[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      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--

       ``(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.''.

       (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.
                                 ______