I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 276

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to remove the limitation upon 

the amount of outside income which an individual may earn while receiving benefits under such title, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2005

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas 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 remove 

the limitation upon the amount of outside income which 

an individual may earn while receiving benefits under 

such title, 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 ‘‘Social Security Earn5 ings Test Repeal Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO DEDUC2 TIONS ON ACCOUNT OF WORK. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (b), (c)(1), (d), (f), 

4 (h), (j), and (k) of section 203 of the Social Security Act 

5 (42 U.S.C. 403) are repealed. 

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 203 of 

7 such Act (as amended by subsection (a)) is further amend8 ed—

9 (1) in subsection (c), by redesignating such sub10 section as subsection (b), and 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘Noncovered Work Outside 

12 the United States or’’ in the heading; 

13 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), 

14 and (4) as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respec15 tively; 

16 (C) by striking ‘‘For purposes of para17 graphs (2), (3), and (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘For 

18 purposes of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)’’; and 

19 (D) by striking the last sentence; 

20 (2) in subsection (e), by redesignating such sub21 section as subsection (c), and by striking ‘‘sub22 sections (c) and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (g), by redesignating such 

24 subsection as subsection (d), and by striking ‘‘sub25 section (c)’’ each place it appears and inserting 

26 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 
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1 (4) in subsection (l), by redesignating such sub2 section as subsection (e), and by striking ‘‘sub3 section (g) or (h)(1)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

4 (d)’’. 

5 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

6 (a) PROVISIONS RELATING TO BENEFITS TERMI7 NATED UPON DEPORTATION.—Section 202(n)(1) of the 

8 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(n)(1)) is amended by 

9 striking ‘‘Section 203 (b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘Section 203(b)’’. 

11 (b) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS FROM

12 REDUCTIONS BASED ON EARLY RETIREMENT.—

13 (1) Section 202(q)(5)(B) of such Act (42 

14 U.S.C. 402(q)(5)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘sec15 tion 203(c)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(b)(1)’’. 

16 (2) Section 202(q)(7)(A) of such Act (42 

17 U.S.C. 402(q)(7)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘de18 ductions under section 203(b), 203(c)(1), 203(d)(1), 

19 or 222(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘deductions on account of 

20 work under section 203 or deductions under section 

21 222(b)’’. 

22 (c) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS FROM

23 REDUCTIONS BASED ON DISREGARD OF CERTAIN ENTI24 TLEMENTS TO CHILD’S INSURANCE BENEFITS.—
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1 (1) Section 202(s)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 402(s)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘paragraphs (2), 

3 (3), and (4) of section 203(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘para4 graphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 203(b)’’. 

5 (2) Section 202(s)(3) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 402(s)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘The last sen7 tence of subsection (c) of section 203, subsection 

8 (f)(1)(C) of section 203, and subsections’’ and in9 serting ‘‘Subsections’’. 

10 (d) PROVISIONS RELATING TO SUSPENSION OF

11 ALIENS’ BENEFITS.—Section 202(t)(7) of such Act (42 

12 U.S.C. 402(t)(7)) is amended by striking ‘‘Subsections 

13 (b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsection (b)’’. 

14 (e) PROVISIONS RELATING TO REDUCTIONS IN BEN15 EFITS BASED ON MAXIMUM BENEFITS.—Section 

16 203(a)(3)(B)(iii) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

17 403(a)(3)(B)(iii)) is amended by striking ‘‘and subsections 

18 (b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘and subsection (b)’’. 

19 (f) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PENALTIES FOR MIS20 REPRESENTATIONS CONCERNING EARNINGS FOR PERI21 ODS SUBJECT TO DEDUCTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF WORK.—

22 Section 208(a)(1)(C) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 408(a)(1)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘under section 

24 203(f) of this title for purposes of deductions from bene-
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1 fits’’ and inserting ‘‘under section 203 for purposes of de2 ductions from benefits on account of work’’. 

