Military survivors get unlimited time to claim federal benefits
H.R. 3509 — Supporting Our Surviving Spouses Act · Filed by Jared Golden (D-ME) · 11 cosponsors · Introduced May 20, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill removes the six-year statute of limitations on claims for survivor benefits filed by spouses and dependents of military members who died in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001. Survivors can now file claims for these federal benefits at any time, rather than losing eligibility after six years.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to extend the filing deadline for a specific class of federal beneficiaries—military survivors—by removing a time limit. It is a narrow, targeted rights-restoration measure with no market or private-sector component.
What the text implies
- Survivors who missed the six-year deadline under prior law may now file retroactively, potentially creating a backlog of historical claims at the Department of Defense or relevant federal agency.
- The bill applies only to deaths on or after September 11, 2001, creating a bright-line cutoff; survivors of military members who died before 9/11 remain subject to the six-year limit.
- No appropriations or funding mechanism is specified; the fiscal impact depends on how many previously-ineligible survivors file claims and the average benefit amount per claim.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Military survivors gain a concrete right: the ability to file for federal survivor benefits without losing eligibility due to a time deadline. This restores access to benefits for families who may have been unaware of the deadline, faced administrative barriers, or experienced delays in processing.
Named in the bill
Department of Defense, Armed Forces, 31 U.S.C. § 3702(b)(1), Military survivors
Where it stands
11 cosponsors: 6 Republicans, 5 Democrats.
- May 20, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 20, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $3,920,451 in lobbying spend. A filing names 152 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Jared Golden, the sponsor, reported $304,979 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Association for Justice — $3,610,000 on 2 filings
- Disabled American Veterans — $310,451 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (820 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Military survivors get unlimited time to claim federal benefits” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr3509 Report an error
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