Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB3926 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 3926
5	5	To amend title II of the Social Security Act to improve social security
6	6	benefits for widows and widowers in two-income households.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JUNE7, 2023
9	9	Ms. S
10	10	A´NCHEZ(for herself, Mr. COHEN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. CA´RDENAS,
11	11	Ms. S
12	12	CHAKOWSKY, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the fol-
13	13	lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend title II of the Social Security Act to improve
16	16	social security benefits for widows and widowers in two-
17	17	income households.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Our Widows 4
22	22	and Widowers in Retirement Act’’ or the ‘‘POWR Act’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. IMPROVING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS FOR WID-6
24	24	OWS AND WIDOWERS IN TWO-INCOME HOUSE-7
25	25	HOLDS. 8
26	26	(a) I
27	27	NGENERAL.— 9
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30	30	•HR 3926 IH
31	31	(1) WIDOWS.—Section 202(e) of the Social Se-1
32	32	curity Act (42 U.S.C. 402(e)) is amended— 2
33	33	(A) in paragraph (1)— 3
34	34	(i) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 4
35	35	‘‘and’’ at the end; 5
36	36	(ii) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by strik-6
37	37	ing ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7
38	38	(iii) by striking subparagraph (D); 8
39	39	(iv) by redesignating subparagraphs 9
40	40	(E) and (F) as subparagraphs (D) and 10
41	41	(E), respectively; and 11
42	42	(v) in the flush matter following sub-12
43	43	paragraph (E)(ii), as so redesignated, by 13
44	44	striking ‘‘or becomes entitled to an old-age 14
45	45	insurance benefit’’ and all that follows 15
46	46	through ‘‘such deceased individual,’’; 16
47	47	(B) by striking subparagraph (A) in para-17
48	48	graph (2) and inserting the following: 18
49	49	‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subsection 19
50	50	(k)(5), subsection (q), and subparagraph (D) of this 20
51	51	paragraph, such widow’s insurance benefit for each 21
52	52	month shall be equal to the greater of— 22
53	53	‘‘(i) the primary insurance amount (as de-23
54	54	termined for purposes of this subsection after 24
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57	57	•HR 3926 IH
58	58	application of subparagraphs (B) and (C)) of 1
59	59	such deceased individual; or 2
60	60	‘‘(ii) subject to paragraph (9), in the case 3
61	61	of a fully insured widow or surviving divorced 4
62	62	wife, 75 percent of the sum of any old-age or 5
63	63	disability insurance benefit for which the widow 6
64	64	or the surviving divorced wife is entitled for 7
65	65	such month and the primary insurance amount 8
66	66	(as determined for purposes of this subsection 9
67	67	after application of subparagraphs (B) and (C)) 10
68	68	of such deceased individual.’’; 11
69	69	(C) in paragraph (5)— 12
70	70	(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 13
71	71	‘‘paragraph (1)(F)’’ and inserting ‘‘para-14
72	72	graph (1)(E)’’; and 15
73	73	(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 16
74	74	‘‘paragraph (1)(F)(i)’’ and inserting 17
75	75	‘‘paragraph (1)(E)(i)’’; and 18
76	76	(D) by adding at the end the following: 19
77	77	‘‘(9) For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)(ii), the 20
78	78	amount determined under such paragraph shall not 21
79	79	exceed the primary insurance amount for such 22
80	80	month of a hypothetical individual— 23
81	81	‘‘(A) who became entitled to old-age insur-24
82	82	ance benefits upon attaining early retirement 25
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85	85	•HR 3926 IH
86	86	age during the month in which the deceased in-1
87	87	dividual referred to in paragraph (1) became 2
88	88	entitled to old-age or disability insurance bene-3
89	89	fits, or died (before becoming entitled to such 4
90	90	benefits); and 5
91	91	‘‘(B) to whom wages and self-employment 6
92	92	income were credited in each of such hypo-7
93	93	thetical individual’s elapsed years (within the 8
94	94	meaning of section 215(b)(2)(B)(iii)) in an 9
95	95	amount equal to 1
96	96	1
97	97	∕3of the national average 10
98	98	wage index (as described in section 209(k)(1)) 11
99	99	for each such year.’’. 12
