Social Security Expansion Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Social SecurityThe federal retirement, survivors, and disability insurance program, funded by payroll taxes and paid as an entitlement under permanent law.Read the full definition (opens a new tab).
Social Security Expansion Act
This bill amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to: (1) increase the primary insurance amount for all eligible beneficiaries, beginning in 2023; (2) revise computation of cost-of-living adjustments to use the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers; and (3) increase the special minimum primary insurance amount for lifetime low earners based on years in the workforce.
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) apply employment and self-employment taxes to remuneration up to the contribution and benefit base and to remuneration in excess of $250,000, and (2) increase the tax rate on investment gain from 3.8% to 10% and allocate specifed amounts of such tax revenue to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on February 16, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 1, 2017: Referred to the Subcommittee on Social Security.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
PETER DEFAZIO (D-OR) introduced it on February 16, 2017, and 39 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 39 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 16, 2017, 3493 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3480 days ago, on March 1, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers