Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB35 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 35
5	5	To amend title II of the Social Security Act to make available parental
6	6	leave benefits to parents following the birth or adoption of a child,
7	7	and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY24 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
10	10	Mr. R
11	11	UBIO(for himself and Mr. ROMNEY) introduced the following bill; which
12	12	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend title II of the Social Security Act to make avail-
15	15	able parental leave benefits to parents following the birth
16	16	or adoption of a child, and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘New Parents Act of 4
21	21	2023’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. PARENTAL LEAVE BENEFITS. 6
23	23	(a) I
24	24	NGENERAL.—Title II of the Social Security Act 7
25	25	is amended by inserting after section 218 the following: 8
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29	29	‘‘SEC. 219. PARENTAL LEAVE BENEFITS. 1
30	30	‘‘(a) I
31	31	NGENERAL.—Every individual— 2
32	32	‘‘(1) who has— 3
33	33	‘‘(A) not less than 8 quarters of coverage, 4
34	34	4 of which are credited to calendar quarters 5
35	35	during the calendar year preceding the calendar 6
36	36	year in which the 1st month of the benefit pe-7
37	37	riod described in subsection (c) occurs; or 8
38	38	‘‘(B) not less than 12 quarters of coverage; 9
39	39	and 10
40	40	‘‘(2) who has filed an application for a parental 11
41	41	leave benefit with respect to a qualified child of the 12
42	42	individual, 13
43	43	shall be entitled to a parental leave benefit with respect 14
44	44	to such qualified child. 15
45	45	‘‘(b) B
46	46	ENEFITAMOUNT.—Such individual’s parental 16
47	47	leave benefit shall be an amount equal to the product of— 17
48	48	‘‘(1) the number of benefit months (not to ex-18
49	49	ceed 3) selected by the individual in the individual’s 19
50	50	application for a parental leave benefit, multiplied by 20
51	51	‘‘(2) an amount equal to the primary insurance 21
52	52	amount for the individual that would be determined 22
53	53	under section 215 if— 23
54	54	‘‘(A) the individual had attained age 62 in 24
55	55	the first month of the individual’s benefit pe-25
56	56	riod; and 26
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60	60	‘‘(B) the individual had become entitled to 1
61	61	an old-age insurance benefit under section 202 2
62	62	beginning with such month. 3
63	63	For the purposes of the preceding sentence, the elapsed 4
64	64	years referred to in section 215(b)(2)(B)(iii) shall not in-5
65	65	clude the year in which the individual’s benefit period be-6
66	66	gins, or any year thereafter. 7
67	67	‘‘(c) P
68	68	AYMENT OFBENEFIT.— 8
69	69	‘‘(1) S
70	70	ELECTION OF NUMBER OF BENEFIT 9
71	71	MONTHS.—In filing an application for a parental 10
72	72	leave benefit under this section, an individual shall 11
73	73	select the number of months (not to exceed 3) for 12
74	74	which the individual will receive a monthly payment 13
75	75	under such parental leave benefit (in this section re-14
76	76	ferred to as ‘benefit months’). 15
77	77	‘‘(2) E
78	78	LECTION OF BENEFIT MONTHS .—Not 16
79	79	later than 14 days before the start of any month in 17
80	80	the benefit period of an individual entitled to a pa-18
81	81	rental leave benefit, the individual may elect to treat 19
82	82	such month as a benefit month. The number of 20
83	83	months in such benefit period treated as benefit 21
84	84	months shall equal the number selected in the indi-22
85	85	vidual’s benefit application, and the Commissioner 23
86	86	may designate any month as a benefit month in any 24
87	87	case in which an individual does not elect to treat 25
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91	91	a sufficient number of months as benefit months be-1
92	92	fore the end of the benefit period. 2
93	93	‘‘(3) A
94	94	MOUNT OF MONTHLY PAYMENT .—The 3
95	95	amount of a monthly payment made in any benefit 4
96	96	month within a benefit period to an individual enti-5
