Congressional Record, Volume 170 Issue 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)

[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6370-S6373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. Warner):

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S. 5148. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow
certain family caregivers to contribute to a Roth IRA; to the Committee
on Finance.
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By Ms. COLLINS:
S. 5149. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow
additional catch-up contributions for certain family caregivers; to the
Committee on Finance.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise today to introduce two bills:
the Improving Retirement Security for Family Caregiver Act and the
Catching Up Family Caregivers Act. These bills, which I am introducing
today with my colleague from Virginia, Senator Warner, would enable
family caregivers to better save for retirement.
Family caregivers play an essential role in American society: caring
for this Nation's children and elderly. While providing many vital
services for their loved ones, these caregivers often suffer
economically. According to a new study from the Edward Jones Grassroots
Taskforce, 64 percent of women say their caregiving duties have
negatively impacted their ability to save toward their long-term
financial goals. In fact, an average 26-year-old female making $60,000
a year leaving the workforce for 5 years to raise her children will
lose close to $1 million over her lifetime due to lost retirement
assets and wage growth. Those taking care of an aging parent often face
similar experiences. While it is difficult to put a dollar amount to
the value of the devotion, time, and services that these caregivers
provide, the Alzheimer's Association has estimated that in 2023, family
caregivers provided $350 billion in uncompensated long-term care.
For this reason, the American retirement system needs to change to
benefit family caregivers. Our legislation would enable family
caregivers to contribute to their retirement funds without significant
income. Currently, contributions are capped to Roth IRAs at $7,000 or
yearly income, whichever is less; therefore a family caregiver earning
less than $7,000 annually is severely limited in their ability to
contribute to a retirement account. The Improving Retirement Security
for Family Caregiver Act, would eliminate the income cap for family
caregivers, enabling them to contribute to a Roth IRA through other
savings accounts up to$7,000 annually.
In addition, our current retirement system allows those over the age
of 50 to contribute more money to their retirement than the statutory
limit, the idea being that those in their fifties have more
discretionary income than they did when they were younger to put
towards retirement. Using the same logic, the Catching Up Family
Caregivers Act would give family caregivers extra years of maximum
catch-up contributions for every year they were sidelined from the
workforce to be a family caregiver. These complementary bills would
allow family caregivers to invest more in their retirement funds now
and later.
These complementary bills would allow family caregivers to invest
more in their retirement funds now and later. They have earned to
support of important stakeholder organizations that represent family
caregivers, including the Alzheimer's Association and the Alzheimer's
Impact Movement. In letters that support these bills, they write,
``Nearly half of all caregivers who provide help to older adults do so
for someone living with Alzheimer's or another dementia. Alzheimer's
takes a devastating toll on caregivers.'' I am grateful for the support
of these groups who know how important these retirement reforms will be
to the financial security of caregivers who sacrifice for their loved
ones. I urge my colleagues to support our legislation.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bills
be printed in the Record:
There being no objection, the text of the bills were ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:

S. 5148

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 ``Improving Retirement
Security for Family Caregivers Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. ROTH IRA CONTRIBUTIONS FOR CERTAIN FAMILY CAREGIVERS.

(a) In General.--Subsection (c) of section 408A of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end
the following new paragraph:
``(7) Special rule for roth ira contributions of qualified
family caregivers.--
``(A) In general.--In the case of an individual who is a
qualified family caregiver as of the close of the taxable
year, in applying section 219 for purposes of paragraph (2),
the limitation of paragraph (1) of section 219(b) shall be
equal to the dollar amount in effect under section
219(b)(1)(A) for the taxable year.
``(B) Qualified family caregiver.--For purposes of this
paragraph--
``(i) In general.--The term `qualified family caregiver'
means an individual who, during the taxable year--

``(I) has completed 500 or more hours as a family
caregiver, and
``(II) has completed fewer than 500 hours of paid
employment (including self-employment).

``(ii) Family caregiver.--The term `family caregiver' means
an unpaid family member, a foster parent, or another unpaid
adult, who is unemployed or severely underemployed (as
determined by the Secretary) and who provides in-home care,
monitoring, management, supervision, or treatment of--

``(I) a child, or
``(II) an adult with a special need (as defined in section
2901 of the Public Health Service Act), including an elderly
adult who requires care or supervision due to an age-related
condition.

