Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act of 2023
Latest action · Jul 13, 2023 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 13, 2023
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act of 2023
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, the Social Security Act (SSA), and other federal laws to replace (1) references to wife or husband with references to spouse, and (2) references to husband and wife or husband or wife with references to married couple or married person.
For purposes of federal laws or regulations, marriage is defined as a legal union between two people as spouses. The bill eliminates a definition of spouse that refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.
Requirements concerning compensation to a surviving wife after the disability or death of a person employed at a military, air, or naval base outside the United States are revised to make surviving spouses eligible for such compensation.
The bill makes similar revisions to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, and other federal statutes.
The bill revises title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) of the SSA to consolidate separate provisions for a wife's insurance benefits and a husband's insurance benefits into a single standard for a spouse's insurance benefits.
Cosponsors 16
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Aug 11, 2023 to Jun 26, 2024.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-PA | Mary Gay Scanlon | Aug 11, 2023 | |
| D-AZ | Ruben Gallego | Aug 11, 2023 | |
| D-IL | Jesús G. "Chuy" García | Aug 29, 2023 | |
| D-NH | Ann M. Kuster | Sep 12, 2023 | |
| D-HI | Jill N. Tokuda | Sep 28, 2023 | |
| D-WI | Mark Pocan | Nov 28, 2023 | |
| D-AZ | Raúl M. Grijalva | Jan 5, 2024 | |
| D-CA | Mark Takano | Jan 9, 2024 | |
| D-MI | Rashida Tlaib | Jan 10, 2024 | |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Feb 15, 2024 | |
| D-MI | Hillary J. Scholten | Feb 15, 2024 | |
| D-TX | Sylvia R. Garcia | Feb 28, 2024 | |
| D-WA | Pramila Jayapal | May 16, 2024 | |
| D-NY | Daniel S. Goldman | May 17, 2024 | |
| D-NJ | Josh Gottheimer | Jun 11, 2024 | |
| D-CT | Jahana Hayes | Jun 26, 2024 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Jul 13, 2023 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 13, 2023Introduced in House
- Jul 13, 2023Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 169, no. 120, July 13, 2023, page H3575.
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To replace references to "wives" and "husbands" in Federal law with references to "spouses".
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act of 2023
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 13, 2023Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
