Delgado’s First Bill Extends

Veteran Benefits To Spouse

WASHINGTON – Otsego County’s new congressman today introduced his first bill.

The bipartisan Service-Disabled Veterans Small Business Continuation Act was introduced by Delgado, along with Committee on Small Business Ranking Member Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., and Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., the congressman’s office announced today.

It would provide the surviving spouse of a service-disabled veteran with federal contracting preference as a “Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business” with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). This could be seen as similar to Social Security and death in which surviving spouses could be entitled to the Social Security Benefits of their deceased spouses.

Current law allows surviving spouses of 100 percent service-disabled veteran business owners to continue receiving preferences for contracts with the VA, but the benefit does not extend to the spouses of veterans with a disability less than 100 percent. The bipartisan bill introduced today will extend the benefit to these spouses for three years, helping ensure their businesses are not upended after the death of their veteran spouse.

“With veterans and their families sacrificing so much for our rights and freedoms, it is our solemn obligation as a nation to ensure their health and well-being,” said Delgado. “I am proud that the first bill I am introducing as a Member of Congress will help veteran families by extending additional benefits to the surviving spouses of deceased veterans across the country, including at home in Upstate New York.”