``(iii) Hours.--An individual shall be treated as serving
as a family caregiver during the hours in which the
individual is engaged in caregiving tasks including
assistance with bathing or grooming, dressing, laundry, food
shopping or preparation, housekeeping, managing medications,
transportation, and mobility assistance.
``(C) Coordination with spousal ira.--In the case of an
individual to whom section 219(c)(1) applies for the taxable
year, subparagraph (A) shall be applied notwithstanding such
section.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section
shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31,
2024.

S. 5149

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 ``Catching Up Family
Caregivers Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL CATCH-UP CONTRIBUTIONS FOR CERTAIN FAMILY
CAREGIVERS.

(a) In General.--Subparagraph (A) of section 414(v)(5) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
(1) by striking ``who would'' and inserting ``who--
``(i) would'',
(2) by adding ``or'' at the end, and
(3) by adding at the end the following new clause:
``(ii) is a qualified family caregiver as of the end of the
taxable year,''.
(b) Qualified Family Caregiver.--Paragraph (6) of section
414(v) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by
adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
``(D) Qualified family caregiver.--
``(i) In general.--The term `qualified family caregiver'
means an individual who has completed 500 or more hours as a
family caregiver during any 1 taxable year.
``(ii) Limitation.--An individual shall be treated as a
qualified family caregiver for not more than a total of,
consecutively or nonconsecutively, the greater of--

``(I) 1 taxable year for each taxable year during which
such individual completed 500 or more hours as a family
caregiver, or
``(II) 5 taxable years.

``(iii) Hours.--For purposes of this subparagraph, the
hours during which an individual was a family caregiver shall
be determined by [to be supplied].
``(iv) Family caregiver.--The term `family caregiver' means
an unpaid family member, a foster parent, or another unpaid
adult, who is unemployed or severely underemployed (as
determined by the Secretary) and who provides in-home care,
monitoring, management, supervision, or treatment of--

(c) IRA Catch-up Contributions.--Clause (i) of section
219(b)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by
striking ``who has attained the age of 50 before the close of
the taxable year, the deductible amount'' and inserting
``who--

``(I) has attained the age of 50 before the close of the
taxable year, or
``(II) is a qualified family caregiver (as defined in
section 414(v)(6)(D)) as of the close of the taxable year,

the deductible amount''.
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31,
2024.
______

By Mrs. BRITT (for herself and Mr. Fetterman):
S. 5150. A bill to require the Federal Trade Commission, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of Health and Human Services acting
through the Surgeon General, to implement a mental health warning label
on social

[[Page S6372]]

