Caring for Survivors Act of 2025

Key Points

• This bill increases monthly payments to surviving spouses of veterans who died from service-connected causes. Instead of the current flat rate of $1,154, the payment would rise to 55% of what a totally disabled veteran receives — bringing it in line with most other federal survivor benefit programs.
• The bill cuts in half the time a veteran must have been rated totally disabled before death for their family to qualify for survivor benefits — from 10 years down to 5 years. This opens the door for thousands of additional families to receive compensation.
• Families of veterans who were totally disabled for more than 5 but fewer than 10 years before death would receive a prorated benefit on a sliding scale, rather than being denied entirely. The payment amount is proportional to how long the veteran held the total disability rating relative to 10 years.
• The new payment rates would take effect six months after the bill is signed into law. A special rule ensures that survivors of veterans who died before January 1, 1993, receive whichever payment amount is higher — the old formula or the new one.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.