II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1411 

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 

MAY 21, 2015 

Mrs. ERNST (for herself, Mr. KIRK, and Mr. RUBIO) 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 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

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

8 Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide retirement, clerical assistmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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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) IN GENERAL.—Each former President shall be 

8 entitled for the remainder of his or her life to receive from 

9 the United States— 

10 ‘‘(1) an annuity at the rate of $200,000 per 

11 year, subject to subsection (c); and 

12 ‘‘(2) a monetary allowance at the rate of 

13 $200,000 per year, subject to subsections (c) and 

14 (d). 

15 ‘‘(b) DURATION; FREQUENCY.— 

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

17 under subsection (a) shall each— 

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

19 on which an individual becomes a former Presi20 dent; 

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

22 former President dies; and 

23 ‘‘(C) be payable by the Secretary of the 

24 Treasury on a monthly basis. 

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

2 The annuity and allowance under subsection (a) 

3 shall not be payable for any period during which a 

4 former President holds an appointive or elective po5 sition in or under the Federal Government or the 

6 government of the District of Columbia to which is 

7 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 may not exceed the 

21 amount by which— 

22 ‘‘(A) the monetary allowance that (but for 

23 this subsection) would otherwise be so payable 

24 for such 12-month period, exceeds (if at all) 

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1 ‘‘(B) the applicable reduction amount for 

2 such 12-month period. 

3 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para5 graph (1), the term ‘applicable reduction 

6 amount’ means, with respect to any former 

7 President and in connection with any 12-month 

8 period, the amount by which— 

9 ‘‘(i) the sum of— 

10 ‘‘(I) the adjusted gross income 

11 (as defined in section 62 of the Inter12 nal Revenue Code of 1986) of the 

13 former President for the most recent 

14 taxable year for which a tax return is 

15 available; and 

16 ‘‘(II) any interest excluded from 

17 the gross income of the former Presi18 dent under section 103 of such Code 

19 for such taxable year, exceeds (if at 

20 all) 

21 ‘‘(ii) $400,000, subject to subpara22 graph (C). 

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

24 joint return, subclauses (I) and (II) of subpara25 graph (A)(i) shall be applied by taking into acmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 count both the amounts properly allocable to 

2 the former President and the amounts properly 

3 allocable to the spouse of the former President. 

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

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

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

7 the same percentage by which, the monetary al8 lowance of the former President is increased 

9 under subsection (c) (disregarding this sub10 section). 

11 ‘‘(3) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.— 

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

13 ‘‘(i) the terms ‘return’ and ‘return in14 formation’ have the meaning given those 

15 terms in section 6103(b) of the Internal 

16 Revenue Code of 1986; and 

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

18 Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary 

19 of the Treasury’s delegate. 

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

21 may not receive a monetary allowance under 

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

23 discloses to the Secretary, upon the request of 

24 the Secretary, any return or return information 

25 of the former President or spouse of the former 

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1 President that the Secretary determines is nec2 essary for purposes of calculating the applicable 

3 reduction amount under paragraph (2) of this 

4 subsection. 

5 ‘‘(C) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Except as pro6 vided in section 6103 of the Internal Revenue 

7 Code of 1986 and notwithstanding any other 

8 provision of law, the Secretary may not, with 

9 respect to a return or return information dis10 closed to the Secretary under subparagraph 

11 (B)— 

12 ‘‘(i) disclose the return or return in13 formation to any entity or person; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) use the return or return informa15 tion for any purpose other than to cal16 culate the applicable reduction amount 

17 under paragraph (2).’’. 

18 (b) SURVIVING SPOUSES OF FORMER PRESI19 DENTS.— 

20 (1) INCREASE IN AMOUNT OF MONETARY AL21 LOWANCE.—Subsection (e) of the first section of the 

22 Former Presidents Act of 1958 is amended— 

23 (A) in the first sentence, by striking 

24 ‘‘$20,000 per annum,’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000 

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

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1 (B) in the second sentence— 

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

3 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

4 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking the 

5 period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (3) 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(4) shall, after its commencement date, be in9 creased at the same time that, and by the same per10 centage by which, annuities of former Presidents are 

11 increased under subsection (c).’’. 

12 (2) COVERAGE OF WIDOWER OF A FORMER

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

14 the Former Presidents Act of 1958, as amended by 

15 paragraph (1), is amended— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘widow’’ each place it ap17 pears and inserting ‘‘widow or widower’’; and 

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

19 or he’’. 

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

21 Former Presidents Act of 1958 is amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (e), by inserting after the sub23 section enumerator the following: ‘‘WIDOWS AND

24 WIDOWERS.—’’; 

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1 (2) in subsection (f), by inserting after the sub2 section enumerator the following: ‘‘DEFINITION.—’’; 

3 and 

4 (3) in subsection (g), by inserting after the sub5 section enumerator the following: ‘‘AUTHORIZATION

6 OF APPROPRIATIONS.—’’. 

7 SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

8 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect— 

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

10 or protection of a former President or a member of 

11 the family of a former President; or 

12 (2) funding, under the Former Presidents Act 

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

14 of law described in paragraph (1). 

15 SEC. 4. TRANSITION RULES. 

16 (a) FORMER PRESIDENTS.—In the case of any indi17 vidual who is a former President on the date of enactment 

18 of this Act, the amendment made by section 2(a) shall 

19 be applied as if the commencement date referred in sub20 section (b)(1)(A) of the first section of the Former Presi21 dents Act of 1958, as amended by section 2(a), coincided 

22 with such date of enactment. 

23 (b) WIDOWS.—In the case of any individual who is 

24 the widow of a former President on the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the amendments made by section 2(b)(1) shall 

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1 be applied as if the commencement date referred to in sub2 section (e)(1) of the first section of the Former Presidents 

3 Act of 1958, as amended by section 2(b)(1), coincided 

4 with such date of enactment. 

Æ 

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