I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2290 
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 
JUNE 22, 2011 
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 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 2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT 
RELATIVES. 
Title II of the Social Security Act is amended by add-
ing after section 234 (42 U.S.C. 434) the following new 
section: 
‘‘DEEMED WAGES FOR CAREGIVERS OF DEPENDENT 
RELATIVES 
‘‘SEC. 235. (a) DEFINITIONS.—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 
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(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 
two of the activities of daily living (described in 
subparagraph (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. 
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‘‘(b) DEEMED WAGES OF CAREGIVER.—(1)(A) For 
purposes of determining entitlement to and the amount 
of any monthly benefit for any month after December 
2011, 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 individual, and for purposes 
of section 216(i)(3), such individual 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 during 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 
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larger such benefit or payment, as the case may be, would 
be payable without its application. 
‘‘(c) 
CITIZENSHIP
AND
RESIDENCY
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—(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. 
‘‘(d) IDENTIFICATION
REQUIREMENTS.—A quali-
fying month shall not be taken into account under this 
section with respect to an individual unless such individual 
provides the Commissioner of Social Security with the 
name and Social Security account number of the depend-
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ent relative with respect to whom the individual was en-
gaged in providing care during such month, and other in-
formation as the Commissioner may require to verify the 
status of the dependent relative, on whatever application 
may be required to obtain benefits under this section. 
‘‘(e) ANNUAL REIMBURSEMENT OF FEDERAL OLD- 
AGE AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Old-Age 
and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 2009, and for each fiscal year there-
after, such sums as the Commissioner of Social Security 
deems necessary on account of— 
‘‘(1) payments made under this section during 
the second preceding fiscal year and all fiscal years 
prior thereto to individuals entitled to benefits under 
this section, 
‘‘(2) the additional administrative expenses re-
sulting from the payments described in paragraph 
(1), and 
‘‘(3) any loss in interest to such Trust Fund re-
sulting from such payments and expenses, 
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.’’. 
Æ 
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