100	100	(2) W
101	101	IDOWERS.—Section 202(f) of the Social 13
102	102	Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(f)) is amended— 14
103	103	(A) in paragraph (1)— 15
104	104	(i) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 16
105	105	‘‘and’’ at the end; 17
106	106	(ii) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by strik-18
107	107	ing ‘‘and’’ at the end; 19
108	108	(iii) by striking subparagraph (D); 20
109	109	(iv) by redesignating subparagraphs 21
110	110	(E) and (F) as subparagraphs (D) and 22
111	111	(E), respectively; and 23
112	112	(v) in the flush matter following sub-24
113	113	paragraph (E)(ii), as so redesignated, by 25
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116	116	•HR 3926 IH
117	117	striking ‘‘or becomes entitled to an old-age 1
118	118	insurance benefit’’ and all that follows 2
119	119	through ‘‘such deceased individual,’’; 3
120	120	(B) by striking subparagraph (A) in para-4
121	121	graph (2) and inserting the following: 5
122	122	‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided in subsection 6
123	123	(k)(5), subsection (q), and subparagraph (D) of this 7
124	124	paragraph, such widower’s insurance benefit for 8
125	125	each month shall be equal to the greater of— 9
126	126	‘‘(i) the primary insurance amount (as de-10
127	127	termined for purposes of this subsection after 11
128	128	application of subparagraphs (B) and (C)) of 12
129	129	such deceased individual; or 13
130	130	‘‘(ii) subject to paragraph (9), in the case 14
131	131	of a fully insured widower or surviving divorced 15
132	132	husband, 75 percent of the sum of any old-age 16
133	133	or disability insurance benefit for which the 17
134	134	widower or the surviving divorced husband is 18
135	135	entitled for such month and the primary insur-19
136	136	ance amount (as determined for purposes of 20
137	137	this subsection after application of subpara-21
138	138	graphs (B) and (C)) of such deceased indi-22
139	139	vidual.’’; 23
140	140	(C) in paragraph (5)— 24
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143	143	•HR 3926 IH
144	144	(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 1
145	145	‘‘paragraph (1)(F)’’ and inserting ‘‘para-2
146	146	graph (1)(E)’’; and 3
147	147	(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 4
148	148	‘‘paragraph (1)(F)(i)’’ and inserting 5
149	149	‘‘paragraph (1)(E)(i)’’; and 6
150	150	(D) by adding at the end the following: 7
151	151	‘‘(9) For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)(ii), the 8
152	152	amount determined under such paragraph shall not 9
153	153	exceed the primary insurance amount for such 10
154	154	month of a hypothetical individual— 11
155	155	‘‘(A) who became entitled to old-age insur-12
156	156	ance benefits upon attaining early retirement 13
157	157	age during the month in which the deceased in-14
158	158	dividual referred to in paragraph (1) became 15
159	159	entitled to old-age or disability insurance bene-16
160	160	fits, or died (before becoming entitled to such 17
161	161	benefits); and 18
162	162	‘‘(B) to whom wages and self-employment 19
163	163	income were credited in each of such hypo-20
164	164	thetical individual’s elapsed years (within the 21
165	165	meaning of section 215(b)(2)(B)(iii)) in an 22
166	166	amount equal to 1
167	167	1
168	168	∕3of the national average 23
169	169	wage index (as described in section 209(k)(1)) 24
170	170	for each such year.’’. 25
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173	173	•HR 3926 IH
174	174	(b) HOLDINGSSI BENEFICIARIESHARMLESS.—For 1
175	175	purposes of determining the income of an individual to es-2
176	176	tablish eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits payable 3
177	177	under title XVI of the Social Security Act, the amount 4
178	178	of any benefit to which the individual is entitled under 5
179	179	title II of such Act shall be deemed not to exceed the 6
180	180	amount of the benefit that would be determined for such 7
181	181	individual under such title as in effect on the day before 8
182	182	the date of the enactment of this Act. 9
183	183	(c) E
184	184	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 10
185	185	this section shall apply with respect to widow’s and wid-11
186	186	ower’s insurance benefits payable for months after Decem-12
187	187	ber 2023. 13
188	188	Æ
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