New Social Security Proposal Would Boost Benefits For Millions

According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), in October 2025, over 5.8 million Americans received survivor benefits. These benefits provide monthly payments to qualifying people based upon their relationship to someone who had paid into Social Security but had since died. Spouses, divorced spouses, children, and dependent parents can all potentially qualify for survivors benefits. If survivors receive benefits, they must keep the SSA apprised of their employment, income, and personal data. These funds account for 8.3% of total Social Security benefits paid out. The SSA reports the average monthly payment was $1,575.89, totaling over $9.2 billion in monthly payouts. An individual's benefit amount depends on multiple factors, including how much the deceased person earned in life, their relationship to the survivor, and the survivor's age. But newly introduced legislation would expand upon this coverage for survivors with disabilities.

On November 26, 2025, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Surviving Widow(er) Income Fair Treatment (SWIFT) Act to Congress. If passed, the SWIFT Act would broaden Social Security benefits' availability to disabled widows, widowers, and surviving ex-spouses of a deceased worker, modifying the age when they could claim survivor benefits. Disabled surviving spouses currently qualify for benefits at age 50, but the SWIFT Act would make them 100% available to qualifying disabled individuals of any age while boosting benefits beyond current income earning caps and widening eligibility for child-in-care benefits for survivors caring for children as well.

Senators supporting Gillibrand's legislation include Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). After the bill is read in the Senate, it will be referred to the proper committee. It's worth noting this version of the SWIFT Act is not the first. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) introduced a similar bill in September 2023 that was read twice in Senate chambers before being referred to the finance committee where no further action occurred. Before that, it was introduced in 2018, 2019, and 2021 without success. 

Bills that draw bipartisan support tend to be more successful, and that's something Gillibrand's 2025 version lacks. Plus, today's politically divided Congress may not bode well for passage, especially since the bill doesn't add new funding sources to SSA. Rather, new survivor benefits would be paid out through an already strained Social Security system. Given that some estimate the truth about Social Security's future is that it will run out of funds in 2034 or 2035 under its current trajectory, there's significant concern about its long-term viability. Although the Congressional Budget Office has not provided figures involved, if the bill becomes law, versions from previous years put the costs of expanding survivor benefits in the billions of dollars, and experts anticipate that the 2025 version would fall in the same financial category. Supporters, however, remain hopeful that the reintroduction of the bill will create new conversations about poverty experienced by many survivors and drive forward solutions.