I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 769 

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to credit prospectively individuals 

serving as caregivers of dependent relatives with deemed wages for up 

to five years of such service. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 28, 2009 

Mrs. LOWEY 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 credit prospectively individuals serving as caregivers of dependent 

relatives with deemed wages for up to five years of 

such service. 

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 Care5 giver Credit Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT 

2 RELATIVES. 

3 Title II of the Social Security Act is amended by add4 ing after section 234 (42 U.S.C. 434) the following new 

5 section: 

6 ‘‘DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT

7 RELATIVES

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

9 section— 

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘qualifying month’ means, in 

11 connection with an individual, a month during which 

12 such individual was engaged for not less than 80 

13 hours in providing care to a dependent relative with14 out monetary compensation. Such term does not in15 clude any month ending after the date on which 

16 such individual attains retirement age (as defined in 

17 section 216(l)). 

18 ‘‘(2) The term ‘dependent relative’ means, in 

19 connection with an individual— 

20 ‘‘(A) a child, grandchild, niece, or nephew 

21 (of such individual or such individual’s spouse 

22 or domestic partner) who is under the age of 

23 12, or 

24 ‘‘(B) a child, grandchild, niece, or nephew 

25 (of such individual or such individual’s spouse 

26 or domestic partner), a parent, aunt, or uncle 


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1 (of such individual or his or her spouse or do2 mestic partner), or such individual’s spouse or 

3 domestic partner, if such child, grandchild, 

4 niece, nephew, parent, aunt, uncle, spouse, or 

5 domestic partner is a chronically dependent in6 dividual. 

7 ‘‘(3)(A) The term ‘chronically dependent indi8 vidual’ means an individual who— 

9 ‘‘(i) is dependent on a daily basis on verbal 

10 reminding, physical cueing, supervision, or 

11 other assistance provided to the individual by 

12 another person in the performance of at least 

13 two of the activities of daily living (described in 

14 subparagraph (B)), and 

15 ‘‘(ii) without the assistance described in 

16 clause (i), could not perform such activities of 

17 daily living. 

18 ‘‘(B) The ‘activities of daily living’ referred to 

19 in subparagraph (A) are the following: 

20 ‘‘(i) Eating. 

21 ‘‘(ii) Bathing. 

22 ‘‘(iii) Dressing. 

23 ‘‘(iv) Toileting. 

24 ‘‘(v) Transferring in and out of a bed or 

25 in and out of a chair. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DEEMED WAGES OF CAREGIVER.—(1)(A) For 

2 purposes of determining entitlement to and the amount 

3 of any monthly benefit for any month after December 

4 2008, or entitlement to and the amount of any lump-sum 

5 death payment in the case of a death after such month, 

6 payable under this title on the basis of the wages and self7 employment income of any individual, and for purposes 

8 of section 216(i)(3), such individual shall be deemed to 

9 have been paid during each qualifying month (in addition 

10 to wages or self-employment income actually paid to or 

11 derived by such individual during such month) at an 

12 amount per month equal to the excess (if any) of— 

13 ‘‘(i) 50 percent of the average amount of wages 

14 and self-employment income otherwise credited to in15 dividuals for such month under this title, over 

16 ‘‘(ii) the amount of wages and self-employment 

17 income actually paid to or derived by such individual 

18 for such month. 

19 ‘‘(B) In any case in which there are more than 60 

20 qualifying months for an individual, only the last 60 of 

21 such months shall be taken into account for purposes of 

22 this section. 

23 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not be applicable in the case 

24 of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment if a 


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1 larger such benefit or payment, as the case may be, would 

2 be payable without its application. 

3 ‘‘(c) CITIZENSHIP AND RESIDENCY REQUIRE4 MENTS.—(1) A qualifying month shall not be taken into 

5 account under this section with respect to any individual 

6 unless such individual— 

7 ‘‘(A) is throughout the qualifying month a resi8 dent of the United States (as defined in paragraph 

9 (2)), and 

10 ‘‘(B)(i) is throughout the qualifying month a 

11 citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully ad12 mitted for permanent residence, and 

13 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who was not 

14 a citizen of the United States throughout the quali15 fying month, has resided in the United States (as 

16 defined in subsection 210(i)) continuously during the 

17 5 years immediately preceding the qualifying month. 

18 ‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the term 

19 ‘United States’ means the 50 States and the District of 

20 Columbia. 

21 ‘‘(d) IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—A quali22 fying month shall not be taken into account under this 

23 section with respect to an individual unless such individual 

24 provides the Commissioner of Social Security with the 

25 name and Social Security account number of the dependVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:06 Jan 31, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H769.IH H769

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1 ent relative with respect to whom the individual was en2 gaged in providing care during such month, and other in3 formation as the Commissioner may require to verify the 

4 status of the dependent relative, on whatever application 

5 may be required to obtain benefits under this section. 

6 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REIMBURSEMENT OF FEDERAL OLD7 AGE AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Old-Age 

9 and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund for the fiscal year 

10 ending September 30, 2009, and for each fiscal year there11 after, such sums as the Commissioner of Social Security 

12 deems necessary on account of— 

13 ‘‘(1) payments made under this section during 

14 the second preceding fiscal year and all fiscal years 

15 prior thereto to individuals entitled to benefits under 

16 this section, 

17 ‘‘(2) the additional administrative expenses re18 sulting from the payments described in paragraph 

19 (1), and 

20 ‘‘(3) any loss in interest to such Trust Fund re21 sulting from such payments and expenses, 

22 in order to place such Trust Fund in the same position 

23 at the end of such fiscal year as it would have been in 

24 if such payments had not been made.’’. 

Æ 


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