II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3101 

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the retirement earnings 

test, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 28, 2021 

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the 

retirement earnings test, 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 ‘‘Senior Citizens’ Free5 dom to Work Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE RETIREMENT EARNINGS TEST. 

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

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

9 (42 U.S.C. 403) are repealed. 


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•S 3101 IS

1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 203 of 

2 such Act (as amended by subsection (a)) is further amend3 ed— 

4 (1) by redesignating subsections (c), (e), (g), 

5 and (l) as subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e), respec6 tively; 

7 (2) in subsection (b) (as so redesignated)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘NONCOVERED WORK

9 OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES OR’’; 

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

11 and (4) as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respec12 tively; 

13 (C) by striking ‘‘paragraphs (2), (3), and 

14 (4) of’’; and 

15 (D) by striking the last sentence; 

16 (3) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), by 

17 striking ‘‘subsections (c) and (d)’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; 

19 (4) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated), by 

20 striking ‘‘subsection (c)’’ each place it appears and 

21 inserting ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 

22 (5) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated), by 

23 striking ‘‘subsection (g) or (h)(1)(A)’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘subsection (d)’’. 

25 (c) ADDITIONAL CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (1) PROVISIONS RELATING TO BENEFITS TER2 MINATED UPON DEPORTATION.—Section 202(n)(1) 

3 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(n)(1)) is 

4 amended by striking ‘‘Section 203(b), (c), and (d)’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘Section 203(b)’’. 

6 (2) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS

7 FROM REDUCTIONS BASED ON EARLY RETIRE8 MENT.—Section 202(q) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

9 402(q)) is amended— 

10 (A) in paragraph (5)(B), by striking ‘‘sec11 tion 203(c)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

12 203(b)(1)’’; and 

13 (B) in paragraph (7)(A), by striking ‘‘de14 ductions under section 203(b), 203(c)(1), 

15 203(d)(1), or 222(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘deduc16 tions on account of work under section 203 (as 

17 in effect on the day before the date of the en18 actment of the Senior Citizens’ Freedom to 

19 Work Act of 2021) or deductions under section 

20 222(b)’’. 

21 (3) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS

22 FROM REDUCTIONS BASED ON DISREGARD OF CER23 TAIN ENTITLEMENTS TO CHILD’S INSURANCE BENE24 FITS.—Section 202(s) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 402(s)) is amended— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘para2 graphs (2), (3), and (4) of section 203(c)’’ and 

3 inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of sec4 tion 203(b)’’; and 

5 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘The last 

6 sentence of subsection (c) of section 203, sub7 section (f)(1)(C) of section 203, and sub8 sections’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsections’’. 

9 (4) PROVISIONS RELATING TO SUSPENSION OF

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

11 (42 U.S.C. 402(t)(7)) is amended by striking ‘‘Sub12 sections (b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsection 

13 (b)’’. 

14 (5) PROVISIONS RELATING TO REDUCTIONS IN

15 BENEFITS 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 sub18 sections (b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘and sub19 section (b)’’. 

20 (6) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PENALTIES FOR

21 MISREPRESENTATIONS CONCERNING EARNINGS FOR

22 PERIODS SUBJECT TO DEDUCTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF

23 WORK.—Section 208(a)(1)(C) of such Act (42 

24 U.S.C. 408(a)(1)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘under 

25 section 203(f) of this title for purposes of deductions 


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1 from benefits’’ and inserting ‘‘under section 203 (as 

2 in effect on the day before the date of the enactment 

3 of the Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 

4 2021) for purposes of deductions from benefits on 

5 account of work’’. 

6 (7) PROVISIONS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT EARN7 INGS IN DETERMINING BENEFIT COMPUTATION

8 YEARS.—Clause (I) in the next to last sentence of 

9 section 215(b)(2)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 415(b)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘no earnings 

11 as described in section 203(f)(5) in such year’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘no wages, and no net earnings from self13 employment (in excess of net loss from self-employ14 ment), in such year’’. 

15 (8) PROVISIONS RELATING TO ROUNDING OF

16 BENEFITS.—Section 215(g) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

17 415(g)) is amended by striking ‘‘and any deduction 

18 under section 203(b)’’. 

19 (9) PROVISIONS DEFINING INCOME FOR PUR20 POSES OF SSI.—Section 1612(a) of such Act (42 

21 U.S.C. 1382a(a)) is amended— 

22 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘as 

23 determined under section 203(f)(5)(C)’’ and in24 serting ‘‘as defined in the last two sentences of 

25 this subsection’’; and 


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1 (B) by adding at the end (after and below 

2 paragraph (2)(H)) the following: 

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

4 means wages as defined in section 209, but computed 

5 without regard to the limitations as to amounts of remu6 neration specified in paragraphs (1), (6)(B), (6)(C), 

7 (7)(B), and (8) of section 209(a). In making the computa8 tion under the preceding sentence, (A) services which do 

9 not constitute employment as defined in section 210, per10 formed within the United States by an individual as an 

11 employee or performed outside the United States in the 

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

13 be deemed to be employment as so defined if the remu14 neration for such services is not includible in computing 

15 the individual’s net earnings or net loss from self-employ16 ment for purposes of title II, and (B) the term ‘wages’ 

17 shall be deemed not to include (i) the amount of any pay18 ment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of his 

19 or her dependents (including any amount paid by an em20 ployer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to pro21 vide for any such payment) on account of retirement, or 

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

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

24 after the termination of the employee’s employment rela25 tionship because of retirement after attaining an age specVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:44 Nov 01, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3101.IS S3101

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1 ified in a plan referred to in section 209(a)(11)(B) or in 

2 a pension plan of the employer.’’. 

3 (d) REPEAL OF DEDUCTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF WORK

4 UNDER THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT PROGRAM.— 

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

6 Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231a) is amend7 ed— 

8 (A) by striking subsection (f); and 

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

10 redesignating subsection (g)(1) as subsection 

11 (g). 

12 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

14 231b(f)(1)) is amended in the first sentence by 

15 striking ‘‘before any reductions under the provi16 sions of section 2(f) of this Act,’’. 

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

18 231c(g)(2)) is amended— 

19 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘shall, be20 fore any deductions under section 2(g) of 

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

22 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘any de23 ductions under section 2(g) of this Act and 

24 before’’. 


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•S 3101 IS

1 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply with respect to taxable years end3 ing after December 31, 2021. 

Æ 


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