Social Security Solvency and Sustainability Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3234 To adjust the normal and early retirement ages for receipt of benefits under the Social Security program, increase the maximum age for delayed retirement credit, and provide for progressive price indexing of benefits. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 28, 2020 Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To adjust the normal and early retirement ages for receipt of benefits under the Social Security program, increase the maximum age for delayed retirement credit, and provide for progressive price indexing of benefits. 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 ‘‘Social Security Sol- 4 vency and Sustainability Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3234 IS SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT TO NORMAL AND EARLY RETIRE- 1 MENT AGE. 2 Section 216(l) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 3 416(l)) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraph (1)— 5 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking 6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 8 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9 (C) by adding at the end the following new 10 subparagraphs: 11 ‘‘(F) with respect to an individual who— 12 ‘‘(i) attains 62 years of age after De- 13 cember 31, 2029, and before January 1, 14 2037, such individual’s early retirement 15 age (as determined under paragraph 16 (2)(A)(ii)) plus 60 months; or 17 ‘‘(ii) receives a benefit described in 18 paragraph (2)(B) and attains 60 years of 19 age after December 31, 2029, and before 20 January 1, 2037, 67 years plus the num- 21 ber of months in the age increase factor 22 (as determined under paragraph (5)(A)) 23 for the calendar year in which such indi- 24 vidual attains 60 years of age; 25 ‘‘(G) with respect to an individual who— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3234 IS ‘‘(i) attains 62 years of age after De- 1 cember 31, 2036, and before January 1, 2 2038, 69 years of age; or 3 ‘‘(ii) receives a benefit described in 4 paragraph (2)(B) and attains 60 years of 5 age after December 31, 2036, and before 6 January 1, 2038, 69 years of age; 7 ‘‘(H) with respect to an individual who— 8 ‘‘(i) attains 62 years of age after De- 9 cember 31, 2037, and before January 1, 10 2041, 67 years of age plus the number of 11 months in the age increase factor (as de- 12 termined under paragraph (5)(B)); or 13 ‘‘(ii) receives a benefit described in 14 paragraph (2)(B) and attains 60 years of 15 age after December 31, 2037, and before 16 January 1, 2041, 67 years of age plus the 17 number of months in the age increase fac- 18 tor (as determined under paragraph 19 (5)(A)); 20 ‘‘(I) with respect to an individual who— 21 ‘‘(i) attains 62 years of age after De- 22 cember 31, 2040, and before January 1, 23 2042, 70 years of age; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3234 IS ‘‘(ii) receives a benefit described in 1 paragraph (2)(B) and attains 60 years of 2 age after December 31, 2040, and before 3 January 1, 2042, 70 years of age; and 4 ‘‘(J) with respect to an individual who— 5 ‘‘(i) attains 62 years of age after De- 6 cember 31, 2041, 70 years of age plus the 7 number of months in the age increase fac- 8 tor (as determined under paragraph (6)); 9 or 10 ‘‘(ii) receives a benefit described in 11 paragraph (2)(B) and attains 60 years of 12 age after December 31, 2041, 70 years of 13 age plus the number of months in the age 14 increase factor (as determined under para- 15 graph (6)).’’; 16 (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol- 17 lows: 18 ‘‘(2) The term ‘early retirement age’ means— 19 ‘‘(A) in the case of an old-age, wife’s, or 20 husband’s insurance benefit— 21 ‘‘(i) 62 years of age with respect to an 22 individual who attains such age before 23 January 1, 2030; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3234 IS ‘‘(ii) with respect to an individual who 1 attains 62 years of age after December 31, 2 2029, and before January 1, 2037, 62 3 years of age plus the number of months in 4 the age increase factor (as determined 5 under paragraph (4)) for the calendar year 6 in which such individual attains 62 years 7 of age; and 8 ‘‘(iii) with respect to an individual 9 who attains age 62 after December 31, 10 2036, 64 years of age; or 11 ‘‘(B) in the case of a widow’s or widower’s 12 insurance benefit, 60 years of age.’’; and 13 (3) by adding at the end the following new 14 paragraphs: 15 ‘‘(4) For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)(ii), the 16 age increase factor shall be equal to three-twelfths of 17 the number of months in the period beginning with 18 January 2030 and ending with December of the 19 year in which the individual attains 62 years of age. 20 ‘‘(5) The age increase factor shall be equal to 21 three-twelfths of the number of months in the period 22 beginning with January 2030 and ending with De- 23 cember of the year in which— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3234 IS ‘‘(A) for purposes of paragraphs (1)(F)(ii) 1 and (1)(H)(ii), the individual attains 60 years 2 of age; or 3 ‘‘(B) for purposes of paragraph (1)(H)(i), 4 the individual attains 62 years of age. 5 ‘‘(6) The Commissioner of Social Security shall 6 determine (using reasonable actuarial assumptions) 7 and publish on or before November 1 of each cal- 8 endar year after 2040 the number of months 9 (rounded, if not a multiple of one month, to the next 10 lower multiple of one month) by which life expect- 11 ancy as of October 1 of such calendar year of an in- 12 dividual attaining early retirement age on such Octo- 13 ber 1 exceeds the life expectancy as of October 1, 14 2041, of an individual attaining early retirement age 15 on October 1, 2041. With respect to an individual 16 who attains early retirement in the calendar year fol- 17 lowing any calendar year in which a determination 18 is made under this paragraph, the age increase fac- 19 tor shall be the number of months determined under 20 this paragraph as of October 1 of such calendar year 21 in which such determination is made.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3234 IS SEC. 3. INCREASE IN MAXIMUM AGE FOR DELAYED RETIRE- 1 MENT CREDIT. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (w) of section 202 of 3 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraphs (2)(A) and (3), by striking 5 ‘‘age 70’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘the 6 maximum delayed retirement age (as determined 7 pursuant to paragraph (7))’’; 8 (2) by adding at the end the following new 9 paragraph: 10 ‘‘(7) For purposes of paragraphs (2)(A) and 11 (3), the ‘maximum delayed retirement age’ shall be 12 equal to— 13 ‘‘(A) during the period before January 1, 14 2030, 70 years of age for an individual who has 15 attained early retirement age (as determined 16 under section 216(l)(2)) during such period; 17 and 18 ‘‘(B) during the period after December 31, 19 2029, the sum of— 20 ‘‘(i) the retirement age for such cal- 21 endar year, as determined under section 22 216(l)(1), for an individual who has at- 23 tained age 62 (for purposes of section 24 216(l)(2)(A)) or who has attained age 60 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3234 IS (for purposes of section 216(l)(2)(B)) dur- 1 ing such calendar year; and 2 ‘‘(ii) 3 years.’’. 3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 4 subsection (a) shall take effect on January 1, 2030. 5 SEC. 4. PROGRESSIVE INDEXING OF BENEFITS FOR OLD- 6 AGE, WIFE’S, AND HUSBAND’S INSURANCE 7 BENEFITS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 215(a) of the Social Secu- 9 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 415(a)) is amended— 10 (1) by striking ‘‘The’’ in paragraph (1)(A) and 11 inserting ‘‘In the case of any benefit other than an 12 applicable benefit to which paragraph (2) applies, 13 the’’; and 14 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 15 (7) as paragraphs (3) through (8), respectively, and 16 by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new 17 paragraph: 18 ‘‘(2)(A) In the case of an applicable benefit with re- 19 spect to any individual who initially becomes eligible for 20 old-age insurance benefits or who dies (before becoming 21 eligible for such benefits) in calendar year 2027 or later, 22 the primary insurance amount of the individual shall be 23 equal to the sum of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3234 IS ‘‘(i) 90 percent of the individual’s average in- 1 dexed monthly earning (determined under subsection 2 (b)) to the extent that such earnings do not exceed 3 the amount established for purposes of paragraph 4 (1)(A)(i) by paragraph (1)(B); 5 ‘‘(ii) 32 percent of the individual’s average in- 6 dexed monthly earnings to the extent that such 7 earnings exceed the amount established for purposes 8 of paragraph (1)(A)(i) by paragraph (1)(B) but do 9 not exceed the amount established for purposes of 10 this clause by subparagraph (B); 11 ‘‘(iii) 32 percent (reduced as provided in sub- 12 paragraph (C)) of the individual’s average indexed 13 monthly earnings to the extent that such earnings 14 exceed the amount established for purposes of clause 15 (ii) but do not exceed the amount established for 16 purposes of paragraph (1)(A)(ii) by paragraph 17 (1)(B); and 18 ‘‘(iv) 15 percent (reduced as provided in sub- 19 paragraph (C)) of the individual’s average indexed 20 monthly earnings to the extent that such earnings 21 exceed the amount established for purposes of para- 22 graph (1)(A)(ii) by paragraph (1)(B). 