I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3921 To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the retirement earnings test, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 15, 2021 Mrs. WALORSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the retirement earnings test, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Senior Citizens’ Free- 4 dom to Work Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE RETIREMENT EARNINGS TEST. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (b), (c)(1), (d), (f), 7 (h), (j), and (k) of section 203 of the Social Security Act 8 (42 U.S.C. 403) are repealed. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3921 IH (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 203 of 1 such Act (as amended by subsection (a)) is further amend- 2 ed— 3 (1) by redesignating subsections (c), (e), (g), 4 and (l) as subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e), respec- 5 tively; 6 (2) in subsection (b) (as so redesignated)— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘NONCOVERED WORK 8 OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES OR’’; 9 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), 10 and (4) as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respec- 11 tively; 12 (C) by striking ‘‘paragraphs (2), (3), and 13 (4) of’’; and 14 (D) by striking the last sentence; 15 (3) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), by 16 striking ‘‘subsections (c) and (d)’’ and inserting 17 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; 18 (4) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated), by 19 striking ‘‘subsection (c)’’ each place it appears and 20 inserting ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 21 (5) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated), by 22 striking ‘‘subsection (g) or (h)(1)(A)’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘subsection (d)’’. 24 (c) ADDITIONAL CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3921 IH (1) PROVISIONS RELATING TO BENEFITS TER- 1 MINATED UPON DEPORTATION.—Section 202(n)(1) 2 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(n)(1)) is 3 amended by striking ‘‘Section 203(b), (c), and (d)’’ 4 and inserting ‘‘Section 203(b)’’. 5 (2) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS 6 FROM REDUCTIONS BASED ON EARLY RETIRE- 7 MENT.—Section 202(q) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 8 402(q)) is amended— 9 (A) in paragraph (5)(B), by striking ‘‘sec- 10 tion 203(c)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 11 203(b)(1)’’; and 12 (B) in paragraph (7)(A), by striking ‘‘de- 13 ductions under section 203(b), 203(c)(1), 14 203(d)(1), or 222(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘deduc- 15 tions on account of work under section 203 (as 16 in effect on the day before the date of the en- 17 actment of the Senior Citizens’ Freedom to 18 Work Act of 2021) or deductions under section 19 222(b)’’. 20 (3) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS 21 FROM REDUCTIONS BASED ON DISREGARD OF CER- 22 TAIN ENTITLEMENTS TO CHILD’S INSURANCE BENE- 23 FITS.—Section 202(s) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 24 402(s)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3921 IH (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘para- 1 graphs (2), (3), and (4) of section 203(c)’’ and 2 inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of sec- 3 tion 203(b)’’; and 4 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘The last 5 sentence of subsection (c) of section 203, sub- 6 section (f)(1)(C) of section 203, and sub- 7 sections’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsections’’. 8 (4) PROVISIONS RELATING TO SUSPENSION OF 9 ALIENS’ BENEFITS.—Section 202(t)(7) of such Act 10 (42 U.S.C. 402(t)(7)) is amended by striking ‘‘Sub- 11 sections (b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsection 12 (b)’’. 13 (5) PROVISIONS RELATING TO REDUCTIONS IN 14 BENEFITS BASED ON MAXIMUM BENEFITS.—Section 15 203(a)(3)(B)(iii) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16 403(a)(3)(B)(iii)) is amended by striking ‘‘and sub- 17 sections (b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘and sub- 18 section (b)’’. 19 (6) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PENALTIES FOR 20 MISREPRESENTATIONS CONCERNING EARNINGS FOR 21 PERIODS SUBJECT TO DEDUCTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF 22 WORK.—Section 208(a)(1)(C) of such Act (42 23 U.S.C. 408(a)(1)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘under 24 section 203(f) of this title for purposes of deductions 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3921 IH from benefits’’ and inserting ‘‘under section 203 (as 1 in effect on the day before the date of the enactment 2 of the Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 3 2021) for purposes of deductions from benefits on 4 account of work’’. 5 (7) PROVISIONS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT EARN- 6 INGS IN DETERMINING BENEFIT COMPUTATION 7 YEARS.—Clause (I) in the next to last sentence of 8 section 215(b)(2)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 9 415(b)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘no earnings 10 as described in section 203(f)(5) in such year’’ and 11 inserting ‘‘no wages, and no net earnings from self- 12 employment (in excess of net loss from self-employ- 13 ment), in such year’’. 14 (8) PROVISIONS RELATING TO ROUNDING OF 15 BENEFITS.—Section 215(g) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16 415(g)) is amended by striking ‘‘and any deduction 17 under section 203(b)’’. 18 (9) PROVISIONS DEFINING INCOME FOR PUR- 19 POSES OF SSI.—Section 1612(a) of such Act (42 20 U.S.C. 1382a(a)) is amended— 21 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘as 22 determined under section 203(f)(5)(C)’’ and in- 23 serting ‘‘as defined in the last two sentences of 24 this subsection’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3921 IH (B) by adding at the end (after and below 1 paragraph (2)(H)) the following: 2 ‘‘For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the term ‘wages’ 3 means wages as defined in section 209, but computed 4 without regard to the limitations as to amounts of remu- 5 neration specified in paragraphs (1), (6)(B), (6)(C), 6 (7)(B), and (8) of section 209(a). In making the computa- 7 tion under the preceding sentence, (A) services which do 8 not constitute employment as defined in section 210, per- 9 formed within the United States by an individual as an 10 employee or performed outside the United States in the 11 active military or naval services of the United States, shall 12 be deemed to be employment as so defined if the remu- 13 neration for such services is not includible in computing 14 the individual’s net earnings or net loss from self-employ- 15 ment for purposes of title II, and (B) the term ‘wages’ 16 shall be deemed not to include (i) the amount of any pay- 17 ment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of his 18 or her dependents (including any amount paid by an em- 19 ployer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to pro- 20 vide for any such payment) on account of retirement, or 21 (ii) any payment or series of payments by an employer 22 to an employee or any of his or her dependents upon or 23 after the termination of the employee’s employment rela- 24 tionship because of retirement after attaining an age spec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3921 IH ified in a plan referred to in section 209(a)(11)(B) or in 1 a pension plan of the employer.’’. 2 (d) REPEAL OF DEDUCTIONS ON ACCOUNT OF WORK 3 UNDER THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT PROGRAM.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Railroad 5 Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231a) is amend- 6 ed— 7 (A) by striking subsection (f); and 8 (B) by striking subsection (g)(2) and by 9 redesignating subsection (g)(1) as subsection 10 (g). 11 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 12 (A) Section 3(f)(1) of such Act (45 U.S.C. 13 231b(f)(1)) is amended in the first sentence by 14 striking ‘‘before any reductions under the provi- 15 sions of section 2(f) of this Act,’’. 16 (B) Section 4(g)(2) of such Act (45 U.S.C. 17 231c(g)(2)) is amended— 18 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘shall, be- 19 fore any deductions under section 2(g) of 20 this Act,’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’; and 21 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘any de- 22 ductions under section 2(g) of this Act and 23 before’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3921 IH (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply with respect to taxable years end- 2 ing after December 31, 2021. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3921.IH H3921 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS