I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 473

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 29, 2003

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. CONYERS, 

Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. FILNER, Mr. FROST, Mr. HASTINGS

of Florida, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, and 

Mr. FARR) 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 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT 

2 RELATIVES. 

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 CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT

7 RELATIVES

8 ‘‘Definitions 

9 ‘‘SEC. 235. (a) For purposes of this 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 2 

13 of the activities of daily living (described in sub14 paragraph (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 ‘‘Deemed Wages of Caregiver 

2 ‘‘(b)(1)(A) For purposes of determining entitlement 

3 to and the amount of any monthly benefit for any month 

4 after December 2003, or entitlement to and the amount 

5 of any lump-sum death payment in the case of a death 

6 after such month, payable under this title on the basis 

7 of the wages and self-employment income of any indi8 vidual, and for purposes of section 216(i)(3), such indi9 vidual shall be deemed to have been paid during each 

10 qualifying month (in addition to wages or self-employment 

11 income actually paid to or derived by such individual dur12 ing such month) at an amount per month equal to the 

13 excess (if any) of—

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

15 and self-employment income otherwise credited to in16 dividuals for such month under this title, over 

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

18 income actually paid to or derived by such individ19 uals for such month. 

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

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

22 such months shall be taken into account for purposes of 

23 this section. 

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

25 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 ‘‘Citizenship and Residency Requirements 

4 ‘‘(c)(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 ‘‘Identification Requirements 

22 ‘‘(d) A qualifying month shall not be taken into ac23 count under this section with respect to an individual un24 less such individual provides the Commissioner of Social 

25 Security with the name and social security account num-
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1 ber of the dependent relative with respect to whom the 

2 individual was engaged in providing care during such 

3 month, and other information as the Commissioner may 

4 require to verify the status of the dependent relative, on 

5 whatever application may be required to obtain benefits 

6 under this section. 

7 ‘‘Annual Reimbursement of Federal Old-Age and 

8 Survivors Insurance Trust Fund 

9 ‘‘(e) There are authorized to be appropriated to the 

10 Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund for 

11 the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for each 

12 fiscal year thereafter, such sums as the Commissioner of 

13 Social Security deems necessary on account of—

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

15 the second preceding fiscal year and all fiscal years 

16 prior thereto to individuals entitled to benefits under 

17 this section, 

18 ‘‘(2) the additional administrative expenses re19 sulting from the payments described in paragraph 

20 (1), and 

21 ‘‘(3) any loss in interest to such Trust Fund re22 sulting from such payments and expenses, 
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1 in order to place such Trust Fund in the same position 

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

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

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