[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1496 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1496

  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

                             March 5, 2019

   Mr. Hice of Georgia (for himself and Mr. Cummings) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                                 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 of 2019''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Former Presidents.--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 (commonly known as the ``Former 
Presidents Act of 1958'') (3 U.S.C. 102 note), is amended by striking 
the matter preceding subsection (e) and inserting the following:
    ``(a) Annuities and Allowances.--
            ``(1) Annuity.--Each former President shall be entitled for 
        the remainder of his or her life to receive from the United 
        States an annuity at the rate of $200,000 per year, subject to 
        subsections (b)(2) and (c), to be paid by the Secretary of the 
        Treasury.
            ``(2) Allowance.--The Administrator of General Services is 
        authorized to provide each former President a monetary 
        allowance at the rate of $200,000 per year, subject to the 
        availability of appropriations and subsections (b)(2), (c), and 
        (d).
    ``(b) Duration; Frequency.--
            ``(1) In general.--The annuity and allowance under 
        subsection (a) shall each--
                    ``(A) commence on the day after the date on which 
                an individual becomes a former President;
                    ``(B) terminate on the date on which the former 
                President dies; and
                    ``(C) be payable on a monthly basis.
            ``(2) Appointive or elective positions.--The annuity and 
        allowance under subsection (a) shall not be payable for any 
        period during which a former President holds an appointive or 
        elective position in or under the Federal Government to which 
        is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate.
    ``(c) Cost-of-Living Increases.--Effective December 1 of each year, 
each annuity and allowance under subsection (a) that commenced before 
that date shall be increased by the same percentage by which benefit 
amounts under title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et 
seq.) are increased, effective as of that date, as a result of a 
determination under section 215(i) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)).
    ``(d) Limitation on Monetary Allowance.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        this section, the monetary allowance payable under subsection 
        (a)(2) to a former President for any 12-month period--
                    ``(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), may 
                not exceed the amount by which--
                            ``(i) the monetary allowance that (but for 
                        this subsection) would otherwise be so payable 
                        for such 12-month period, exceeds (if at all)
                            ``(ii) the applicable reduction amount for 
                        such 12-month period; and
                    ``(B) shall not be less than the amount determined 
                under paragraph (4).
            ``(2) Definition.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For purposes of paragraph (1), 
                the term `applicable reduction amount' means, 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 in section 62 of the Internal 
                                Revenue Code of 1986) of the former 
                                President for the most recent taxable 
                                year for which a tax return is 
                                available; and
                                    ``(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) Joint returns.--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) Cost-of-living increases.--The dollar amount 
                specified in subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be adjusted at 
                the same time that, and by the same percentage by 
                which, the monetary allowance of the former President 
                is increased under subsection (c) (disregarding this 
                subsection).
            ``(3) Disclosure requirement.--
                    ``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
                            ``(i) the terms `return' and `return 
                        information' have the meanings given those 
                        terms in section 6103(b) of the Internal 
                        Revenue Code of 1986; and
                            ``(ii) the term `Secretary' means the 
                        Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary of 
                        the Treasury's delegate.
                    ``(B) Requirement.--A former President may not 
                receive a monetary allowance under subsection (a)(2) 
                unless the former President discloses to the Secretary, 
                upon the request of the Secretary, any return or return 
                information of the former President or spouse of the 
                former President that the Secretary determines is 
                necessary for purposes of calculating the applicable 
                reduction amount under paragraph (2) of this 
                subsection.
                    ``(C) Confidentiality.--Except as provided in 
                section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
                notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
                Secretary may not, with respect to a return or return 
                information disclosed to the Secretary under 
                subparagraph (B)--
                            ``(i) disclose the return or return 
                        information to any entity or person; or
                            ``(ii) use the return or return information 
                        for any purpose other than to calculate the 
                        applicable reduction amount under paragraph 
                        (2).
            ``(4) Increased costs due to security needs.--With respect 
        to the monetary allowance that would be payable to a former 
        President under subsection (a)(2) for any 12-month period but 
        for the limitation under paragraph (1) of this subsection, the 
        Administrator of General Services, in coordination with the 
        Director of the United States Secret Service, shall determine 
        the amount of the allowance that is needed to pay the increased 
        cost of doing business that is attributable to the security 
        needs of the former President.''.
    (b) Surviving Spouses of Former Presidents.--
            (1) Increase in amount of monetary allowance.--Subsection 
        (e) of the first section of the Former Presidents Act of 1958 
        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)--
                                    (I) by striking ``or the government 
                                of the District of Columbia''; and
                                    (II) by striking the period and 
                                inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 
                        following:
            ``(4) shall, after its commencement date, be increased at 
        the same time that, and by the same percentage by which, 
        annuities of former Presidents are increased under subsection 
        (c).''.
            (2) Coverage of widower of a former president.--Subsection 
        (e) of the first section of the Former Presidents Act of 1958, 
        as amended by paragraph (1), is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``widow'' each place it appears and 
                inserting ``widow or widower''; and
                    (B) by striking ``she'' and inserting ``she or 
                he''.
    (c) Subsection Headings.--The first section of the Former 
Presidents Act of 1958 is amended--
            (1) in subsection (e), by inserting after the subsection 
        enumerator the following: ``Widows and Widowers.--'';
            (2) in subsection (f), by inserting after the subsection 
        enumerator the following: ``Definition.--''; and
            (3) in subsection (g), by inserting after the subsection 
        enumerator the following: ``Authorization of Appropriations.--
        ''.

SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this Act shall be 
construed 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 Former Presidents Act of 1958 or any 
        other law, to carry out any provision of law described in 
        paragraph (1).

SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall not apply to--
            (1) any individual who is a former President on the date of 
        enactment of this Act; or
            (2) the widow or widower of an individual described in 
        paragraph (1).
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