23 ‘‘(B)(i) For purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii), the 24 amount established under this subparagraph for calendar 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3234 IS year 2025 shall be the level of average indexed monthly 1 earnings determined by the Chief Actuary of the Social 2 Security Administration under clause (ii) as being at the 3 40th percentile for the period of calendar years 2016 4 through 2018. 5 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of clause (i), the average indexed 6 monthly earnings for the period of calendar years 2016 7 through 2018 shall be determined by— 8 ‘‘(I) determining the average indexed monthly 9 earnings for each individual who initially became eli- 10 gible for old-age insurance benefits or who died (be- 11 fore becoming eligible for such benefits) during such 12 period, except that in determining such average in- 13 dexed monthly earnings under subsection (b), sub- 14 section (b)(3)(A)(ii)(I) shall be applied by sub- 15 stituting calendar year 2013 for the second calendar 16 year described in such subsection; and 17 ‘‘(II) multiplying the amount determined for 18 each individual under subclause (I) by the quotient 19 obtained by dividing the national average wage index 20 (as defined in section 209(k)(1)) for the calendar 21 year 2025 by such index for the calendar year 2013. 22 ‘‘(iii) For purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii), the 23 amount established under this subparagraph for any cal- 24 endar year after 2027 shall be equal to the product of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3234 IS the amount in effect under clause (i) with respect to cal- 1 endar year 2027 and the quotient obtained by dividing— 2 ‘‘(I) the national average wage index (as de- 3 fined in section 209(k)(1)) for the second calendar 4 year preceding the calendar year for which the de- 5 termination is being made; by 6 ‘‘(II) the national average wage index (as so de- 7 fined) for 2025. 8 ‘‘(iv) The amount established under this subpara- 9 graph for any calendar year shall be rounded to the near- 10 est $1, except that any amount so established which is 11 a multiple of $0.50 but not of $1 shall be rounded to the 12 next higher $1. 13 ‘‘(C)(i) Except as provided in clause (ii), in the case 14 of any calendar year after 2026, each of the percentages 15 to which this subparagraph applies by reason of clauses 16 (iii) or (iv) of subparagraph (A) shall be a percentage 17 equal to such percentage multiplied by the quotient ob- 18 tained by dividing— 19 ‘‘(I) the difference of the maximum CPI-in- 20 dexed benefit amount for such year over the amount 21 determined under this paragraph for an individual 22 whose average indexed monthly earnings are equal 23 to the amount established for purposes of subpara- 24 graph (A)(ii) for such year; by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3234.IS S3234 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 3234 IS ‘‘(II) the difference of the maximum wage-in- 1 dexed benefit amount for such year over the amount 2 determined under this paragraph for an individual 3 whose average indexed monthly earnings are equal 4 to the amount established for purposes of subpara- 5 graph (A)(ii) for such year. 6 ‘‘(ii) In the case of any calendar year after 2064, 7 clause (i) shall not apply and each of the percentages to 8 which this subparagraph applies by reason of clause (iii) 9 or (iv) of subparagraph (A) shall be a percentage equal 10 to the percentage determined under this subparagraph for 11 the preceding year (determined after the application of 12 this subparagraph). 13 ‘‘(iii) For purposes of clause (i), the maximum wage- 14 indexed benefit amount for any calendar year shall be 15 equal to the amount determined under this paragraph (de- 16 termined without regard to any reduction under this sub- 17 paragraph) for an individual with wages paid in and self- 18 employment income credited to each computation base 19 year in an amount equal to the contribution and benefit 20 base for each calendar year. 21 ‘‘(iv) For purposes of clause (i), the maximum CPI- 22 indexed benefit amount for any [Text truncated for display. 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