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. OBER-
STAR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCOTT of Vir-
ginia, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, and 
Mr. FARR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to credit pro-
spectively individuals serving as caregivers of dependent 
relatives with deemed wages for up to five years of 
such service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Care-
giver Credit Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT 
RELATIVES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Social Security Act 
is amended by adding after section 234 (42 U.S.C. 434) 
the following new section: 
‘‘DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT 
RELATIVES 
‘‘Definitions 
‘‘SEC. 235. (a) For purposes of this section—
‘‘(1) The term ‘qualifying month’ means, in 
connection with an individual, a month during which 
such individual was engaged for not less than 80 
hours in providing care to a dependent relative with-
out monetary compensation. Such term does not in-
clude any month ending after the date on which 
such individual attains retirement age (as defined in 
section 216(l)). 
‘‘(2) The term ‘dependent relative’ means, in 
connection with an individual—
‘‘(A) a child, grandchild, niece, or nephew 
(of such individual or such individual’s spouse 
or domestic partner) who is under the age of 
12, or 
‘‘(B) a child, grandchild, niece, or nephew 
(of such individual or such individual’s spouse 
or domestic partner), a parent, aunt, or uncle
(of such individual or his or her spouse or do-
mestic partner), or such individual’s spouse or 
domestic partner, if such child, grandchild, 
niece, nephew, parent, aunt, uncle, spouse, or 
domestic partner is a chronically dependent in-
dividual. 
‘‘(3)(A) The term ‘chronically dependent indi-
vidual’ means an individual who—
‘‘(i) is dependent on a daily basis on verbal 
reminding, physical cueing, supervision, or 
other assistance provided to the individual by 
another person in the performance of at least 2 
of the activities of daily living (described in sub-
paragraph (B)), and 
‘‘(ii) without the assistance described in 
clause (i), could not perform such activities of 
daily living. 
‘‘(B) The ‘activities of daily living’ referred to 
in subparagraph (A) are the following: 
‘‘(i) Eating. 
‘‘(ii) Bathing. 
‘‘(iii) Dressing. 
‘‘(iv) Toileting. 
‘‘(v) Transferring in and out of a bed or 
in and out of a chair.
‘‘Deemed Wages of Caregiver 
‘‘(b)(1)(A) For purposes of determining entitlement 
to and the amount of any monthly benefit for any month 
after December 2003, or entitlement to and the amount 
of any lump-sum death payment in the case of a death 
after such month, payable under this title on the basis 
of the wages and self-employment income of any indi-
vidual, and for purposes of section 216(i)(3), such indi-
vidual shall be deemed to have been paid during each 
qualifying month (in addition to wages or self-employment 
income actually paid to or derived by such individual dur-
ing such month) at an amount per month equal to the 
excess (if any) of—
‘‘(i) 50 percent of the average amount of wages 
and self-employment income otherwise credited to in-
dividuals for such month under this title, over 
‘‘(ii) the amount of wages and self-employment 
income actually paid to or derived by such individ-
uals for such month. 
‘‘(B) In any case in which there are more than 60 
qualifying months for an individual, only the last 60 of 
such months shall be taken into account for purposes of 
this section. 
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not be applicable in the case 
of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment if a