[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 473 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 473
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to credit prospectively
individuals serving as caregivers of dependent relatives with deemed
wages for up to five years of such service.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 29, 2003
Mrs. Lowey (for herself, Mr. Abercrombie, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Conyers, Mr.
Crowley, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Filner, Mr. Frost, Mr. Hastings of Florida,
Mr. Kucinich, Mr. McDermott, Ms. Norton, Mr. Oberstar, Mr. Payne, Mr.
Sanders, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Woolsey, Ms.
Berkley, Ms. Millender-McDonald, and Mr. Farr) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to credit prospectively
individuals serving as caregivers of dependent relatives with deemed
wages for up to five years of such service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Caregiver Credit Act
of 2003''.
SEC. 2. DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT RELATIVES.
(a) In General.--Title II of the Social Security Act is amended by
adding after section 234 (42 U.S.C. 434) the following new section:
``deemed wages for caregivers of dependent relatives
``Definitions
``Sec. 235. (a) For purposes of this section--
``(1) The term `qualifying month' means, in connection with
an individual, a month during which such individual was engaged
for not less than 80 hours in providing care to a dependent
relative without monetary compensation. Such term does not
include any month ending after the date on which such
individual attains retirement age (as defined in section
216(l)).
``(2) The term `dependent relative' means, in connection
with an individual--
``(A) a child, grandchild, niece, or nephew (of
such individual or such individual's spouse or domestic
partner) who is under the age of 12, or
``(B) a child, grandchild, niece, or nephew (of
such individual or such individual's spouse or domestic
partner), a parent, aunt, or uncle (of such individual
or his or her spouse or domestic partner), or such
individual's spouse or domestic partner, if such child,
grandchild, niece, nephew, parent, aunt, uncle, spouse,
or domestic partner is a chronically dependent
individual.
``(3)(A) The term `chronically dependent individual' means
an individual who--
``(i) is dependent on a daily basis on verbal
reminding, physical cueing, supervision, or other
assistance provided to the individual by another person
in the performance of at least 2 of the activities of
daily living (described in subparagraph (B)), and
``(ii) without the assistance described in clause
(i), could not perform such activities of daily living.
``(B) The `activities of daily living' referred to in
subparagraph (A) are the following:
``(i) Eating.
``(ii) Bathing.
``(iii) Dressing.
``(iv) Toileting.
``(v) Transferring in and out of a bed or in and
out of a chair.
``Deemed Wages of Caregiver
``(b)(1)(A) For purposes of determining entitlement to and the
amount of any monthly benefit for any month after December 2003, or
entitlement to and the amount of any lump-sum death payment in the case
of a death after such month, payable under this title on the basis of
the wages and self-employment income of any individual, and for
purposes of section 216(i)(3), such individual shall be deemed to have
been paid during each qualifying month (in addition to wages or self-
employment income actually paid to or derived by such individual during
such month) at an amount per month equal to the excess (if any) of--
``(i) 50 percent of the average amount of wages and self-
employment income otherwise credited to individuals for such
month under this title, over
``(ii) the amount of wages and self-employment income
actually paid to or derived by such individuals for such month.
``(B) In any case in which there are more than 60 qualifying months
for an individual, only the last 60 of such months shall be taken into
account for purposes of this section.
``(2) Paragraph (1) shall not be applicable in the case of any
monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment if a larger such benefit or
payment, as the case may be, would be payable without its application.
``Citizenship and Residency Requirements
``(c)(1) A qualifying month shall not be taken into account under
this section with respect to any individual unless such individual--
``(A) is throughout the qualifying month a resident of the
United States (as defined in paragraph (2)), and
``(B)(i) is throughout the qualifying month a citizen of
the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent
residence, and
``(ii) in the case of an individual who was not a citizen
of the United States throughout the qualifying month, has
resided in the United States (as defined in subsection 210(i))
continuously during the 5 years immediately preceding the
qualifying month.
``(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the term `United States'
means the 50 States and the District of Columbia.
``Identification Requirements
``(d) A qualifying month shall not be taken into account under this
section with respect to an individual unless such individual provides
the Commissioner of Social Security with the name and social security
account number of the dependent relative with respect to whom the
individual was engaged in providing care during such month, and other
information as the Commissioner may require to verify the status of the
dependent relative, on whatever application may be required to obtain
benefits under this section.
``Annual Reimbursement of Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust
Fund
``(e) There are authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Old-
Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2004, and for each fiscal year thereafter, such sums as
the Commissioner of Social Security deems necessary on account of--
``(1) payments made under this section during the second
preceding fiscal year and all fiscal years prior thereto to
individuals entitled to benefits under this section,
``(2) the additional administrative expenses resulting from
the payments described in paragraph (1), and
``(3) any loss in interest to such Trust Fund resulting
from such payments and expenses,
in order to place such Trust Fund in the same position at the end of
such fiscal year as it would have been in if such payments had not been
made.''.
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