97	97	tled to a parental leave benefit shall be an amount 6
98	98	equal to— 7
99	99	‘‘(A) the amount of the parental leave ben-8
100	100	efit determined for the individual under sub-9
101	101	section (b); divided by 10
102	102	‘‘(B) the number of benefit months se-11
103	103	lected by the individual pursuant to paragraph 12
104	104	(1) with respect to such benefit. 13
105	105	‘‘(4) D
106	106	EFINITION OF BENEFIT PERIOD .—For 14
107	107	purposes of this section, the term ‘benefit period’ 15
108	108	means, with respect to an individual entitled to a pa-16
109	109	rental leave benefit with respect to a qualified child, 17
110	110	the 1-year period beginning with the month after the 18
111	111	month in which the birth or adoption of the qualified 19
112	112	child occurs. 20
113	113	‘‘(d) B
114	114	ENEFITAPPLICATION.— 21
115	115	‘‘(1) I
116	116	N GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall 22
117	117	ensure that the application for a parental leave ben-23
118	118	efit— 24
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122	122	‘‘(A) includes a notice, clearly written in 1
123	123	language that is easily understandable to the 2
124	124	reader, explaining that— 3
125	125	‘‘(i) failure to submit such proof or 4
126	126	documentation as the Commissioner may 5
127	127	require to demonstrate that the applicant 6
128	128	is the parent of the qualified child shall be 7
129	129	subject to criminal and civil penalties; 8
130	130	‘‘(ii) the full cost to the Trust Funds 9
131	131	of any amount received by an individual as 10
132	132	a parental leave benefit must be repaid 11
133	133	through reductions to old-age insurance 12
134	134	benefits payable to the individual in subse-13
135	135	quent months, or by other means; and 14
136	136	‘‘(iii) entitlement to a parental leave 15
137	137	benefit has no effect on the determination 16
138	138	of an individual’s entitlement to leave 17
139	139	under the Family and Medical Leave Act 18
140	140	of 1993; and 19
141	141	‘‘(B) requires an attestation by the indi-20
142	142	vidual submitting the application that— 21
143	143	‘‘(i) the individual expects to be the 22
144	144	parent of a qualified child throughout the 23
145	145	benefit period with respect to such applica-24
146	146	tion; 25
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150	150	‘‘(ii) the individual intends to use the 1
151	151	benefit to finance spending more time with 2
152	152	the qualified child at home and away from 3
153	153	employment during the benefit period; and 4
154	154	‘‘(iii) the individual consents to the 5
155	155	terms and conditions specified in the notice 6
156	156	described in subparagraph (A). 7
157	157	‘‘(2) O
158	158	PTION TO FILE SIMULTANEOUS APPLICA -8
159	159	TIONS.—The Commissioner of Social Security may 9
160	160	establish an option under which an individual may 10
161	161	file an application for a parental leave benefit under 11
162	162	this section with respect to a qualified child at the 12
163	163	same time the individual submits an application for 13
164	164	a social security account number for such qualified 14
165	165	child. 15
166	166	‘‘(3) O
167	167	NLINE AVAILABILITY .—The Commis-16
168	168	sioner of Social Security shall, as soon as practicable 17
169	169	after the date of enactment of this section, permit 18
170	170	an individual to apply for a parental leave benefit 19
171	171	through an internet website or other electronic 20
172	172	media. 21
173	173	‘‘(e) F
174	174	RAUDPREVENTION.— 22
175	175	‘‘(1) I
176	176	N GENERAL.—The Commissioner of So-23
177	177	cial Security shall establish procedures to ensure the 24
178	178	prevention of fraud with respect to applications for 25
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182	182	parental leave benefits under this section, including 1
183	183	procedures for the submission of such proof or docu-2
184	184	mentation as the Commissioner may require to 3
185	185	verify the information contained in such an applica-4
186	186	tion. 5
187	187	‘‘(2) E
188	188	NFORCEMENT.—In any case in which an 6
