Bob Casey of Pennsylvania recently introduced the Surviving Widow(er) Income Fair Treatment Act, or the SWIFT Act, in the U.S. Senate in an effort to expand benefits for aging Americans.
Last week, companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Susan Wild. According to a press release, the goal is to fix gaps in the Social Security benefits system that sometimes prevent widows, widowers, and surviving divorced spouses from receiving the full benefits they’re entitled to.
Current inconsistencies in the system prevent widows who become disabled after their spouse’s passing from claiming benefits until age fifty and put a cap known as the “widow’s limit” on the value of survivor benefits.
The SWIFT Act would also provide benefits to those caring for children until the children reach 18 years of age, and would require the federal government to provide information to the widowed individuals about what benefits they’re eligible for and how to claim them.
Representative Wild called Social Security an “earned right and a lifeline for the American people.” The current gaps in the system mean widows and widowers receiving Social Security benefits are almost twice as likely to be living in poverty than retired workers.
The legislation could increase benefits for more than a million Americans, and according to Senator Casey, would promise a “financially secure retirement for all Americans.”
