H.R. 10235: POWR Act

This bill would change Social Security rules for widows and widowers, especially in households where both spouses earned their own Social Security benefits.

What it would do

• It would rename the bill the Protecting Our Widows and Widowers in Retirement Act, or the POWR Act.
• It would change how survivor benefits are calculated for widows and widowers under Social Security.
• Under current law, a surviving spouse may receive a survivor benefit based on the deceased spouse’s earnings record, but the bill would increase benefits in some cases for people in two-income households.
• For a widow or widower who is already entitled to their own Social Security retirement or disability benefit, the survivor benefit would generally be set at the greater of:
  • the deceased spouse’s Social Security benefit amount, or
  • 75% of the sum of the survivor’s own benefit plus the deceased spouse’s benefit, subject to a cap.
• The bill includes a formula to limit that 75% calculation so that it cannot exceed a certain benchmark based on a hypothetical worker with a specified earnings history.
• It makes similar changes for widowers and surviving divorced husbands, so the rules would apply in the same way regardless of gender.
• It also says that, when determining eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the amount of SSI payments, the new or increased Social Security benefit under Title II would be treated as if it did not exceed the old law’s benefit amount. This appears intended to prevent the higher survivor benefit from automatically reducing SSI eligibility or SSI payment amounts.
• The changes would apply to widow’s and widower’s benefits payable for months after December 2026.

Practical effect

In plain terms, the bill would likely increase Social Security payments for some surviving spouses in households where both spouses had earned benefits of their own. It would not appear to change benefits for every widow or widower, but it would revise the formulas used to calculate survivor benefits in cases involving a surviving spouse who also receives their own retirement or disability benefit.

Relevant Companies

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