[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1777 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1777

  To amend the Act of August 25, 1958, commonly known as the ``Former 
   Presidents Act of 1958'', with respect to the monetary allowance 
         payable to a former President, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 14, 2015

 Mr. Chaffetz (for himself and Mr. Cummings) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Act of August 25, 1958, commonly known as the ``Former 
   Presidents Act of 1958'', with respect to the monetary allowance 
         payable to a former President, 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 ``Presidential Allowance Modernization 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Relating to a Former President.--The first section of the Act 
entitled ``An Act to provide retirement, clerical assistants, and free 
mailing privileges to former Presidents of the United States, and for 
other purposes'', approved August 25, 1958 (3 U.S.C. 102 note), is 
amended by striking the matter before subsection (e) and inserting the 
following:
    ``(a) Each former President shall be entitled for the remainder of 
his or her life to receive from the United States--
            ``(1) an annuity at the rate of $200,000 per year, subject 
        to subsection (c); and
            ``(2) a monetary allowance at the rate of $200,000 per 
        year, subject to subsections (c) and (d).
    ``(b)(1) The annuity and allowance under subsection (a) shall 
each--
            ``(A) commence on the day after the individual becomes a 
        former President;
            ``(B) terminate on the last day of the month before the 
        former President dies; and
            ``(C) be payable by the Secretary of the Treasury on a 
        monthly basis.
    ``(2) The annuity and allowance under subsection (a) shall not be 
payable for any period during which the former President holds an 
appointive or elective position in or under the Federal Government or 
the government of the District of Columbia to which is attached a rate 
of pay other than a nominal rate.
    ``(c) Effective December 1 of each year, each annuity and allowance 
under subsection (a) having a commencement date that precedes such 
December 1 shall be increased by the same percentage as the percentage 
by which benefit amounts under title II of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 401 and following) are increased, effective as of such December 
1, as a result of a determination under section 215(i) of such Act (42 
U.S.C. 415(i)).
    ``(d)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the 
monetary allowance payable under subsection (a)(2) to a former 
President for any 12-month period may not exceed the amount by which--
            ``(A) the monetary allowance which (but for this 
        subsection) would otherwise be so payable for such 12-month 
        period, exceeds (if at all)
            ``(B) the applicable reduction amount for such 12-month 
        period.
    ``(2)(A) For purposes of paragraph (1), the `applicable reduction 
amount' is, with respect to any former President and in connection with 
any 12-month period, the amount by which--
            ``(i) the sum of (I) the adjusted gross income (as defined 
        by section 62 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) of the 
        former President for the last taxable year ending before the 
        start of such 12-month period, plus (II) any interest excluded 
        from the gross income of the former President under section 103 
        of such Code for such taxable year, exceeds (if at all)
            ``(ii) $400,000, subject to subparagraph (C).
    ``(B) In the case of a joint return, subclauses (I) and (II) of 
subparagraph (A)(i) shall be applied by taking into account both the 
amounts properly allocable to the former President and the amounts 
properly allocable to the spouse of the former President.
    ``(C) The dollar amount specified in subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be 
adjusted at the same time that, and by the same percentage as the 
percentage by which, the monetary allowance of the former President is 
increased under subsection (c) (disregarding this subsection).''.
    (b) Relating to the Surviving Spouse of a Former President.--
            (1) Increase in amount of monetary allowance.--Subsection 
        (e) of the section amended by subsection (a) is amended--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``$20,000 
                per annum,'' and inserting ``$100,000 per year (subject 
                to paragraph (4)),''; and
                    (B) in the second sentence--
                            (i) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' 
                        at the end;
                            (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking the 
                        period and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding after paragraph (3) the 
                        following:
            ``(4) shall, after its commencement date, be increased at 
        the same time that, and by the same percentage as the 
        percentage by which, annuities of former Presidents are 
        increased under subsection (c).''.
            (2) Coverage of widower of a former president.--Such 
        subsection (e), as amended by paragraph (1), is further 
        amended--
                    (A) by striking ``widow'' each place it appears and 
                inserting ``widow or widower''; and
                    (B) by striking ``she'' and inserting ``she or 
                he''.

SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be considered to affect--
            (1) any provision of law relating to the security or 
        protection of a former President or a member of the family of a 
        former President; or
            (2) funding, under the law amended by this section or under 
        any other law, to carry out any provision of law described in 
        paragraph (1).

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSITION RULES.

    (a) Effective Date.--This Act shall take effect on the date of 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Transition Rules.--
            (1) Former presidents.--In the case of any individual who 
        is a former President on the date of enactment of this Act, the 
        amendment made by section 2(a) shall be applied as if the 
        commencement date referred in subsection (b)(1)(A) of the 
        section amended by this Act coincided with such date of 
        enactment.
            (2) Widows.--In the case of any individual who is the widow 
        of a former President on the date of enactment of this Act, the 
        amendments made by section 2(b)(1) shall be applied as if the 
        commencement date referred to in subsection (e)(1) of the 
        section amended by this Act coincided with such date of 
        enactment.
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