189	189	individual willfully, knowingly, and with intent to de-7
190	190	ceive the Commissioner of Social Security fails to 8
191	191	comply with the procedures established under para-9
192	192	graph (1), the Commissioner may impose on such in-10
193	193	dividual, in addition to any other penalties that may 11
194	194	be prescribed by law— 12
195	195	‘‘(A) a civil monetary penalty of not more 13
196	196	than $7,500 for each such failure; and 14
197	197	‘‘(B) an assessment, in lieu of any dam-15
198	198	ages sustained by the United States because of 16
199	199	such failure, of not more than twice the amount 17
200	200	of the cost to the Federal Old-Age and Sur-18
201	201	vivors Insurance Trust Fund of any parental 19
202	202	leave benefit paid to the individual. 20
203	203	‘‘(f) B
204	204	ENEFITREPAYMENT.— 21
205	205	‘‘(1) I
206	206	N GENERAL.—An individual who is paid 22
207	207	a parental leave benefit under this section shall 23
208	208	repay the full cost of such benefit to the Federal 24
209	209	Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (as 25
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213	213	such amount is determined by the Commissioner) in 1
214	214	accordance with this subsection. 2
215	215	‘‘(2) O
216	216	LD-AGE INSURANCE BENEFIT OFFSET .— 3
217	217	‘‘(A) I
218	218	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 4
219	219	paragraph (3), in the case of any individual de-5
220	220	scribed in paragraph (1) who becomes entitled 6
221	221	to an old-age insurance benefit, deductions shall 7
222	222	be made from each monthly payment of such 8
223	223	benefit (not to exceed the first 60 such monthly 9
224	224	payments) in such amounts, subject to subpara-10
225	225	graph (B), as the Commissioner of Social Secu-11
226	226	rity shall determine necessary to fully recover 12
227	227	the cost to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors 13
228	228	Insurance Trust Fund of any parental leave 14
229	229	benefit paid to the individual as of the month 15
230	230	in which the individual becomes entitled to an 16
231	231	old-age insurance benefit. 17
232	232	‘‘(B) N
233	233	OTIFICATION.—Not later than the 18
234	234	beginning of each calendar year, the Commis-19
235	235	sioner of Social Security shall notify each indi-20
236	236	vidual whose old-age insurance benefits are sub-21
237	237	ject to a deduction under subparagraph (A) 22
238	238	during such calendar year of the amount of the 23
239	239	deduction that will be applied to each monthly 24
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243	243	payment of such benefits during the calendar 1
244	244	year. 2
245	245	‘‘(3) A
246	246	LTERNATIVE INCREASE OF RETIREMENT 3
247	247	AGE.— 4
248	248	‘‘(A) I
249	249	N GENERAL.—In the case of any in-5
250	250	dividual described in paragraph (1) who be-6
251	251	comes entitled to an old-age insurance benefit, 7
252	252	such individual may elect, at the time of appli-8
253	253	cation for such benefit, to be subject to a retire-9
254	254	ment age increase in accordance with this para-10
255	255	graph. Such election shall be irrevocable, and 11
256	256	an individual who makes such an election shall 12
257	257	not be subject to a deduction under paragraph 13
258	258	(2) for any month. 14
259	259	‘‘(B) R
260	260	ETIREMENT AGE INCREASE .—Not-15
261	261	withstanding section 216(l)(1), with respect to 16
262	262	an individual who makes an election under sub-17
263	263	paragraph (A), the retirement age of such indi-18
264	264	vidual shall be deemed to be— 19
265	265	‘‘(i) the retirement age determined 20
266	266	with respect to the individual under such 21
267	267	section; plus 22
268	268	‘‘(ii) the additional number of months 23
269	269	the Commissioner of Social Security shall 24
270	270	determine necessary to result in the full re-25
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274	274	covery of the cost to the Federal Old-Age 1
275	275	and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund of 2
276	276	any parental leave benefit paid to the indi-3