media platforms, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation.
Mrs. BRITT. Madam President, it is always an honor to represent my
great State, to stand and speak in front of my colleagues and before
the American people. But today is particularly special for me as my
parents are here in the Gallery, and I rise today with great concerns
for our country as a parent myself.
As a mom of two, I know firsthand the struggles that parents face
with raising their children. You add doing that in this digital age,
and obstacles and challenges become that much more great.
Our country is in the throes of a mental health crisis. And don't
just take my word for it. Just look at the data. Twenty percent of
Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 experienced at least one major
depressive episode in 2021. When looking at just girls, that number
then increases to 29 percent.
This crisis--and crisis doesn't even really feel strong enough when
we are talking about rates this high--is alarming, and recent
developments show us that. But before that, let's rewind.
Between the years of 2011 and 2019, depression rates amongst our
teenagers more than doubled. The number of adolescents who reported
experiencing a major depressive episode shot up 60 percent from 2007 to
2019.
Emergency room visits by children and teens for anxiety, mood
disorders, and self-harm increased sharply during this time as well,
and suicide rates among our children, between the ages of 10 and then
all the way to 24, which had been stable the previous decade, jumped by
almost 60 percent.
When we talk about suicide, the numbers show an incredible heartbreak
of what is actually occurring. Suicide is now the second leading cause
of death for Americans under the age of 44. In 2021, 25 percent of
teenage girls made a plan to die by suicide.
The next year, in 2022, one-third of high school girls said that they
seriously considered taking their own life, and then 9 percent of our
high school population actually attempted death by suicide. That is 9
out of every 100 high schoolers. This is not OK.
Meanwhile, factors that contribute positively to mental health are on
the decline. Data from surveys conducted by groups like the CDC Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance System and the National Institute on Drug
Abuse show that teens and tweens today get less sleep, less exercise,
and have less in-person contact than their peers before them.
So in an age where we brag about being more ``connected'' than ever,
we have actually never been further apart. And while we should always
be wary of blaming just one culprit, there is one thing that stands out
among the rest, and that is social media usage.
Nearly 100 percent of teenagers have access to smartphones. I am
looking at our incredible group of pages down in front, and my guess
is, if I polled this group, we would see that that stat is probably
true. Half, though, of American teenagers say that they are online
constantly.
I wish that the Gallery could see that I am actually getting some
shaking heads up here.
This is about the same percentage of teens who reported feeling
addicted to their smartphones in 2016.
Fifty-four percent of American teenagers admit that it would be
really hard to give up their social media, and 35 percent of American
teenagers say that they are on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat,
Facebook--I am sure I am missing a few, right?--almost constantly.
TikTok, in particular, has presented some really serious concerns. So
for those of you who may not be aware, just this spring, several
American lawmakers received death threats from users saying they would
kill us if we voted for the TikTok divestment bill.
My office got one of those messages; so did Senator Tillis from North
Carolina. I wouldn't be surprised, if we polled all 100 Senators, if
there weren't messages like this on many, many more machines. And the
truth is, it wasn't just about killing us. These messages also said
that, if we did this, they would kill themselves and/or harm others.
That came just after TikTok urged its users to call American
lawmakers and stop them from voting for that bill. So, clearly, social
media has a deep hold on our country's children and teens.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote a few months ago that
adolescents who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media double
their risk of symptoms of anxiety and depression than those who do not.
But guess what the data shows. Our teenagers aren't on social media
for 3 hours a day, on average. They are on social media around 5 hours
a day.
Many kids acknowledge that social media is bad for them, and many
parents acknowledge that, too. But the situation is clearly getting
more devastating. It seems to just be getting worse.
Our kids are suffering, with many not realizing that the root cause
is due to the addictive quality of social media, and they actually seem
to feel powerless on how to end that.
Earlier this summer, the Surgeon General called for the creation of a
warning label on social media, and 42 out of 50 State attorneys
general, including Alabama's own Steve Marshall and Pennsylvania's
Michelle Henry, backed this proposal.
Senator Fetterman and I are on the same page about this. There should
be a warning label on social media, and that is why today we have
introduced the Stop the Scroll Act. Our bill would require a social
media platform to have a warning label to be placed on it to ensure
that users know about the potential adverse effects of these apps and
they must acknowledge that before proceeding to use them.
While Senator Fetterman and I agree on the importance of these
labels, we also recognize that we are not the experts here. Our bill
would not determine what the label would say. Rather, we would leave
that up to the Surgeon General.
The only requirement that this bill would create is that the warning
label include a way to quickly access mental health resources--which,
in our mind, would look like a link to 9-8-8, the Suicide and Crisis
Lifeline, or other resources--putting them quickly at the fingertips of
those who need them most.
Now, warning labels won't prevent the American people from using the
app, just like warnings on tobacco or alcohol don't stop someone from
purchasing them. The warning is a caution so that consumers have their
eyes opened to the potential dangers ahead. It empowers them to make
informed decisions.
It is similar to when a doctor tells a patient they need to limit
their sugar intake, right? The doctor isn't going to force you to stop
eating sugar, but the warning from the doctor will likely make the
patient think twice. In that situation, the doctor will usually provide
advice on how to reduce sugar in your diet.
That is what the warning does. It makes sure consumers' eyes are
open. It ensures that they acknowledge it before moving forward, and it
provides direction to access resources if that user needs help.
The Stop the Scroll Act isn't a cure. It is a caution that will
hopefully help promote healthier social media usage, while providing
those in crisis with the resources they need to get help.
It is an important step forward in creating a safer digital age for
all Americans.
So I am grateful for the leadership of my colleague from Pennsylvania
Senator Fetterman in introducing this important legislation alongside
me today. I want to thank Senator Fetterman and Surgeon General Murthy
for their efforts to address the dangers of social media.
I am committed to continuing to work in a bipartisan fashion to help
our kids have the kind of childhood that we were blessed to enjoy and
to ensure that they have access to the American dream, rather than the
social media nightmares that so many families are dealing with today.

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