II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 580 

To amend the Act of August 25, 1958, commonly known as the ‘‘Former 

Presidents Act of 1958’’, with respect to the monetary allowance payable 

to a former President, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2019 

Ms. ERNST (for herself, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. ENZI, and Ms. SINEMA) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Act of August 25, 1958, commonly known 

as the ‘‘Former Presidents Act of 1958’’, with respect 

to the monetary allowance payable to a former President, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Allowance 

5 Modernization Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) FORMER PRESIDENTS.—The first section of the 

8 Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide retirement, clerical assistVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:35 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S580.IS S580

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1 ants, and free mailing privileges to former Presidents of 

2 the United States, and for other purposes’’, approved Au3 gust 25, 1958 (commonly known as the ‘‘Former Presi4 dents Act of 1958’’) (3 U.S.C. 102 note), is amended by 

5 striking the matter preceding subsection (e) and inserting 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘(a) ANNUITIES AND ALLOWANCES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) ANNUITY.—Each former President shall 

9 be entitled for the remainder of his or her life to re10 ceive from the United States an annuity at the rate 

11 of $200,000 per year, subject to subsections (b)(2) 

12 and (c), to be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury. 

13 ‘‘(2) ALLOWANCE.—The Administrator of Gen14 eral Services is authorized to provide each former 

15 President a monetary allowance at the rate of 

16 $200,000 per year, subject to the availability of ap17 propriations and subsections (b)(2), (c), and (d). 

18 ‘‘(b) DURATION; FREQUENCY.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The annuity and allowance 

20 under subsection (a) shall each— 

21 ‘‘(A) commence on the day after the date 

22 on which an individual becomes a former Presi23 dent; 

24 ‘‘(B) terminate on the date on which the 

25 former President dies; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) be payable on a monthly basis. 

2 ‘‘(2) APPOINTIVE OR ELECTIVE POSITIONS.— 

3 The annuity and allowance under subsection (a) 

4 shall not be payable for any period during which a 

5 former President holds an appointive or elective po6 sition in or under the Federal Government to which 

7 is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate. 

8 ‘‘(c) COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES.—Effective Decem9 ber 1 of each year, each annuity and allowance under sub10 section (a) that commenced before that date shall be in11 creased by the same percentage by which benefit amounts 

12 under title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 

13 et seq.) are increased, effective as of that date, as a result 

14 of a determination under section 215(i) of that Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 415(i)). 

16 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON MONETARY ALLOWANCE.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

18 provision of this section, the monetary allowance 

19 payable under subsection (a)(2) to a former Presi20 dent for any 12-month period— 

21 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

22 (B), may not exceed the amount by which— 

23 ‘‘(i) the monetary allowance that (but 

24 for this subsection) would otherwise be so 


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1 payable for such 12-month period, exceeds 

2 (if at all) 

3 ‘‘(ii) the applicable reduction amount 

4 for such 12-month period; and 

5 ‘‘(B) shall not be less than the amount de6 termined under paragraph (4). 

7 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para9 graph (1), the term ‘applicable reduction 

10 amount’ means, with respect to any former 

11 President and in connection with any 12-month 

12 period, the amount by which— 

13 ‘‘(i) the sum of— 

14 ‘‘(I) the adjusted gross income 

15 (as defined in section 62 of the Inter16 nal Revenue Code of 1986) of the 

17 former President for the most recent 

18 taxable year for which a tax return is 

19 available; and 

20 ‘‘(II) any interest excluded from 

21 the gross income of the former Presi22 dent under section 103 of such Code 

23 for such taxable year, exceeds (if at 

24 all) 


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1 ‘‘(ii) $400,000, subject to subpara2 graph (C). 

3 ‘‘(B) JOINT RETURNS.—In the case of a 

4 joint return, subclauses (I) and (II) of subpara5 graph (A)(i) shall be applied by taking into ac6 count both the amounts properly allocable to 

7 the former President and the amounts properly 

8 allocable to the spouse of the former President. 

9 ‘‘(C) COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES.—The 

10 dollar amount specified in subparagraph (A)(ii) 

11 shall be adjusted at the same time that, and by 

12 the same percentage by which, the monetary al13 lowance of the former President is increased 

14 under subsection (c) (disregarding this sub15 section). 

