S. 639 119th Congress Senate

Clergy Act

Official title: A bill to allow a period in which members of the clergy may revoke their exemption from Social Security coverage, and for other purposes.

Introduced: February 19, 2025 Introduced by: Katie Boyd Britt Republican · Alabama See on congress.gov

Social Welfare Congressional oversightIncome tax exclusionReligionSocial security and elderly assistanceTax administration and collection, taxpayers

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Feb 19, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Feb 19, 2025

Introduced in Senate

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What's happening now February 19, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Clergy Act

This bill establishes a two-year window for certain members of the clergy and Christian Science practitioners to revoke their exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes on ministerial earnings. Under current law, such individuals who object to participation in public insurance programs on religious or conscientious grounds may apply to the Internal Revenue Service for an irrevocable exemption and will not receive Social Security or Medicare benefits in retirement unless they have qualifying credits from other employment.

The Internal Revenue Service must develop a plan to inform members of the clergy and Christian Science practitioners of their eligibility to revoke prior exemptions, pursuant to the bill's changes.

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Finance Committee
Senate

Lobbying activity 20

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

K&L GATES, LLP
for CHURCH ALLIANCE · Illinois · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
K&L GATES, LLP
for CHURCH ALLIANCE · Illinois · 1st Quarter 2025 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
K&L GATES, LLP
for CHURCH ALLIANCE · Illinois · 2nd Quarter 2025 (Apr 1 - June 30)
K&L GATES, LLP
for CHURCH ALLIANCE · Illinois · 3rd Quarter 2025 (July 1 - Sep 30)
K&L GATES, LLP
for CHURCH ALLIANCE · Illinois · 4th Quarter 2025 (Oct 1 - Dec 31)
K&L GATES, LLP
for CHURCH ALLIANCE · Illinois · 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
20 filings
SENATE
20 filings
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
7 filings
Treasury, Dept of
4 filings
Agriculture, Dept of (USDA)
1 filing
Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
1 filing
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
1 filing
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
1 filing

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 20 filings →

Cosponsors 3