II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 73
To amend title XVI of the Social Security Act to provide that the supple-
mental security income benefits of adults with intellectual or develop-
mental disabilities shall not be reduced by reason of marriage.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY13, 2025
Mr. M
ORAN(for himself and Mr. VANHOLLEN) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend title XVI of the Social Security Act to provide
that the supplemental security income benefits of adults
with intellectual or developmental disabilities shall not
be reduced by reason of marriage.
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 ‘‘Eliminating the Mar-4
riage Penalty in SSI Act’’ or ‘‘EMPSA’’. 5
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SEC. 2. SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME BENEFITS. 1
(a) E
LIGIBILITY FORBENEFITS.—Section 1611(a) of 2
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382(a)) is amended 3
by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(4) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), each 5
individual— 6
‘‘(A) who has attained 18 years of age, 7
‘‘(B) who is diagnosed with an intellectual or 8
developmental disability, 9
‘‘(C) whose income, other than income excluded 10
pursuant to section 1612(b), is at a rate of not more 11
than the applicable amount determined under para-12
graph (1)(A), and 13
‘‘(D) whose resources, other than resources ex-14
cluded pursuant to section 1613(a), are not more 15
than the applicable amount determined under para-16
graph (3)(B), 17
shall be an eligible individual for purposes of this title.’’. 18
(b) A
MOUNT OFBENEFIT.—Section 1611(b) of such 19
Act (42 U.S.C. 1382(b)) is amended by adding at the end 20
the following: 21
‘‘(3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), the 22
benefit under this title for an individual described in sub-23
section (a)(4), whether or not the individual has an eligible 24
spouse, shall be payable at the rate in effect for purposes 25
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•S 73 IS
of paragraph (1), reduced by the amount of income, not 1
excluded pursuant to section 1612(b), of such individual.’’. 2
(c) I
NCOME ANDRESOURCEDEEMINGRULES.—Sec-3
tion 1614(f) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1382c(f)) is amended 4
by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), for purposes of 6
determining eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits for 7
an individual described in section 1611(a)(4) who is mar-8
ried, such individual’s income and resources shall be 9
deemed to not include any income or resources of such 10
spouse.’’. 11
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 12
this section shall apply to benefits payable for months that 13
begin more than 180 days after the date of enactment of 14
this Act. 15
Æ
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