Love Lives On Act of 2023
Latest action · Apr 25, 2023 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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.
- IntroducedApr 25, 2023
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Love Lives On Act of 2023
This bill extends entitlement for various benefit programs and services for surviving spouses of deceased members of the Armed Forces or veterans.
First, the bill removes the expiration on a surviving spouses' entitlement to educational assistance through the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship (Fry Scholarship).
The bill also provides that the remarriage of a surviving spouse must not bar the furnishing of dependency and indemnity compensation to such spouse.
Next, the Department of Defense may not terminate the payment of an annuity for a surviving spouse under the Survivor Benefit Plan solely because the surviving spouse remarries.
Additionally, the bill provides commissary store and MWR retail facility (e.g., exchange store) access to surviving spouses regardless of the martial status of the spouse. Such spouses must be entitled to use such stores and facilities to the same extent and on the same basis as surviving spouses who did not remarry.
The bill expands the definition of a dependent under TRICARE to include a remarried widow or widower whose subsequent marriage has ended due to death, divorce, or annulment.
Finally, the bill modifies the definition of a surviving spouse for purposes of veterans benefits to include same sex marriages.
Cosponsors 40
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Apr 25, 2023 to Dec 10, 2024; 4 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MA | Elizabeth Warren | Original | Apr 25, 2023 |
| D-HI | Mazie K. Hirono | Original | Apr 25, 2023 |
| D-GA | Raphael G. Warnock | Original | Apr 25, 2023 |
| R-AR | Tom Cotton | Original | Apr 25, 2023 |
| D-NV | Jacky Rosen | May 30, 2023 | |
| D-OR | Jeff Merkley | May 30, 2023 | |
| D-DE | Thomas R. Carper | Jun 7, 2023 | |
| D-DE | Christopher A. Coons | Jun 12, 2023 | |
| R-OH | J. D. Vance | Jun 12, 2023 | |
| R-AK | Lisa Murkowski | Jun 15, 2023 | |
| D-CO | John W. Hickenlooper | Jun 21, 2023 | |
| D-HI | Brian Schatz | Jul 18, 2023 | |
| R-AR | John Boozman | Jul 18, 2023 | |
| D-NH | Jeanne Shaheen | Jul 25, 2023 | |
| R-FL | Marco Rubio | Jul 25, 2023 | |
| R-KS | Roger Marshall | Sep 27, 2023 | |
| D-RI | Sheldon Whitehouse | Sep 27, 2023 | |
| D-PA | John Fetterman | Oct 17, 2023 | |
| R-SD | Mike Rounds | Oct 17, 2023 | |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | Nov 15, 2023 | |
| R-OK | Markwayne Mullin | Nov 15, 2023 | |
| I-ME | Angus S. King Jr. | Dec 19, 2023 | |
| D-NJ | Cory A. Booker | Dec 19, 2023 | |
| D-MI | Gary C. Peters | Dec 19, 2023 | |
| D-GA | Jon Ossoff | Dec 19, 2023 | |
| D-NH | Margaret Wood Hassan | Dec 19, 2023 | |
| D-CO | Michael F. Bennet | Dec 19, 2023 | |
| R-TX | John Cornyn | Feb 6, 2024 | |
| D-MN | Amy Klobuchar | Apr 9, 2024 | |
| D-NV | Catherine Cortez Masto | Apr 9, 2024 | |
| D-OH | Sherrod Brown | Apr 17, 2024 | |
| D-CA | Alex Padilla | May 22, 2024 | |
| D-PA | Robert P. Casey Jr. | Jun 17, 2024 | |
| D-MD | Benjamin L. Cardin | Jul 31, 2024 | |
| D-NM | Martin Heinrich | Sep 16, 2024 | |
| R-TX | Ted Cruz | Sep 25, 2024 | |
| I-VT | Bernard Sanders | Nov 12, 2024 | |
| D-CT | Christopher Murphy | Nov 12, 2024 | |
| D-WI | Tammy Baldwin | Dec 5, 2024 | |
| D-VT | Peter Welch | Dec 10, 2024 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Veterans' Affairs Committee | Referred Apr 25, 2023 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Apr 25, 2023Introduced in Senate
- Apr 25, 2023Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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.
Printed hearings 2
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serial No. 118-48 | THE ONE PERCENT: SUPPORTING AMERICA'S SURVIVING MILITARY FAMILY COMMUNITY104 pages | Veterans' Affairs Committee | Jan 30, 2024 |
| S. Hrg. 118-160 | HEARING TO CONSIDER PENDING LEGISLATION218 pages | Veterans' Affairs Committee | Apr 26, 2023 |
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 3651 | Love Lives On Act of 2023 | Identical bill | Apr 16, 2024 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to amend titles 10 and 38, United State Code, to improve benefits and services for surviving spouses, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Love Lives On Act of 2023
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Apr 25, 2023Introduced in Senate
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.
