Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee who serves on the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) joined a coalition of 43 of their Senate Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Charles Rettig calling for the Biden Administration to revise current guidance that has led to members of the LGBTQIA+ community being denied pension survivor benefits after losing their life partner.
“We should not let the echoes of the bigotry that robbed so many people of the right to marry for so long rob them once again after they have lost their loved ones,” wrote the senators to Secretary Yellen and Commissioner Rettig.
“When the Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, tens of thousands of Americans rushed to get married. These LGBTQ+ Americans had been in committed relationships for years—some, for decades—and were finally able to have their love recognized under the law and receive all of the benefits that come with marriage. However, in a painful reminder of the inequality these couples have long faced, some in same-sex relationships who tragically lost their partner shortly after being married or before they were able to legally marry have also been kept from receiving survivor benefits. For these surviving spouses or partners, difficulties arise where access to benefits depends on the length of their marriage…Correcting this error will end the discriminatory treatment of potentially thousands of same-sex partners and spouses, and allow them to access the benefits they are owed,” added the senators.
In New Jersey, same sex marriage has been legal since Oct. 21, 2013 following a court decision striking down a ban on same-sex marriage. Last Thursday, the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee voted, 4-0, to advance legislation that reads, “laws concerning marriage and civil union shall be read with gender neutral intent,” in an effort to protect same sex marriage in New Jersey law.
The letter was also signed by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ili.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Dick Durbin (D-Ili.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Tom Carper (D-Del.).
December 9, 2021
The Honorable Janet Yellen The Honorable Charles P. Rettig
Secretary of the Treasury Commissioner
U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service
1500 Pennsylvania Ave., NW 1111 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20220 Washington, DC 20224
Dear Secretary Yellen and Commissioner Rettig:
We write to urge you to reconsider the guidance issued under the Obama Administration that permits certain qualified retirement plans to discriminate against providing survivor benefits to same-sex couples. We should not let the echoes of the bigotry that robbed so many people of the right to marry for so long rob them once again after they have lost their loved ones.
When the Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage, tens of thousands of Americans rushed to get married. These LGBTQ+ Americans had been in committed relationships for years—some, for decades—and were finally able to have their love recognized under the law and receive all of the benefits that come with marriage. However, in a painful reminder of the inequality these couples have long faced, some in same-sex relationships who tragically lost their partner shortly after being married or before they were able to legally marry have also been kept from receiving survivor benefits.
It has come to our attention that some retirement plans are refusing to deem same-sex marriages as having met the one-year requirement when the couples were legally barred from marrying within one-year of the participant’s death.
Specifically, the IRS should revise its 2014 guidance to require that qualified retirement plans with marriage duration requirements must recognize as eligible for survivor benefits bona fide same-sex relationships where same-sex partners had married their loved ones but were denied equal access to benefits because they were prevented from being married for the time required under the plans’ documents, or where they were prevented from marrying their loved ones at all. While the use of a marriage duration requirement may be justified as a proxy for detecting or deterring sham relationships between opposite-sex couples—who have always enjoyed the right to marry—it cannot serve that function for same-sex couples who were banned from marrying one another. Surviving same-sex partners and spouses who were unable to be married because of discriminatory marriage laws should be permitted to submit new claims for survivor benefits or reopen previously denied claims.
Correcting this error will end the discriminatory treatment of potentially thousands of same-sex partners and spouses, and allow them to access the benefits they are owed.
We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you in advance for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
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