16 ‘‘(3) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.— 

17 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 

18 ‘‘(i) the terms ‘return’ and ‘return in19 formation’ have the meanings given those 

20 terms in section 6103(b) of the Internal 

21 Revenue Code of 1986; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘Secretary’ means the 

23 Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary 

24 of the Treasury’s delegate. 


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1 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—A former President 

2 may not receive a monetary allowance under 

3 subsection (a)(2) unless the former President 

4 discloses to the Secretary, upon the request of 

5 the Secretary, any return or return information 

6 of the former President or spouse of the former 

7 President that the Secretary determines is nec8 essary for purposes of calculating the applicable 

9 reduction amount under paragraph (2) of this 

10 subsection. 

11 ‘‘(C) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Except as pro12 vided in section 6103 of the Internal Revenue 

13 Code of 1986 and notwithstanding any other 

14 provision of law, the Secretary may not, with 

15 respect to a return or return information dis16 closed to the Secretary under subparagraph 

17 (B)— 

18 ‘‘(i) disclose the return or return in19 formation to any entity or person; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) use the return or return informa21 tion for any purpose other than to cal22 culate the applicable reduction amount 

23 under paragraph (2). 

24 ‘‘(4) INCREASED COSTS DUE TO SECURITY

25 NEEDS.—With respect to the monetary allowance 


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1 that would be payable to a former President under 

2 subsection (a)(2) for any 12-month period but for 

3 the limitation under paragraph (1) of this sub4 section, the Administrator of General Services, in co5 ordination with the Director of the United States 

6 Secret Service, shall determine the amount of the al7 lowance that is needed to pay the increased cost of 

8 doing business that is attributable to the security 

9 needs of the former President.’’. 

10 (b) SURVIVING SPOUSES OF FORMER PRESI11 DENTS.— 

12 (1) INCREASE IN AMOUNT OF MONETARY AL13 LOWANCE.—Subsection (e) of the first section of the 

14 Former Presidents Act of 1958 is amended— 

15 (A) in the first sentence, by striking 

16 ‘‘$20,000 per annum,’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000 

17 per year (subject to paragraph (4)),’’; and 

18 (B) in the second sentence— 

19 (i) in paragraph (2), by striking 

20 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

21 (ii) in paragraph (3)— 

22 (I) by striking ‘‘or the govern23 ment of the District of Columbia’’; 

24 and 


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1 (II) by striking the period and 

2 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (3) 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘(4) shall, after its commencement date, be in6 creased at the same time that, and by the same per7 centage by which, annuities of former Presidents are 

8 increased under subsection (c).’’. 

9 (2) COVERAGE OF WIDOWER OF A FORMER

10 PRESIDENT.—Subsection (e) of the first section of 

11 the Former Presidents Act of 1958, as amended by 

12 paragraph (1), is amended— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘widow’’ each place it ap14 pears and inserting ‘‘widow or widower’’; and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘she’’ and inserting ‘‘she 

16 or he’’. 

17 (c) SUBSECTION HEADINGS.—The first section of the 

18 Former Presidents Act of 1958 is amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (e), by inserting after the sub20 section enumerator the following: ‘‘WIDOWS AND

21 WIDOWERS.—’’; 

22 (2) in subsection (f), by inserting after the sub23 section enumerator the following: ‘‘DEFINITION.—’’; 

24 and 


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1 (3) in subsection (g), by inserting after the sub2 section enumerator the following: ‘‘AUTHORIZATION

3 OF APPROPRIATIONS.—’’. 

4 SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

5 Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this 

6 Act shall be construed to affect— 

7 (1) any provision of law relating to the security 

8 or protection of a former President or a member of 

9 the family of a former President; or 

10 (2) funding, under the Former Presidents Act 

11 of 1958 or any other law, to carry out any provision 

12 of law described in paragraph (1). 

13 SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. 

14 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

15 not apply to— 

16 (1) any individual who is a former President on 

17 the date of enactment of this Act; or 

18 (2) the widow or widower of an individual de19 scribed in paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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