On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, took the Senate floor to rally colleagues to support his legislation to end the so-called “Widow’s Tax,” which prevents thousands of the spouses of deceased veterans to access their full benefits.

Jones introduced his legislation, which had the backing of 34 bipartisan co-sponsors and a number of national advocacy groups, last week.

The bill, known as the Military Widow’s Tax Elimination Act of2019, would help as many as 65,000 surviving military spouses, more than 2,000 of which reside in Alabama.

“After suffering the loss of a loved one, military widows and their families can find themselves unexpectedly losing out on vital survivor benefits that they had planned to receive in these tragic situations,” Jones said before the Senate.

Jones noted that this is due to the fact that surviving spouses are entitled to receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits from the Veteran’s Administration (VA) but, if the voluntarily pay into the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) “Survivor Benefits Plan,” they are subject to a “Widow’s Tax,” which deducts DIC benefits from the other benefits plan.

“Simply put, it’s really a way for the federal government to save a few bucks by ripping off military widows whose families paid extra to receive these additional benefits,” Jones said. “No surviving spouse should be faced with this kind of unexpected and completely unfair cut to the benefits they ought to be able to count on in these heart-breaking circumstances.”

Jones said his legislation reflects the belief that “people who put their lives on the line for our country deserve to know that their families will be taken care of if something, God forbid, ever happens to them.”