I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3261
To improve the retirement security of United States families by strengthening
Social Security.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY11, 2023
Ms. S
A´NCHEZ(for herself, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. LEEof Cali-
fornia, Mr. C
ARTWRIGHT, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. PINGREE, Ms.
N
ORTON, and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To improve the retirement security of United States families
by strengthening Social Security.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Social 4
Security Act of 2023’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DETERMINATION OF TAXABLE WAGES AND SELF- 1
EMPLOYMENT INCOME ABOVE CONTRIBU-2
TION AND BENEFIT BASE AFTER 2024. 3
(a) D
ETERMINATION OF TAXABLEWAGESABOVE 4
C
ONTRIBUTION ANDBENEFITBASEAFTER2024.— 5
(1) A
MENDMENTS TO THE INTERNAL REVENUE 6
CODE OF 1986.—Section 3121 of the Internal Rev-7
enue Code of 1986 is amended— 8
(A) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘the 9
applicable percentage (determined under sub-10
section (c)(1)) of’’ before ‘‘that part of the re-11
muneration’’; and 12
(B) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘(c) I
N-13
CLUDED AND EXCLUDEDSERVICE.—For pur-14
poses of this chapter, if’’ and inserting the fol-15
lowing: 16
‘‘(c) S
PECIALRULES FORWAGES ANDEMPLOY-17
MENT.— 18
‘‘(1) A
PPLICABLE PERCENTAGE OF REMUNERA -19
TION IN DETERMINING TAXABLE WAGES .—For pur-20
poses of subsection (a)(1), the applicable percentage 21
for a calendar year shall be equal to— 22
‘‘(A) for 2025, 80 percent, 23
‘‘(B) for 2026 through 2028, the applica-24
ble percentage under this paragraph for the 25
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previous year, decreased by 20 percentage 1
points, and 2
‘‘(C) for 2029 and each year thereafter, 0 3
percent. 4
‘‘(2) I
NCLUDED AND EXCLUDED SERVICE .—For 5
purposes of this chapter, if’’. 6
(2) A
MENDMENTS TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY 7
ACT.—Section 209 of the Social Security Act (42 8
U.S.C. 409) is amended— 9
(A) in subsection (a)(1)(I)— 10
(i) by inserting ‘‘and before 2025’’ 11
after ‘‘1974’’; and 12
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semi-13
colon; 14
(B) in subsection (a)(1), by adding at the 15
end the following new subparagraph: 16
‘‘(J) The applicable percentage (deter-17
mined under subsection (l)) of that part of re-18
muneration which, after remuneration (other 19
than remuneration referred to in the succeeding 20
subsections of this section) equal to the con-21
tribution and benefit base (determined under 22
section 230) with respect to employment has 23
been paid to an individual during any calendar 24
year after 2024 with respect to which such con-25
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tribution and benefit base is effective, is paid to 1
such individual during such calendar year;’’; 2
and 3
(C) by adding at the end the following new 4
subsection: 5
‘‘(l) For purposes of subsection (a)(1)(J), the applica-6
ble percentage for a calendar year shall be equal to— 7
‘‘(1) for 2025, 80 percent, 8
‘‘(2) for 2026 through 2028, the applicable per-9
centage under this subsection for the previous year, 10
decreased by 20 percentage points, and 11
‘‘(3) for 2029 and each year thereafter, 0 per-12
cent.’’. 13
(3) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 14
by this subsection shall apply with respect to remu-15
neration paid in calendar years after 2024. 16
(b) D
ETERMINATION OF TAXABLESELF-EMPLOY-17
MENTINCOMEABOVECONTRIBUTION AND BENEFIT 18
B
ASEAFTER2024.— 19
(1) A
MENDMENTS TO THE INTERNAL REVENUE 20
CODE OF 1986.—Section 1402 of the Internal Rev-21
enue Code of 1986 is amended— 22
(A) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘that 23
part of the net earnings’’ and all that follows 24
through ‘‘minus’’ and inserting the following: 25
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‘‘an amount equal to the applicable percentage 1
(as determined under subsection (d)(2)) of that 2
part of the net earnings from self-employment 3
which is in excess of the difference (not to be 4
less than 0) between (i) an amount equal to the 5
contribution and benefit base (as determined 6
