I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4743
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
MAY 15, 2002
Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. FROST, Mr. CONYERS,
and Ms. WOOLSEY) 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 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 2002’’.
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 2002, 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 individual
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
larger such benefit or payment, as the case may be, would
be payable without its application.
‘‘Citizenship and Residency Requirements
‘‘(c)(1) A qualifying month shall not be taken into
account under this section with respect to any individual
unless such individual—
‘‘(A) is throughout the qualifying month a resi-
dent of the United States (as defined in paragraph
(2)), and
‘‘(B)(i) is throughout the qualifying month a
citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully ad-
mitted for permanent residence, and
‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who was not
a citizen of the United States throughout the quali-
fying month, has resided in the United States (as
defined in subsection 210(i)) continuously during the
5 years immediately preceding the qualifying month.
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the term
‘United States’ means the 50 States and the District of
Columbia.
‘‘Identification Requirements
‘‘(d) A qualifying month shall not be taken into ac-
count under this section with respect to an individual un-
less such individual provides the Commissioner of Social
Security with the name and social security account num-
in order to place such Trust Fund in the same position
at the end of such fiscal year as it would have been in
if such payments had not been made.’’.
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