Protecting the Freedoms and Benefits for All Veterans Act

Protecting the Freedoms and Benefits for All Veterans Act - Revises the definition of "surviving spouse" for purposes of veterans benefits provisions to eliminate the requirement that the person who was the spouse of a veteran at the time of the veteran's death be a person of the opposite sex.

Considers an individual to be a "spouse" if: (1) the marriage is valid in the state in which it was entered into; or (2) in the case of a marriage entered into outside any state, the marriage is valid in the place in which it was entered into and could have been entered into in a state, or it was valid in the place in which all parties to it resided at the time it was entered into.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3569 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3569

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to add a definition of spouse 
for purposes of veteran benefits that recognizes new State definitions 
                               of spouse.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 2013

  Mr. Walz (for himself, Mr. Hanna, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, and Mr. Takano) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to add a definition of spouse 
for purposes of veteran benefits that recognizes new State definitions 
                               of spouse.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting the Freedoms and Benefits 
for All Veterans Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SPOUSE FOR PURPOSES OF VETERAN BENEFITS TO 
              REFLECT NEW STATE DEFINITIONS OF SPOUSE.

    (a) Spouse Defined.--Section 101 of title 38, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``of the opposite sex''; 
        and
            (2) by striking paragraph (31) and inserting the following 
        new paragraph:
    ``(31)(A) An individual shall be considered a `spouse' if--
            ``(i) the marriage of the individual is valid in the State 
        in which the marriage was entered into; or
            ``(ii) in the case of a marriage entered into outside any 
        State--
                    ``(I) if the marriage of the individual is valid in 
                the place in which the marriage was entered into; and
                    ``(II)(aa) the marriage could have been entered 
                into in a State; or
                    ``(bb) the marriage was valid in the place in which 
                all parties to the marriage resided at the time the 
                marriage was entered into.
    ``(B) In this paragraph, the term `State' has the meaning given 
that term in paragraph (20), except that the term also includes the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.''.
    (b) Marriage Determination.--Section 103(c) of such title is 
amended by striking ``according to'' and all that follows through the 
period at the end and inserting ``in accordance with section 101(31) of 
this title.''.
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