under section 230 of the Social Security Act) 7
which is effective for the calendar year in which 8
such taxable year begins, and’’; and 9
(B) in subsection (d)— 10
(i) by striking ‘‘(d) E
MPLOYEE AND 11
W
AGES.—The term’’ and inserting the fol-12
lowing: 13
‘‘(d) R
ULES ANDDEFINITIONS.— 14
‘‘(1) E
MPLOYEE AND WAGES .—The term’’; and 15
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(2) A
PPLICABLE PERCENTAGE OF NET EARN -18
INGS FROM SELF -EMPLOYMENT IN DETERMINING 19
TAXABLE SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME .—For pur-20
poses of subsection (b)(1), the applicable percentage 21
for a taxable year beginning in any calendar year re-22
ferred to in such paragraph shall be equal to— 23
‘‘(A) for 2025, 80 percent, 24
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‘‘(B) for 2026 through 2028, the applica-1
ble percentage under this paragraph for the 2
previous year, decreased by 20 percentage 3
points, and 4
‘‘(C) for 2029 and each year thereafter, 0 5
percent.’’. 6
(2) A
MENDMENTS TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY 7
ACT.—Section 211 of the Social Security Act (42 8
U.S.C. 411) is amended— 9
(A) in subsection (b)— 10
(i) in paragraph (1)(I)— 11
(I) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 12
semicolon; and 13
(II) by inserting ‘‘and before 14
2025’’ after ‘‘1974’’; 15
(ii) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 16
paragraph (3); and 17
(iii) by inserting after paragraph (1) 18
the following: 19
‘‘(2) For any taxable year beginning in any cal-20
endar year after 2024, an amount equal to the appli-21
cable percentage (as determined under subsection 22
(l)) of that part of net earnings from self-employ-23
ment which is in excess of the difference (not to be 24
less than 0) between— 25
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‘‘(A) an amount equal to the contribution 1
and benefit base (as determined under section 2
230) that is effective for such calendar year, 3
and 4
‘‘(B) the amount of the wages paid to such 5
individual during such taxable year, or’’; and 6
(B) by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘(l) For purposes of subsection (b)(2), the applicable 8
percentage for a taxable year beginning in any calendar 9
year referred to in such paragraph shall be equal to— 10
‘‘(1) for 2025, 80 percent, 11
‘‘(2) for 2026 through 2028, the applicable per-12
centage under this subsection for the previous year, 13
decreased by 20 percentage points, and 14
‘‘(3) for 2029 and each year thereafter, 0 per-15
cent.’’. 16
(3) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 17
by this subsection shall apply with respect to taxable 18
years beginning during or after calendar year 2025. 19
SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENTS TO BEND POINTS IN DETERMINING 20
PRIMARY INSURANCE AMOUNT AND INCLU-21
SION OF SURPLUS EARNINGS FOR BENEFIT 22
DETERMINATIONS. 23
(a) A
DJUSTMENTS RELATING TO FIRSTBEND 24
P
OINT.— 25
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(1) INCREASE IN FIRST BEND POINT FACTOR .— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Section 215(a)(1)(A)(i) 2
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 3
415(a)(1)(A)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘90 4
percent’’ and inserting ‘‘95 percent’’. 5
(B) E
FFECTIVE DATE ; APPLICATION 6
RULE.—The amendment made by subparagraph 7
(A) shall apply with respect to computations or 8
recomputations of primary insurance amounts 9
made on or after January 1, 2029, except that 10
section 215(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Social Security 11
Act shall be applied by making the following 12
substitutions for ‘‘95 percent’’ for computations 13
and recomputations made in the following cal-14
endar years: 15
(i) For calendar year 2029, by sub-16
stituting ‘‘91 percent’’. 17
(ii) For calendar year 2030, by sub-18
stituting ‘‘92 percent’’. 19
(iii) For calendar year 2031, by sub-20
stituting ‘‘93 percent’’. 21
(iv) For calendar year 2032, by sub-22
stituting ‘‘94 percent’’. 23
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(2) INCREASE IN FIRST BEND POINT .—Section 1
215(a)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 415(a)(1)(B)) 2
is amended— 3
