To amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide for increases in widow's and widower's insurance benefits by reason of delayed retirement.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4123 To amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide for increases in widow’s and widower’s insurance benefits by reason of delayed retirement. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 30, 2019 Mrs. LOWEY (for herself and Mr. SCHNEIDER) 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 provide for increases in widow’s and widower’s insurance benefits by reason of delayed retirement. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. INCREASE IN WIDOW’S AND WIDOWER’S INSUR- 3 ANCE BENEFITS BY REASON OF DELAYED RE- 4 TIREMENT. 5 (a) DELAYED RETIREMENT CREDIT FOR WIDOW’S 6 AND WIDOWER’S BENEFITS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(w) of the Social 8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(w)) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4123.IH H4123 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4123 IH (A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘old-age 1 insurance benefit’’ and inserting ‘‘old-age, wid- 2 ow’s, or widower’s insurance benefit’’; 3 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the 4 number of increment months for any indi- 5 vidual’’ in the matter preceding subparagraph 6 (A) and inserting ‘‘the number of increment 7 months for any individual to whom an old-age, 8 widow’s, or widower’s insurance benefit is pay- 9 able as described in paragraph (1)’’; and 10 (C) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para- 11 graph (2)(A), and by striking paragraph (2)(B) 12 and inserting the following: 13 ‘‘(B) with respect to which— 14 ‘‘(i) in the case of an individual to whom 15 an old-age insurance benefit is payable, such in- 16 dividual was a fully insured individual (as de- 17 fined in section 214(a)) and— 18 ‘‘(I) was not entitled to such a ben- 19 efit, or 20 ‘‘(II) was so entitled but did not re- 21 ceive benefits pursuant to a request by 22 such individual that benefits not be paid, 23 or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4123.IH H4123 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4123 IH ‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual to whom 1 a widow’s or widower’s insurance benefit is pay- 2 able, such individual satisfied subparagraphs 3 (A), (B), and (D) of subsection (e)(1) or (f)(1) 4 and— 5 ‘‘(I) was not entitled to such a ben- 6 efit, 7 ‘‘(II) was so entitled but suffered de- 8 ductions under section 203(b) or 203(c) in 9 amounts equal to the amount of such ben- 10 efit, or 11 ‘‘(III) was so entitled but did not re- 12 ceive benefits pursuant to a request by 13 such individual that benefits not be paid, 14 and 15 ‘‘(C) with respect to which such individual was 16 not subject to a penalty under section 1129A.’’. 17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 18 202(w).— 19 (A) Section 202(w)(3) of such Act (42 20 U.S.C. 402(w)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘old- 21 age’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘old- 22 age, widow’s, or widower’s’’. 23 (B) Section 202(w)(5) of such Act (42 24 U.S.C. 402(w)(5)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4123.IH H4123 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4123 IH (i) by striking ‘‘If an individual’s pri- 1 mary insurance amount’’ and inserting ‘‘If 2 the primary insurance amount on which an 3 individual’s old-age, widow’s, or widower’s 4 insurance benefit is based’’; 5 (ii) by striking ‘‘old-age’’ each place it 6 appears and inserting ‘‘old-age, widow’s, or 7 widower’s’’; 8 (iii) by striking ‘‘his primary insur- 9 ance amount’’ each place it appears and 10 inserting ‘‘the primary insurance amount’’; 11 and 12 (iv) by striking ‘‘he’’ and ‘‘his’’ each 13 place they appear and inserting ‘‘such indi- 14 vidual’’ and ‘‘such individual’s’’, respec- 15 tively. 16 (C) Section 202(w)(6) of such Act (42 17 U.S.C. 402(w)(6)) is amended— 18 (i) by striking ‘‘old-age’’ each place it 19 appears and inserting ‘‘old-age, widow’s, or 20 widower’s’’; and 21 (ii) by adding at the end (after and 22 below subparagraph (D)) the following new 23 sentence: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4123.IH H4123 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4123 IH ‘‘For purposes of this paragraph, an individual is deemed 1 to become eligible for an old-age insurance benefit on the 2 first day of the month in which such individual attains 3 age 62, and for a widow’s or widower’s insurance benefit 4 on the first day of the month in which such individual 5 attains age 60.’’. 6 (3) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 7 (A) Section 202(e)(2)(A) of such Act (42 8 U.S.C. 402(e)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting 9 ‘‘subsection (w),’’ after ‘‘subsection (q),’’. 10 (B) Section 202(f)(2)(A) of such Act (42 11 U.S.C. 402(f)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting 12 ‘‘subsection (w),’’ after ‘‘subsection (q),’’. 13 (b) TREATMENT OF DELAYED RETIREMENT IN 14 CASES OF SIMULTANEOUS ENTITLEMENT TO OLD-AGE 15 INSURANCE BENEFITS AND WIDOW’S OR WIDOWER’S IN- 16 SURANCE BENEFITS.—Section 202(w) of the Social Secu- 17 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 402(w)) is amended— 18 (1) by striking ‘‘The amount’’ in paragraph (1) 19 and inserting ‘‘Subject to paragraph (7), the 20 amount’’; and 21 (2) by adding at the end the following new 22 paragraph: 23 ‘‘(7) If for any month an individual is entitled (prior 24 to the application of this subsection) both to an old-age 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4123.IH H4123 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4123 IH insurance benefit and to a widow’s or widower’s insurance 1 benefit, the resulting increase (if any) in the amount of 2 the widow’s or widower’s insurance benefit under para- 3 graph (1) shall be made (prior to the application of sub- 4 section (k)(3)(A)) in lieu of any increase in the amount 5 of the old-age insurance benefit under such paragraph, un- 6 less— 7 ‘‘(A) the amount of such old-age insurance ben- 8 efit would be greater than the amount of such wid- 9 ow’s or widower’s insurance benefit after the appli- 10 cation of paragraph (1) to each such benefit, or 11 ‘‘(B) the increase which would otherwise be 12 made under such paragraph in the amount of such 13 old-age insurance benefit would result (under the 14 language following subparagraph (F) in the first 15 sentence of subsection (e)(1) or (f)(1)) in the termi- 16 nation of the individual’s entitlement to widow’s or 17 widower’s insurance benefits.’’. 18 SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. 19 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 20 respect to widow’s and widower’s insurance benefits 21 (under section 202 (e) and (f) of the Social Security Act) 22 for months after the month in which this Act is enacted. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 Aug 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4123.IH H4123 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS