[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1685 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1685

   To provide an emergency benefit of $250 to seniors, veterans, and 
persons with disabilities in 2010 to compensate for the lack of a cost-
      of-living adjustment for such year, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 17, 2009

  Mr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Dodd) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide an emergency benefit of $250 to seniors, veterans, and 
persons with disabilities in 2010 to compensate for the lack of a cost-
      of-living adjustment for such year, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act 
of 2009''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN ECONOMIC RECOVERY PAYMENTS.

    Section 2201 of title II of division B of the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009 is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``in each of calendar years 2009 and 
        2010'' after ``the Secretary of the Treasury shall disburse'' 
        in subsection (a)(1)(A),
            (2) by inserting ``(for purposes of payments made for 
        calendar year 2009), or the 3-month period ending with the 
        month which ends prior to the month that includes the date of 
        the enactment of the Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act of 
        2009 (for purposes of payments made for calendar year 2010)'' 
        after ``the month that includes the date of the enactment of 
        this Act'' in subsection (a)(1)(A),
            (3) by inserting ``(for purposes of payments made under 
        this paragraph for calendar year 2009), or the 3 month period 
        ending with the month which ends prior to the month that 
        includes the date of the enactment of the Emergency Senior 
        Citizens Relief Act of 2009 (for purposes of payments made 
        under this paragraph for calendar year 2010)'' after ``the 
        month that includes the date of the enactment of this Act'' in 
        subsection (a)(1)(B)(iii),
            (4) by inserting ``An individual who is entitled to, or 
        eligible for, a benefit or cash payment described in paragraph 
        (1) in both of the 3-month periods described in paragraph 
        (1)(A) shall be paid a payment under this section in each of 
        calendar years 2009 and 2010.'' at the end of paragraph (3) of 
        subsection (a),
            (5) by inserting ``in 1 year'' after ``No double payments'' 
        in the heading of paragraph (3) of subsection (a),
            (6) by inserting ``applicable'' before ``3-month period'' 
        in subsection (a)(4)(A),
            (7) by inserting ``applicable'' before ``3 month period'' 
        in subsection (a)(4)(B),
            (8) by inserting ``for purposes of payments made for 
        calendar year 2009, or after December 31, 2011, for purposes of 
        payments made for calendar year 2010,'' after ``December 31, 
        2010,'' in subsection (a)(5)(B), and
            (9) by striking ``2011'' in subsection (e) and inserting 
        ``2012''.

SEC. 3. TEMPORARY APPLICATION OF OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS, AND DISABILITY 
              INSURANCE TAX TO CERTAIN EARNINGS IN EXCESS OF $250,000.

    In the case of an individual who receives remuneration for 
employment (within the meaning of section 3121(a) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986, without regard to paragraph (1) thereof) or net 
earnings from self-employment (within the meaning of section 1402(b) of 
such Code, without regard to paragraph (1) thereof) in excess of 
$250,000 in calendar year 2010, for purposes of sections 3121(a)(1) and 
1402(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the amount of the 
contribution and benefit base as determined under section 230 of the 
Social Security Act shall be increased for such year by the amount of 
such excess. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the amount of the 
excess over $250,000 which is taken into account under this section 
shall not exceed $109,000. In no event shall any individual's primary 
insurance amount be determined under title II of the Social Security 
Act by taking into account the portion of the wages or self-employment 
income by which the contribution and benefit base is increased under 
this section.
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