(A) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause 4
(iv); and 5
(B) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol-6
lowing new clause: 7
‘‘(iii) With respect to computations or recompu-8
tations of primary insurance amounts made on or 9
after January 1, 2029, the amount determined 10
under clause (i) of this subparagraph for purposes 11
of subparagraph (A)(i) for such calendar year shall 12
be increased by— 13
‘‘(I) for calendar year 2030, 1 percent, 14
‘‘(II) for each of calendar years 2031 15
through 2043, the percent determined under 16
this clause for the preceding year increased by 17
1 percentage point, and 18
‘‘(III) for calendar year 2044 and each 19
year thereafter, 15 percent.’’. 20
(3) A
PPLICATION OF INCREASE ; RECOMPUTA-21
TIONS.—The amendments made by this subsection 22
shall apply with respect to every individual who be-23
comes entitled to old-age or disability insurance ben-24
efits under title II of the Social Security Act, or who 25
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dies (before becoming so entitled), in any calendar 1
year. Notwithstanding section 215(f)(1) of the Social 2
Security Act, the Commissioner of Social Security 3
shall recompute the primary insurance amount of 4
each such individual on the first day of each cal-5
endar year during the period beginning with cal-6
endar year 2029 and ending with calendar year 7
2044 to the extent necessary to carry out the 8
amendments made by this section. 9
(b) I
NCLUSION OF SURPLUSAVERAGEINDEXED 10
M
ONTHLYEARNINGS INDETERMINATION OF PRIMARY 11
I
NSURANCEAMOUNTS.—Section 215(a)(1)(A) of the So-12
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 415(a)(1)(A)) is amended— 13
(1) in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii), by inserting 14
‘‘basic’’ before ‘‘average indexed monthly earnings’’ 15
each place it appears; 16
(2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 17
(3) in clause (iii), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end; 18
and 19
(4) by inserting after clause (iii) the following 20
new clause: 21
‘‘(iv) 5 percent of the individual’s surplus aver-22
age indexed monthly earnings,’’. 23
(c) B
ASICAIME ANDSURPLUSAIME.— 24
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(1) BASIC AIME.—Section 215(b)(1) of such 1
Act (42 U.S.C. 415(b)(1)) is amended— 2
(A) by inserting ‘‘basic’’ before ‘‘average’’; 3
and 4
(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking 5
‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 6
(3)(A)’’ and by inserting before the comma the 7
following: ‘‘to the extent such total does not ex-8
ceed the contribution and benefit base for the 9
applicable year’’. 10
(2) S
URPLUS AIME.— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Section 215(b)(1) of 12
such Act (as amended by paragraph (1)) is 13
amended— 14
(i) by redesignating subparagraphs 15
(A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec-16
tively; 17
(ii) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(b)(1)’’; 18
and 19
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-20
lowing new subparagraph: 21
‘‘(B)(i) An individual’s surplus average indexed 22
monthly earnings shall be equal to the quotient obtained 23
by dividing— 24
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‘‘(I) the total (after adjustment under para-1
graph (3)(B)) of such individual’s surplus earnings 2
(determined under clause (ii)) for such individual’s 3
benefit computation years (determined under para-4
graph (2)), by 5
‘‘(II) the number of months in those years. 6
‘‘(ii) For purposes of clause (i) and paragraph (3)(B), 7
an individual’s surplus earnings for a benefit computation 8
year are the total of such individual’s wages paid in and 9
self-employment income credited to such benefit computa-10
tion year, to the extent such total (before adjustment 11
under paragraph (3)(B)) exceeds the contribution and 12
benefit base for such year.’’. 13
(B) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT .—The 14
heading for section 215(b) of such Act is 15
amended by striking ‘‘Average Indexed Monthly 16
Earnings’’ and inserting ‘‘Basic Average In-17
dexed Monthly Earnings; Surplus Average In-18
dexed Monthly Earnings’’. 19
(3) A
DJUSTMENT OF SURPLUS EARNINGS FOR 20