3 (g) PROVISIONS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT EARNINGS

4 IN DETERMINING BENEFIT COMPUTATION YEARS.—

5 Clause (I) in the next to last sentence of section 

6 215(b)(2)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 415(b)(2)(A)) is 

7 amended by striking ‘‘no earnings as described in section 

8 203(f)(5) in such year’’ and inserting ‘‘no wages, and no 

9 net earnings from self-employment (in excess of net loss 

10 from self-employment), in such year’’. 

11 (h) PROVISIONS RELATING TO ROUNDING OF BENE12 FITS.—Section 215(g) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 415(g)) is 

13 amended by striking ‘‘and any deduction under section 

14 203(b)’’. 

15 (i) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EARNINGS TAKEN

16 INTO ACCOUNT IN DETERMINING SUBSTANTIAL GAINFUL

17 ACTIVITY OF BLIND INDIVIDUALS.—The second sentence 

18 of section 223(d)(4)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 423(d)(4)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘if section 102 of 

20 the Senior Citizens Right to Work Act of 1996 had not 

21 been enacted’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘if the amend22 ments to section 203 made by section 102 of the Senior 

23 Citizens Right to Work Act of 1996 and by the Social Se24 curity Earnings Test Repeal Act of 2005 had not been 

25 enacted’’. 
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1 (j) PROVISIONS DEFINING INCOME FOR PURPOSES

2 OF SSI.—Section 1612(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 1382a(a)) is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘as determined under section 

5 203(f)(5)(C)’’ in paragraph (1)(A) and inserting ‘‘as 

6 defined in the last two sentences of this subsection’’; 

7 and 

8 (2) by adding at the end (after and below para9 graph (2)(G)) the following: 

10 ‘‘For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the term ‘wages’ 

11 means wages as defined in section 209, but computed 

12 without regard to the limitations as to amounts of remu13 neration specified in paragraphs (1), (6)(B), (6)(C), 

14 (7)(B), and (8) of section 209(a). In making the computa15 tion under the preceding sentence, (A) services which do 

16 not constitute employment as defined in section 210, per17 formed within the United States by an individual as an 

18 employee or performed outside the United States in the 

19 active military or naval services of the United States, shall 

20 be deemed to be employment as so defined if the remu21 neration for such services is not includible in computing 

22 the individual’s net earnings or net loss from self-employ23 ment for purposes of title II, and (B) the term ‘wages’ 

24 shall be deemed not to include (i) the amount of any pay25 ment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of his 
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1 or her dependents (including any amount paid by an em2 ployer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to pro3 vide for any such payment) on account of retirement, or 

4 (ii) any payment or series of payments by an employer 

5 to an employee or any of his or her dependents upon or 

6 after the termination of the employee’s employment rela7 tionship because of retirement after attaining an age spec8 ified in a plan referred to in section 209(a)(11)(B) or in 

9 a pension plan of the employer.’’. 

10 (k) REPEAL OF DEDUCTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF WORK

11 UNDER THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT PROGRAM.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Railroad 

13 Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231a) is amend14 ed—

15 (A) by striking subsections (f); and 

16 (B) by striking subsection (g)(2) and by 

17 redesignating subsection (g)(1) as subsection 

18 (g). 

19 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

20 (A) Section 3(f)(1) of such Act (45 U.S.C. 

21 231b(f)(1)) is amended in the first sentence by 

22 striking ‘‘before any reductions under the provi23 sions of section 2(f) of this Act,’’. 

24 (B) Section 4(g)(2) of such Act (45 U.S.C. 

25 231c(g)(2)) is amended—
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1 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘shall, be2 fore any deductions under section 2(g) of 

3 this Act,’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’; and 

4 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘any de5 ductions under section 2(g) of this Act and 

6 before’’. 

7 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

8 The amendments and repeals made by this Act shall 

9 apply with respect to taxable years ending on or after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act.

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