277	277	vidual as of the month in which the indi-4
278	278	vidual becomes entitled to an old-age in-5
279	279	surance benefit. 6
280	280	‘‘(C) I
281	281	NCREASE TO EARLIEST ENTITLE -7
282	282	MENT AGE.—In the case of an individual who 8
283	283	makes an election under subparagraph (A), not-9
284	284	withstanding subsection (a) of section 202, no 10
285	285	old-age insurance benefit shall be paid to such 11
286	286	individual for any month before the first month 12
287	287	throughout which the individual has attained 13
288	288	age 62 plus the additional number of months 14
289	289	determined for the individual under subpara-15
290	290	graph (B)(ii). 16
291	291	‘‘(4) O
292	292	THER RECOVERY METHODS .—In any 17
293	293	case in which the Commissioner of Social Security 18
294	294	determines that the cost to the Federal Old-Age and 19
295	295	Survivors Insurance Trust Fund of a parental leave 20
296	296	benefit paid to an individual cannot be fully recov-21
297	297	ered pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3)— 22
298	298	‘‘(A) such benefit shall be deemed, upon 23
299	299	the making of such determination, to be a pay-24
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303	303	ment of more than the correct amount for pur-1
304	304	poses of section 204; and 2
305	305	‘‘(B) the Commissioner may recover such 3
306	306	amounts by means of any method available to 4
307	307	the Commissioner under such section. 5
308	308	‘‘(5) P
309	309	ROJECTION OF REPAYMENT AMOUNT .— 6
310	310	As soon as practicable after the date of enactment 7
311	311	of this section, the Commissioner shall establish a 8
312	312	system to make available through an internet 9
313	313	website or other electronic media to each individual 10
314	314	who is paid a parental leave benefit under this sec-11
315	315	tion, beginning with the first month beginning after 12
316	316	the individual’s benefit period the projected amount 13
317	317	of the deduction to be made from each of the first 14
318	318	60 monthly payments of old-age insurance benefits 15
319	319	under paragraph (2), or if the individual so elects, 16
320	320	the additional number of months by which the indi-17
321	321	vidual’s retirement age would be increased under 18
322	322	paragraph (3), in order to fully repay the cost to the 19
323	323	Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust 20
324	324	Fund of any parental leave benefit paid to the indi-21
325	325	vidual, and a description of the assumptions used by 22
326	326	the Commissioner in making such projection. 23
327	327	‘‘(g) R
328	328	ELATIONSHIPWITHSTATELAW; EMPLOYER 24
329	329	B
330	330	ENEFITS.— 25
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334	334	‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section does not pre-1
335	335	empt or supersede any provision of State or local 2
336	336	law that authorizes a State or political subdivision to 3
337	337	provide paid parental or family medical leave bene-4
338	338	fits similar to the benefits provided under this sec-5
339	339	tion. 6
340	340	‘‘(2) G
341	341	REATER BENEFITS ALLOWED .—Nothing 7
342	342	in this Act shall be construed to diminish the obliga-8
343	343	tion of an employer to comply with any contract, col-9
344	344	lective bargaining agreement, or employment benefit 10
345	345	program or plan that provides greater benefits for 11
346	346	leave or other leave rights to individuals than the 12
347	347	benefits for leave or leave rights established under 13
348	348	this Act. 14
349	349	‘‘(h) S
350	350	UNSET.—No application for parental leave ben-15
351	351	efits under this section may be filed in any calendar year 16
352	352	if the OASDI trust fund ratio (as defined in section 17
353	353	215(i)) for such calendar year or for the year following 18
354	354	such calendar year is projected, based on the intermediate 19
355	355	projections in the most recent (as of January 1 of such 20
356	356	calendar year) annual report issued under section 21
357	357	201(c)(2), to be less than 20 percent. 22
358	358	‘‘(i) D
359	359	EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 23
