II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5010 

To amend the Social Security Act to provide retirement security to United 

States nationals who were unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held 

hostage abroad. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. KAINE, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. 

WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Social Security Act to provide retirement 

security to United States nationals who were unlawfully 

or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad. 

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 ‘‘Retirement Security 

5 for American Hostages Act’’. 


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•S 5010 IS

1 SEC. 2. DEEMED WAGES FOR HOSTAGES AND INDIVIDUALS 

2 WRONGFULLY DETAINED ABROAD. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Social Security Act 

4 is amended by adding after section 234 (42 U.S.C. 434) 

5 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘DEEMED WAGES FOR HOSTAGES AND INDIVIDUALS

7 WRONGFULLY DETAINED ABROAD

8 ‘‘SEC. 235. (a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 

9 section— 

10 ‘‘(1) QUALIFYING MONTH.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara12 graph (B), the term ‘qualifying month’ means, 

13 in connection with an individual, any month— 

14 ‘‘(i) beginning before, on, or after the 

15 date of enactment of this section, and 

16 ‘‘(ii) during which such individual 

17 was— 

18 ‘‘(I) unlawfully or wrongfully de19 tained abroad; or 

20 ‘‘(II) held hostage abroad. 

21 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The term ‘qualifying 

22 month’ does not include any month ending after 

23 the date on which such individual attains retire24 ment age (as defined in section 216(l)). 

25 ‘‘(2) QUALIFYING INDIVIDUAL.—The term 

26 ‘qualifying individual’ means an individual who is— 


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•S 5010 IS

1 ‘‘(A) a United States national unlawfully 

2 or wrongfully detained abroad, as determined 

3 under section 302 of the Robert Levinson Hos4 tage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Account5 ability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741); or 

6 ‘‘(B) a United States national taken hos7 tage abroad, as determined pursuant to the 

8 findings of the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell 

9 (as described in section 304 of the Robert 

10 Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Tak11 ing Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)). 

12 ‘‘(b) DEEMED WAGES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of deter14 mining entitlement to and the amount of any month15 ly benefit for any month, or entitlement to and the 

16 amount of any lump-sum death payment in the case 

17 of a death, payable under this title on the basis of 

18 the wages and self-employment income of any quali19 fying individual, such individual shall be deemed to 

20 have been paid during each qualifying month at an 

amount per month equal to 1 21 ⁄12th of the national av22 erage wage index (as defined in section 209(k)(1)) 

23 for the second calendar year preceding the calendar 

24 year in which such month occurs. 


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•S 5010 IS

1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not be 

2 applicable in the case of any monthly benefit or 

3 lump-sum death payment if a larger such benefit or 

4 payment, as the case may be, would be payable with5 out its application. 

6 ‘‘(c) RULES AND REGULATIONS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

8 the date of the enactment of this section, the Com9 missioner of Social Security shall promulgate such 

10 regulations as are necessary to carry out this sec11 tion, including regulations establishing procedures 

12 for the application and certification requirements de13 scribed in paragraph (2). 

14 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION AND CERTIFICATION RE15 QUIREMENTS.—A qualifying month shall not be 

16 taken into account under this section with respect to 

17 an individual unless the individual (or any other in18 dividual entitled to any benefit or payment payable 

19 under this title on the basis of the wages and self20 employment income of such individual) submits to 

21 the Commissioner of Social Security an application 

22 for benefits under this section that includes— 

23 ‘‘(A) documentation of a determination 

24 made by a Federal agency that the individual 

25 satisfies the requirements under subsection 


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•S 5010 IS

1 (a)(2) with respect to a qualifying individual, 

2 including the period during which the individual 

3 was— 

4 ‘‘(i) unlawfully or wrongfully detained 

5 abroad; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) held hostage abroad; and 

7 ‘‘(B) such other information as the Com8 missioner may require.’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 209(k)(1) 

10 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 409(k)(1)) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘230(b)(2)’’ the 

12 first time it appears; and 

13 (2) by inserting ‘‘and 235(b)(1),’’ after 

14 ‘‘1977),’’. 

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall take effect on the date which is 24 

17 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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