PURPOSES OF DETERMINING SURPLUS AIME .—Sec-21
tion 215(b)(3) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 415(b)(3)) is 22
amended— 23
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub-24
paragraph (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph 25
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(C)’’ and by inserting ‘‘and determination of 1
basic average indexed monthly income’’ after 2
‘‘paragraph (2)’’; 3
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 4
subparagraph (C); and 5
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 6
the following new subparagraph: 7
‘‘(B) For purposes of determining under paragraph 8
(1)(B) an individual’s surplus average indexed monthly 9
earnings, the individual’s surplus earnings (described in 10
paragraph (2)(B)(ii)) for a benefit computation year shall 11
be deemed to be equal to the product of— 12
‘‘(i) the individual’s surplus earnings for such 13
year (as determined without regard to this subpara-14
graph), and 15
‘‘(ii) the quotient described in subparagraph 16
(A)(ii).’’. 17
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 18
subsections (b) and (c) shall apply with respect to individ-19
uals who initially become eligible (within the meaning of 20
section 215(a)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act) for old- 21
age or disability insurance benefits under title II of the 22
Social Security Act, or who die (before becoming eligible 23
for such benefits), in any calendar year after 2029. 24
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SEC. 4. CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR ELDERLY CON-1
SUMERS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Bureau of Labor Statistics 3
of the Department of Labor shall prepare and publish an 4
index for each calendar month to be known as the ‘‘Con-5
sumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers’’ that indicates 6
changes over time in expenditures for consumption which 7
are typical for individuals in the United States who have 8
attained early retirement age (as defined under section 9
216(l)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 416(l)(2)) 10
for purposes of an old-age, wife’s, or husband’s insurance 11
benefit). 12
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—Subsection (a) shall apply 13
with respect to calendar months ending on or after June 14
30 of the calendar year in which this Act is enacted. 15
(c) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 16
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec-17
essary to carry out the provisions of this section. 18
SEC. 5. COMPUTATION OF COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES FOR 19
SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 215(i) of the Social Secu-21
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)) is amended— 22
(1) in paragraph (1)(G), by inserting before the 23
period the following: ‘‘, and, with respect to any 24
monthly insurance benefit payable under this title, 25
effective for adjustments under this subsection to 26
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the primary insurance amount on which such benefit 1
is based (or to any such benefit under section 227 2
or 228), the applicable Consumer Price Index shall 3
be deemed to be the Consumer Price Index for El-4
derly Consumers and such primary insurance 5
amount shall be deemed adjusted under this sub-6
section using such Index’’; and 7
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and by sec-8
tion 9001’’ and inserting ‘‘, by section 9001’’, and 9
by inserting after ‘‘1986,’’ the following: ‘‘and by 10
section 5(a) of the Strengthening Social Security Act 11
of 2023,’’. 12
(b) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS IN APPLICABLE 13
F
ORMERLAW.—Section 215(i)(1)(C) of the Social Secu-14
rity Act, as in effect in December 1978 and applied in 15
certain cases under the provisions of such Act in effect 16
after December 1978, is amended by inserting before the 17
period the following: ‘‘, and, with respect to any monthly 18
insurance benefit payable under this title, effective for ad-19
justments under this subsection to the primary insurance 20
amount on which such benefit is based (or to any such 21
