II
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION S. 3974
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to require the Commissioner
of Social Security to use the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Con-
sumers for purposes of determining cost-of-living adjustments under titles
II, VIII, and XVI of the Social Security Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH19, 2024
Mr. C
ASEY(for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WELCH, Mr. FETTERMAN,
Mrs. G
ILLIBRAND, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to require
the Commissioner of Social Security to use the Consumer
Price Index for Elderly Consumers for purposes of deter-
mining cost-of-living adjustments under titles II, VIII,
and XVI of the Social Security Act, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Boosting Benefits and 4
COLAs for Seniors Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. MORE ACCURATE COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 215(i)(1)(D) of the 3
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)(1)(D)) is 4
amended by striking ‘‘Consumer Price Index’’ and 5
all that follows through ‘‘such index’’ and inserting 6
‘‘Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners 7
and Clerical Workers (CPI–W, as published by the 8
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of 9
Labor) or Consumer Price Index for Elderly Con-10
sumers (CPI–E, as published by such Bureau) 11
(whichever such index results in the higher percent-12
age under this subparagraph) exceeds the same such 13
index’’. 14
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT .—Section 15
215(i)(1)(G) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 16
415(i)(1)(G)) is amended by inserting ‘‘applicable 17
for purposes of subparagraph (D)’’ after ‘‘Consumer 18
Price Index’’. 19
(b) A
PPLICATION TOPRE-1979 LAW.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 215(i) of the Social 21
Security Act as in effect in December 1978, and as 22
applied in certain cases under the provisions of such 23
Act as in effect after December 1978, is amended— 24
(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘Con-25
sumer Price Index’’ and all that follows through 26
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‘‘such index’’ and inserting ‘‘Consumer Price 1
Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical 2
Workers (CPI–W, as published by the Bureau 3
of Labor Statistics of the Department of 4
Labor) or Consumer Price Index for Elderly 5
Consumers (CPI–E, as published by such Bu-6
reau of such Department) (whichever such 7
index results in the higher per centum under 8
this subparagraph) exceeds, by not less than 3 9
per centum, the same such Index’’; and 10
(B) in paragraph (2)— 11
(i) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by strik-12
ing ‘‘Consumer Price Index for such cost- 13
of-living computation quarter’’ and insert-14
ing ‘‘Consumer Price Index applicable for 15
such year under paragraph (1)(B)’’; and 16
(ii) in subparagraph (C)(i), by strik-17
ing ‘‘Consumer Price Index as published 18
for any month exceeds by 2.5 percent or 19
more the level of such index’’ and inserting 20
‘‘Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage 21
Earners and Clerical Workers or Consumer 22
Price Index for Elderly Consumers as pub-23
lished for any month exceeds by 2.5 per-24
cent or more the level of such index’’. 25
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(2) CONFORMING CHANGES .—Section 215(i)(4) 1
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)(4)) is 2
amended— 3
(A) by striking ‘‘and by section 9001’’ and 4
inserting ‘‘, section 9001’’; and 5
(B) by inserting ‘‘and section 2 of the 6
Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act,’’ 7
after ‘‘1986,’’. 8
(c) N
OEFFECT ONADJUSTMENTSUNDEROTHER 9
L
AWS.—Section 215(i) of the Social Security Act (42 10
U.S.C. 415(i)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-11
lowing: 12
‘‘(6) With respect to any provision of law (other than 13
in this title, title VIII, or title XVI) which provides for 14
an adjustment of an amount under such provision of law 15
in the same percentage as a cost-of-living adjustment ap-16
plied to benefit amounts under this title, such provision 17
of law shall be applied and administered as if the percent-18
age of such cost-of-living adjustment applied to benefit 19
amounts under this title were determined without regard 20
to the amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) of 21
section 2 of the Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors 22
Act.’’. 23
(d) P
UBLICATION OFCONSUMERPRICEINDEX FOR 24
E
LDERLYCONSUMERS.—The Bureau of Labor Statistics 25
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of the Department of Labor shall prepare and publish an 1
index for each calendar month to be known as the ‘‘Con-2
sumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers’’ that indicates 3
changes over time in expenditures for consumption which 4
are typical for individuals in the United States who have 5
attained age 62. 6
(e) T
RANSITIONRULE.—Prior to the publication of 7
the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers (CPI– 8
E) pursuant to subsection (d), the reference to such index 9
made in each of the amendments made by subsections (a) 10
and (b) shall be deemed to be a reference to the research 11
price index prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 12
of the Department of Labor known as the Consumer Price 13
Index for Americans 62 years of age and older (R–CPI– 14
E). 15
(f) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 16
this section shall apply to determinations made with re-17
spect to cost-of-living computation quarters (as defined in 18
section 215(i)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 19
415(i)(1)(B))) ending on or after September 30, 2024. 20
Æ
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