On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, announced that the Gold Star Families Tax Relief Act, which removes an additional tax on military families that pass benefits onto their children, cleared the U.S. Senate with “unanimous bipartisan support.

Jones introduced the legislation earlier this month alongside U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-LA, and a bipartisan contingent of supporters.

A provision in the Republican-backed 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act raised the taxes on survivor benefits for military families who pass on monetary benefits to their children.

Under the old tax law, these benefits were lumped into a “kiddie tax” bracket and taxed at a rate of 37 percent, causing many to receive surprise bills in their most recent tax returns.

Jones’ legislation would “provide tax relief for survivor benefits received by children who have lost a parent as a result of their service in the military.”

“Gold Star families have sacrificed so much for nation and passing this legislation to remove the exorbitant tax on surviving children’s benefits is the least we can do,” said Jones, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We can never truly thank these families enough for the sacrifices that they have made, but we can do everything in our power to honor and care for them. I am proud to have the bipartisan, unanimous support of the entire Senate in passing this bill.”

Jones has also led the charge in defending military families by pursuing an end to the “Widow’s Tax,” which prevents as many as 65,000 military spouses from receiving their full survivor benefits from both the Department of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs.

The “Widow’s Tax” is the reason that so many families place DOD benefits under their children’s names – if they do not, they are ineligible to receive their full DOD benefits – but doing so has proven to be not as beneficial as originally hoped due to the “kiddie tax.”

These bills taken in tandem would be a windfall for many military families across the nation.

While his bill to provide tax relief to Gold Star families has passed the Senate with unanimous bipartisan support, Jones’ Military Widow’s Tax Elimination Act has earned a record 68 sponsors, giving it veto-proof backing in the Senate.