[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2290 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2290

    To amend title II of the Social Security Act to provide monthly 
    benefits for certain uninsured children living without parents.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 2, 2003

 Mr. Andrews 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 monthly 
    benefits for certain uninsured children living without parents.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Uninsured Children's 
Entitlement Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN UNINSURED CHILDREN.

    (a) In General.--Title II of the Social Security Act is amended by 
adding after section 234 (42 U.S.C. 434) the following new section:

               ``benefits for certain uninsured children

                             ``Eligibility

    ``Sec.  235. (a) Every individual who would not be entitled to 
child's insurance benefits under section 202(d) upon filing application 
therefor and who--
            ``(1) has not attained the age of 18 and has not married,
            ``(2)(A) has no living parent or (B) with respect to any 
        parent (including an adoptive parent) who is living, has 
        provided to the Commissioner of Social Security (in such form 
        and manner as shall be prescribed in regulations of the 
        Commissioner) a notarized statement that such individual has 
        had no contact with such parent for at least 2 years and that 
        reasonable attempts by a guardian or appropriate government 
        agency to locate such parent have not been successful,
            ``(3) is a resident of the United States (as defined in 
        subsection (c)), and is (A) a citizen of the United States or 
        (B) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence who has 
        resided in the United States (as defined in subsection 210(i)) 
        continuously during the 5 years immediately preceding the month 
        in which he or she files application under this section, and
            ``(4) has filed application for benefits under this 
        section,
shall (subject to the limitations in this section) be entitled to a 
benefit under this section for each month beginning with the first 
month in which he or she becomes so entitled to such benefits and 
ending with the month preceding the month in which he or she attains 18 
years of age or marries. No application under this section which is 
filed by an individual more than 3 months before the first month in 
which he or she meets the requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 
shall be accepted as an application for purposes of this section.

                            ``Benefit Amount

    ``(b) The benefit amount to which an individual is entitled under 
this section for any month shall be the larger of $200 or the amount 
most recently established in lieu thereof under section 215(i).

  ``Suspension Where Individual Is Residing Outside the United States

    ``(c) The benefit to which any individual is entitled under this 
section for any month shall not be paid if, during such month, such 
individual is not a resident of the United States. For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ``United States'' means the 50 States and the 
District of Columbia.

               ``Treatment as Monthly Insurance Benefits

    ``(d) For purposes of subsections (t) and (u) of section 202, a 
monthly benefit under this section shall be treated as a monthly 
insurance benefit payable under section 202.

``Annual Reimbursement of Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust 
                                  Fund

    ``(e) There are authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Old-
Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund for the fiscal year ending 
September 30, 2004, and for each fiscal year thereafter, such sums as 
the Commissioner of Social Security deems necessary on account of--
            ``(1) payments made under this section during the second 
        preceding fiscal year and all fiscal years prior thereto to 
        individuals entitled to benefits under this section,
            ``(2) the additional administrative expenses resulting from 
        the payments described in paragraph (1), and
            ``(3) any loss in interest to such Trust Fund resulting 
        from such payments and expenses,
in order to place such Trust Fund in the same position at the end of 
such fiscal year as it would have been in if such payments had not been 
made.''.
    (b) Cost of Living Adjustments.--Section 215(i)(2)(A)(ii) of such 
Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)(2)(A)(ii)) is amended--
            (1) in subdivision (II), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subdivision (III), by striking ``1978.'' and 
        inserting ``1978, and'';
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsivision:
            ``(IV) the benefit amount to which an individual is 
        entitled for that month under 235.''; and
            (4) in the matter following subclause (IV) (added by 
        paragraph (3)), by striking ``subdivisions (I), (II), and 
        (III)'' and inserting ``subdivisions (I), (II), (III), and 
        (IV)''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect with respect to 
application filed on or after January 1, 2004.
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