WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s $4 trillion budget proposal released Monday includes a major change to the Social Security Act that would allow same-sex couples to receive spousal benefits regardless of where they live.
Under current law, same-sex couples who move from one of the 36 states that recognize same-sex marriage to one that does not lose the Social Security benefits that married heterosexual couples enjoy, reports Bloomberg.
“The budget proposes to amend the Social Security Act to ensure all lawfully married same-sex couples will be eligible to receive Social Security spousal benefits, regardless of where they live,” Obama’s proposal states.
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It’s the first time Obama has suggested such a change, though he stated his personal support for gay marriage in 2012. Last year, the president went further, telling the New Yorker’s Jeffery Toobin that he believes the Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Constitution “does guarantee” same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
The proposal would have to be approved by the Republican-led Congress to take effect.
