The military community knows how to make its voice heard.
We have seen it in the debates over TCAVA, the Major Richard Star Act, and other veterans’ legislation. People read bill language, call congressional offices, organize campaigns, challenge funding decisions, and argue about what Congress should do next.
My hope is that the same community will bring that same energy to standing up for surviving spouses.
Specifically, I am asking for support to raise Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or DIC, from approximately 43% to 55% of the compensation paid to a single veteran rated 100% disabled.
Surviving spouses are part of this community. Our financial security deserves a place on its legislative agenda.
What Those Percentages Mean
DIC is a tax-free VA benefit for eligible survivors, including qualifying spouses of service members who died in the line of duty and veterans whose deaths were related to service. Eligibility rules apply, and some survivors qualify under other statutory provisions. Veterans Affairs
Using the 2026 rates effective December 1, 2025, basic monthly DIC for a surviving spouse whose veteran died on or after January 1, 1993, is $1,699.36. The monthly disability compensation rate for a single veteran rated 100% disabled, with no dependents, is $3,938.58. Veterans Affairs
That puts basic DIC at approximately 43.15% of that benchmark.
At 55%, the monthly amount would be approximately $2,166.22. That is a difference of $466.86 each month, or about $5,602 a year, calculated using those rates.
These calculations compare base rates. Individual circumstances vary.
For a household trying to keep up with housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, and repairs, that difference matters.
The mortgage company does not accept “thank you for your sacrifice” as a payment method.
Why We Talk About Parity
Federal survivor programs do not all use the same formula.
For example, the maximum spouse survivor annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System is generally 55% of the unreduced annuity. Under the Federal Employees Retirement System, the full spouse survivor annuity is generally 50%. OPM.gov
Those programs have different eligibility requirements, funding arrangements, and benefit calculations. DIC is a separate benefit. Comparing percentages does not make the programs identical.
But those benchmarks help explain why surviving spouses and advocates are asking Congress to do better than approximately 43%.
The Caring for Survivors Act of 2025, H.R. 2055, includes a proposal to set basic spouse DIC at 55% of the statutory 100% disability compensation rate. congress.gov
The request is specific. Congress has legislative language it can work from.
The Financial Consequences Continue
I come to this issue as a military surviving spouse.
My husband, Sgt. Jeremy “Jay” Seals, died on October 31, 2018, while serving on Title 10 orders of Stage 4 stomach cancer.
I know what it means to keep building a life after the person you expected to share it with is gone.
Across our community, surviving spouses face different circumstances. Some are raising children. Some spent years providing care. Some are rebuilding careers interrupted by military moves or a spouse’s illness. Others are older and have limited opportunities to replace lost household income.
Employment can help. Education can help. Neither erases the financial consequences of a service-connected death.
A household does not become inexpensive to maintain because one person has died. The bills continue, often alongside new responsibilities and fewer resources.
We Can Disagree and Still Stand Together
There have been strong disagreements over TCAVA, the Major Richard Star Act, and other proposals. People have debated provisions, legislative strategy, offsets, and which compromises are acceptable.
Those discussions are part of advocacy.
I am asking the people participating in them to make room for surviving spouses, too.
You do not have to agree with me on every bill to support a meaningful increase in DIC. You do not have to share my politics to recognize the financial needs of families whose loved ones died in service or from service-connected conditions.
We can disagree on individual bills and still agree that the families left behind deserve meaningful support.
That agreement needs to become action.
What Support Looks Like
If you lead a veterans’ organization, include DIC reform in your legislative priorities and explain it to your membership.
If you meet with congressional offices, ask where the member stands on raising basic spouse DIC to 55% of the single-veteran 100% disability compensation rate.
If you advocate online, help explain the proposal accurately. Distinguish a routine cost-of-living adjustment from a change to the underlying benefit level.
And when surviving spouses speak about financial insecurity, listen without assuming that every survivor receives the same benefits or has access to another source of income.
A useful question for Congress is:
“Will you support raising basic surviving-spouse DIC to 55% of the compensation rate for a single veteran rated 100% disabled, and what specific action will you take to help make that happen?”
Ask the question. Follow up. Keep it on the agenda.
We Need Your Voices Beside Ours
Military service affects families. So do service-connected illness, disability, and death.
The surviving spouses living with those consequences remain part of the military community long after the funeral, the memorial service, and the last official expression of condolences.
We need the community’s persistence behind this issue.
Bring the phone calls. Bring the congressional meetings. Bring the organizational support and the willingness to keep asking until there is an answer.
Bring that same energy for surviving spouses.