benefit under section 227 or 228), the applicable Con-22
sumer Price Index shall be deemed to be the Consumer 23
Price Index for Elderly Consumers and such primary in-24
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surance amount shall be deemed adjusted under this sub-1
section using such Index’’. 2
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 3
this section shall apply to determinations made by the 4
Commissioner of Social Security under section 215(i)(2) 5
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)(2)) with re-6
spect to cost-of-living computation quarters ending on or 7
after September 30, 2024. 8
SEC. 6. IMPROVING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR WID-9
OWS AND WIDOWERS IN TWO-INCOME HOUSE-10
HOLDS. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 12
(1) W
IDOWS.—Section 202(e) of the Social Se-13
curity Act (42 U.S.C. 402(e)) is amended— 14
(A) in paragraph (1)— 15
(i) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 16
‘‘and’’ at the end; 17
(ii) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by strik-18
ing ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19
(iii) by striking subparagraph (D); 20
(iv) by redesignating subparagraphs 21
(E) and (F) as subparagraphs (D) and 22
(E), respectively; and 23
(v) in the flush matter following sub-24
paragraph (E)(ii), as so redesignated, by 25
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striking ‘‘or becomes entitled to an old-age 1
insurance benefit’’ and all that follows 2
through ‘‘such deceased individual,’’; 3
(B) by striking subparagraph (A) in para-4
graph (2) and inserting the following: 5
‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subsection 6
(k)(5), subsection (q), and subparagraph (D) of this 7
paragraph, such widow’s insurance benefit for each 8
month shall be equal to the greater of— 9
‘‘(i) subject to paragraph (9), the primary 10
insurance amount (as determined for purposes 11
of this subsection after application of subpara-12
graphs (B) and (C)) of such deceased indi-13
vidual, or 14
‘‘(ii) subject to paragraphs (9) and (10), in 15
the case of a fully insured widow or surviving 16
divorced wife, 75 percent of the sum of any old- 17
age or disability insurance benefit for which the 18
widow or the surviving divorced wife is entitled 19
for such month and the primary insurance 20
amount (as determined for purposes of this 21
subsection after application of subparagraphs 22
(B) and (C)) of such deceased individual.’’; 23
(C) in paragraph (5)— 24
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(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 1
‘‘paragraph (1)(F)’’ and inserting ‘‘para-2
graph (1)(E)’’; and 3
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 4
‘‘paragraph (1)(F)(i)’’ and inserting 5
‘‘paragraph (1)(E)(i)’’; and 6
(D) by adding at the end the following new 7
paragraphs: 8
‘‘(9) For purposes of clauses (i) and (ii) of 9
paragraph (2)(A), in the case of a surviving divorced 10
wife, the amount determined under either such 11
clause (and, for purposes of clause (ii) of paragraph 12
(2)(A), as determined after application of paragraph 13
(10)) shall be equal to the applicable percentage (as 14
determined under section 202(b)(2)(B)) of such 15
amount (as determined before application of this 16
paragraph but after application of subsection 17
(k)(3)). 18
‘‘(10) For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)(ii), the 19
amount determined under such paragraph shall not 20
exceed the primary insurance amount for such 21
month of a hypothetical individual— 22
‘‘(A) who became entitled to old-age insur-23
ance benefits upon attaining early retirement 24
age during the month in which the deceased in-25
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dividual referred to in paragraph (1) became 1
entitled to old-age or disability insurance bene-2
fits, or died (before becoming entitled to such 3
benefits), and 4
‘‘(B) to whom wages and self-employment 5
income were credited in each of such hypo-6
thetical individual’s elapsed years (within the 7
meaning of section 215(b)(2)(B)(iii)) in an 8
amount equal to the national average wage 9
index (as described in section 209(k)(1)) for 10
each such year.’’. 11
(2) W
