[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2447 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2447

To require the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the heads 
 of other agencies, to conduct a feasibility and cost-benefit study of 
options for the design, development, implementation, and operation of a 
national database to track participation in Federal means-tested public 
                          assistance programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            September  8 (legislative day, August 31), 1998

   Mr. Lugar introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
           referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the heads 
 of other agencies, to conduct a feasibility and cost-benefit study of 
options for the design, development, implementation, and operation of a 
national database to track participation in Federal means-tested public 
                          assistance programs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) during 1997, the Federal Government spent over 
        $21,000,000,000 to deliver food stamp benefits under the Food 
        Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) to over 23,000,000 
        individuals;
            (2) a portion of the funds spent on food stamp benefits 
        annually is misspent through overpayments and fraud, which 
        undermines the integrity and confidence in the food stamp 
        program;
            (3) the Comptroller General of the United States has found 
        that--
                    (A) as many as 20,000 individuals were receiving 
                food stamp benefits in at least 2 to 4 States at the 
                same time during 1996;
                    (B) due to this duplication, overpayments to the 
                households in those States during 1996 totaled 
                approximately $3,900,000; and
                    (C) there was a similar duplication of payments in 
                other Federal means-tested public assistance programs, 
                such as the temporary assistance to needy families 
                (TANF) program funded under part A of title IV of the 
                Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
            (4) certain States currently have cooperative agreements 
        under which matches of recipients of means-tested public 
        assistance programs are tracked and coordinated with 
        neighboring States, but there is no comprehensive national 
        database or information system to track participation across 
        State lines;
            (5) the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
        Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193) created a 
        number of requirements to track means-tested assistance 
        throughout the United States, including time-limited receipt of 
        assistance under the food stamp program and the temporary 
        assistance to needy families (TANF) program;
            (6) a centralized database would be the most effective tool 
        to prevent receipt of means-tested assistance in multiple 
        jurisdictions and would avoid duplicated effort on the part of 
        States;
            (7) according to the Director of the Office of Management 
        and Budget, improved mechanisms to provide accurate information 
        to employees who determine eligibility for means-tested 
        assistance would help prevent overpayments and improve service 
        to clients; and
            (8) data sharing at the time of application for means-
        tested assistance could change enforcement efforts from a pay-
        and-chase method to a method that would be more proactive and 
        efficient.

SEC. 2. STUDY ON NATIONAL DATABASE FOR FEDERAL MEANS-TESTED PUBLIC 
              ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Labor, the 
Commissioner of Social Security, and the Secretary of the Treasury, 
shall conduct a feasibility and cost-benefit study of options for the 
design, development, implementation, and operation of a national 
database to track participation in Federal means-tested public 
assistance programs.
    (b) Administration.--In conducting the study, the Secretary of 
Agriculture shall--
            (1) study an option under which information in the national 
        database is collected and made available in real-time; and
            (2) provide safeguards to protect against the unauthorized 
        use or disclosure of information in the national database.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to Congress a 
report on the results of the study conducted under this section.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $250,000.
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