360	360	‘‘(1) the term ‘qualified child’ means, with re-24
361	361	spect to an individual for a benefit period, a biologi-25
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365	365	cal child or legally adopted child of the individual (as 1
366	366	determined by the Commissioner of Social Security) 2
367	367	who— 3
368	368	‘‘(A) will not attain 18 years of age before 4
369	369	the end of such benefit period; and 5
370	370	‘‘(B) will be residing with, and under the 6
371	371	care of, the individual during the benefit period 7
372	372	as determined by the Commissioner.’’. 8
373	373	(b) C
374	374	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 9
375	375	(1) N
376	376	ONPAYMENT PROVISIONS .—Section 202 of 10
377	377	the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402) is amend-11
378	378	ed— 12
379	379	(A) in subsection (n)(1)(A), by striking 13
380	380	‘‘under this section or section 223’’ and insert-14
381	381	ing ‘‘under this section, section 219, or section 15
382	382	223’’; 16
383	383	(B) in subsection (t), in paragraphs (1) 17
384	384	and (10), by striking ‘‘under this section or 18
385	385	under section 223’’ each place it appears and 19
386	386	inserting ‘‘under this section, under section 20
387	387	219, or under section 223’’; 21
388	388	(C) in subsection (u)(1), by striking 22
389	389	‘‘under this section or section 223’’ and insert-23
390	390	ing ‘‘under this section, section 219, or section 24
391	391	223’’; and 25
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395	395	(D) in subsection (x)— 1
396	396	(i) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking 2
397	397	‘‘under this section or under section 223’’ 3
398	398	and inserting ‘‘under this section, under 4
399	399	section 219, or under section 223’’; and 5
400	400	(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 6
401	401	‘‘under this section or section 223’’ and in-7
402	402	serting ‘‘under this section, section 219, or 8
403	403	section 223’’. 9
404	404	(2) D
405	405	ELAYED RETIREMENT CREDITS .—Section 10
406	406	202(w) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 11
407	407	402(w)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘age 70’’ 12
408	408	each place it appears the following: ‘‘(or, in the case 13
409	409	of an individual whose retirement age is increased 14
410	410	under section 219(f)(3), age 70 plus the number of 15
411	411	months by which the individual’s retirement age is 16
412	412	so increased)’’. 17
413	413	(3) V
414	414	OLUNTARY SUSPENSION OF BENEFITS .— 18
415	415	Section 202(z)(1)(A)(ii) of the Social Security Act 19
416	416	(42 U.S.C. 402(z)(1)(A)(ii)) is amended by striking 20
417	417	‘‘the age of 70’’ and inserting ‘‘age 70 (or, in the 21
418	418	case of an individual whose retirement age is in-22
419	419	creased under section 219(f)(3), age 70 plus the 23
420	420	number of months by which the individual’s retire-24
421	421	ment age is so increased)’’. 25
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425	425	(4) NUMBER OF BENEFIT COMPUTATION 1
426	426	YEARS.—Section 215(b)(2)(A) of such Act (42 2
427	427	U.S.C. 415(b)(2)(A)) is amended— 3
428	428	(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘, and’’ and 4
429	429	inserting a semicolon; 5
430	430	(B) in clause (ii), by striking the period 6
431	431	and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7
432	432	(C) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol-8
433	433	lowing: 9
434	434	‘‘(iii) in the case of an individual who is entitled 10
435	435	to a parental leave benefit under section 219, by the 11
436	436	number of years equal to one-fifth of such individ-12
437	437	ual’s elapsed years (disregarding any resulting frac-13
438	438	tional part of a year), but not by more than 5 14
439	439	years.’’. 15
440	440	(c) E
441	441	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 16
442	442	this section shall apply with respect to applications for pa-17
443	443	rental leave benefits filed after 2023. 18
444	444	Æ
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