing them to receive unreduced benefits at any age if disabled. This could mean hundreds of dollars more per month for eligible individuals.
Surviving parents caring for children benefit from an extended eligibility period. The bill raises the age limit for "child-in-care" benefits from 16 to 18 (or 19 for full-time students), allowing widowed parents to receive benefits longer while caring for older teenagers.
All survivors who delay claiming benefits gain from new "delayed retirement credits" that increase monthly payments for those who wait past early retirement age before claiming, potentially boosting benefits by up to 28.5% for maximum delays.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Social Security Trust Fund will see increased expenditures due to higher benefit amounts and expanded eligibility. The bill does not include specific revenue provisions to offset these costs.
Federal and state programs that provide means-tested benefits will need to disregard the additional Social Security income when determining eligibility for current beneficiaries, preventing benefit reductions in other programs but potentially complicating program administration.
Key Provisions
- Eliminates the age 50-59 restriction for disabled survivors to receive unreduced benefits, allowing disabled widows/widowers to claim full benefits at any age
- Raises child-in-care age limit from 16 to 18 (or 19 for students), extending benefits for parents caring for older children
- Creates delayed claiming credits that increase survivor benefits for those who wait past early retirement age to claim, with potential increases up to the deceased spouse's full primary insurance amount
- Establishes a floor of 82.5% of the deceased spouse's primary insurance amount for survivor benefits, protecting against excessive reductions
- Requires Social Security Administration to mail informational booklets to all new survivors within 30 days of a spouse's death, starting January 1, 2027
- Holds current beneficiaries harmless by requiring other federal and state programs to disregard the increased Social Security income when determining eligibility
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
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