IDOWERS.—Section 202(f) of the Social 12
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(f)) is amended— 13
(A) in paragraph (1)— 14
(i) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 15
‘‘and’’ at the end; 16
(ii) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by strik-17
ing ‘‘and’’ at the end; 18
(iii) by striking subparagraph (D); 19
(iv) by redesignating subparagraphs 20
(E) and (F) as subparagraphs (D) and 21
(E), respectively; and 22
(v) in the flush matter following sub-23
paragraph (E)(ii), as so redesignated, by 24
striking ‘‘or becomes entitled to an old-age 25
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insurance benefit’’ and all that follows 1
through ‘‘such deceased individual,’’; 2
(B) by striking subparagraph (A) in para-3
graph (2) and inserting the following: 4
‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subsection 5
(k)(5), subsection (q), and subparagraph (D) of this 6
paragraph, such widower’s insurance benefit for 7
each month shall be equal to the greater of— 8
‘‘(i) subject to paragraph (9), the primary 9
insurance amount (as determined for purposes 10
of this subsection after application of subpara-11
graphs (B) and (C)) of such deceased indi-12
vidual, or 13
‘‘(ii) subject to paragraphs (9) and (10), in 14
the case of a fully insured widower or surviving 15
divorced husband, 75 percent of the sum of any 16
old-age or disability insurance benefit for which 17
the widower or the surviving divorced husband 18
is entitled for such month and the primary in-19
surance amount (as determined for purposes of 20
this subsection after application of subpara-21
graphs (B) and (C)) of such deceased indi-22
vidual.’’; 23
(C) in paragraph (5)— 24
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kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 21
•HR 3261 IH
(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 1
‘‘paragraph (1)(F)’’ and inserting ‘‘para-2
graph (1)(E)’’; and 3
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 4
‘‘paragraph (1)(F)(i)’’ and inserting 5
‘‘paragraph (1)(E)(i)’’; and 6
(D) by adding at the end the following new 7
paragraphs: 8
‘‘(9) For purposes of clauses (i) and (ii) of 9
paragraph (2)(A), in the case of a surviving divorced 10
husband, the amount determined under either such 11
clause (and, for purposes of clause (ii) of paragraph 12
(2)(A), as determined after application of paragraph 13
(10)) shall be equal to the applicable percentage (as 14
determined under section 202(c)(2)(B)) of such 15
amount (as determined before application of this 16
paragraph but after application of subsection 17
(k)(3)). 18
‘‘(10) For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)(ii), the 19
amount determined under such paragraph shall not 20
exceed the primary insurance amount for such 21
month of a hypothetical individual— 22
‘‘(A) who became entitled to old-age insur-23
ance benefits upon attaining early retirement 24
age during the month in which the deceased in-25
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•HR 3261 IH
dividual referred to in paragraph (1) became 1
entitled to old-age or disability insurance bene-2
fits, or died (before becoming entitled to such 3
benefits), and 4
‘‘(B) to whom wages and self-employment 5
income were credited in each of such hypo-6
thetical individual’s elapsed years (within the 7
meaning of section 215(b)(2)(B)(iii)) in an 8
amount equal to the national average wage 9
index (as described in section 209(k)(1)) for 10
each such year.’’. 11
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 12
this section shall apply with respect to widow’s and wid-13
ower’s insurance benefits payable for months after Decem-14
ber 2024. 15
SEC. 7. HOLDING SSI BENEFICIARIES HARMLESS. 16
For purposes of determining the income of an indi-17
vidual to establish eligibility for, and the amount of, bene-18
fits payable under title XVI of the Social Security Act, 19
the amount of any benefit to which the individual is enti-20
tled under title II of such Act shall be deemed not to ex-21
ceed the amount of the benefit that would be determined 22
for such individual under such title as in effect on the day 23
before the date of the enactment of this Act. 24
Æ
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