[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2364 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2364

      To amend the Social Security Act to require Social Security 
Administration publications to highlight critical information relating 
   to the future financing shortfalls of the social security program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 5, 2000

Mr. Santorum (for himself and Mr. Gregg) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend the Social Security Act to require Social Security 
Administration publications to highlight critical information relating 
   to the future financing shortfalls of the social security program.

    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 ``Social Security Right to Know Act''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT STATEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 1143(a)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1320b-13(a)(2)) is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of 
subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (D) 
and inserting a semicolon, and by adding at the end the following:
            ``(E) a statement providing information that--
                    ``(i) while the old age, survivors, and disability 
                insurance program currently collects more in employer, 
                employee, and self-employment contributions than such 
                program pays out in retirement, disability, survivor, 
                and auxiliary benefits each year, such program will 
                begin to run cash flow deficits in 2015, thereafter 
                necessitating the allocation of general tax revenues in 
                order to finance promised benefits; and
                    ``(ii) the trust funds for such program contain 
                claims on future Government resources sufficient to 
                cover the deficit through 2037, but after that date, 
                the trust funds would collect sufficient revenues to 
                pay 72 percent of benefits; and
            ``(F) a statement explaining the nature of the Federal old 
        age, survivors, and disability insurance trust funds, including 
        the following: `Social Security Trust Fund balances are 
        available to finance future benefit payments and other Trust 
        Fund responsibilities only in a bookkeeping sense. They do not 
        consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the 
        future to fund benefits. Instead, such balances are claims on 
        the United States Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be 
        financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or 
        reducing benefits or other expenditures. The existence of large 
        Social Security Trust Fund balances, therefore, does not, by 
        itself, have any impact on the Federal Government's ability to 
        pay benefits.'.
For purposes of subparagraph (E), the dates and percentages described 
in such subparagraph shall be adjusted annually based on the 
Alternative II (Intermediate) findings of the Office of the Chief 
Actuary contained in the most recent report of the Board of 
Trustees.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to statements provided after the date of enactment 
of this Act.

SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE SOCIAL 
              SECURITY TRUST FUNDS.

    (a) In General.--Section 201(c) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 401(c)) is amended by inserting before the penultimate sentence 
the following: ``Based on the Alternative II (Intermediate) findings of 
the Office of the Chief Actuary, such report, including the report's 
summary and any items that accompany the release of such report, shall 
include in a clear and simple manner the information described in 
subsection (n)(1).
    (b) Additional Contents of Report.--Section 201 of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(n)(1) For purposes of subsection (c), the information described 
in this subsection is the following:
                    ``(A) An estimate of the year in which annual 
                outlays from the Trust Funds is first projected, using 
                the Trustees' intermediate estimates, to exceed the 
                annual cash income of the Trust Funds. For purposes of 
                this paragraph, annual cash income of the Trust Funds 
                shall be determined by including payroll and benefit 
                tax revenues, but not intragovernmental transfers or 
                interest income.
                    ``(B) The annual excess of such projected annual 
                outlays from the Trust Funds over the annual cash 
                income of the Trust Funds in each year, beginning with 
                the first year identified in subparagraph (A) and 
                extending through the year of projected program 
                insolvency.
                    ``(C) The aggregate amount of the annual excesses 
                identified in subparagraph (B) for the 75-year 
                projection period included in the report and the change 
in such amount from the previous year's report.
                    ``(D) The amount of deficit or surplus that the 
                old-age, survivor, and disability insurance program 
                will run in the last year in the 75-year projection 
                period included in the report and the aggregate assets 
                and unfunded obligations contained in the Trust Funds 
                in that final projected year.
                    ``(E) The amount that payroll taxes would have to 
                be raised or benefits be reduced (both in percentage 
                terms) in order to keep the old-age, survivor, and 
                disability insurance program in annual financial 
                balance after any cumulative balances in the Trust 
                Funds are exhausted. For purposes of the preceding 
                sentence, such program shall be considered to be in 
                annual financial balance when the annual cash income of 
                the Trust Funds and annual outlays from the Trust Funds 
                are approximately equal for each year throughout the 
                75-year projection period included in the report.
                    ``(F) How the annual amounts identified in 
                subparagraph (B) would change if either raising payroll 
                taxes or reducing benefits to keep the program in 
                financial balance is delayed for 5, 10, 25, and 50 
                years.
                    ``(G) A provision explaining the nature of the 
                Trust Funds, including the following statement: `Social 
                Security Trust Fund balances are available to finance 
                future benefit payments and other Trust Fund 
                responsibilities only in a bookkeeping sense. They do 
                not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn 
                down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, such 
                balances are claims on the United States Treasury that, 
                when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising 
                taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits 
                or other expenditures. The existence of large Social 
                Security Trust Fund balances, therefore, does not, by 
                itself, have any impact on the Federal Government's 
                ability to pay benefits.'.
            ``(2) The information described in subparagraphs (B), (C), 
        and (D) of paragraph (1) shall be presented in terms of nominal 
        dollars, inflation-adjusted dollars, and present discounted 
        value in the report under subsection (c)(2), and in terms of 
        inflation-adjusted dollars in the summary of such report.
            ``(3) The Board of Trustees shall publish the economic 
        model and all relevant data that are used to make the financial 
        projections included in the report under subsection (c)(2) and 
        to make it available on the Social Security Administration 
        Internet web site. Annually, the Board of Trustees shall also 
        include in such report any changes made to the model and data 
        in the preceding 12 months.
            ``(4) The information described in paragraph (1) shall also 
        be included in a separate report to Congress to be submitted 
        not later than the first day of April of each year (beginning 
        with 2000).''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to reports made after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
                                 <all>