[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2850 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2850

 To prohibit the use of funds to promote the direct deposit of Social 
Security benefits until adequate safeguards are established to prevent 
            the attachment and garnishment of such benefits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 14, 2008

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit the use of funds to promote the direct deposit of Social 
Security benefits until adequate safeguards are established to prevent 
            the attachment and garnishment of such benefits.

    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 ``Illegal Garnishment Prevention 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS TO PROMOTE DIRECT DEPOSIT OF SOCIAL 
              SECURITY BENEFITS UNTIL ASSURANCE OF PROTECTION FROM 
              ATTACHMENT OR GARNISHMENT.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Section 207 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 407) 
        provides that Social Security benefits shall not ``be subject 
        to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal 
        process, or to the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency 
        law.''.
            (2) Congress intended for Social Security benefits to 
        provide at least a minimum subsistence for our nation's elderly 
        and disabled.
            (3) \\Social Security benefits are the only source of 
        income for over 20 percent of Social Security recipients.
            (4) Many financial institutions are garnishing accounts on 
        behalf of creditors in order to recover debt owed to them, and 
        are assessing fees on bank accounts into which Social Security 
        benefits are electronically deposited.
            (5) Many recipients of these benefits are left temporarily 
        destitute when financial institutions freeze access to their 
        only source of income.
            (6) Despite the lack of protections for direct deposit 
        recipients of Social Security, the Treasury is spending 
        millions of dollars encouraging seniors and other recipients of 
        social security benefits to use direct deposit for receipt of 
        their benefits.
    (b) Prohibition.--No funds appropriated or otherwise made available 
to the Secretary of the Treasury or the Commissioner of Social Security 
for fiscal year 2009 may be used to promote or otherwise encourage 
recipients of old-age, survivors, or disability insurance benefits paid 
under title II of the Social Security Act to use direct deposit for 
payment of such benefits, or to otherwise promote the use of direct 
deposit for such benefits until the Secretary of the Treasury 
promulgates rules establishing procedures to ensure that such benefits 
are protected from attachment and garnishment in accordance with the 
requirements of section 207 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 407), 
and at least 5 of the 7 members of the advisory committee established 
under subsection (c) concur in advising the Secretary of the Treasury 
that such procedures provide adequate safeguards.
    (c) Advisory Committee.--
            (1) Establishment.--There is hereby established an Advisory 
        Committee to be known as the ``Social Security Benefits 
        Protection from Attachment or Garnishment Advisory Committee''.
            (2) Membership.--The Committee shall be comprised of 7 
        members comprised of, or appointed by the following:
                    (A) The Secretary of the Treasury.
                    (B) The Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means of 
                the House of Representatives.
                    (C) The Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways and 
                Means of the House of Representatives.
                    (D) The Chair of the Committee on Finance of the 
                Senate.
                    (E) The Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance 
                of the Senate.
                    (F) The Chair of the Special Committee on Aging of 
                the Senate.
                    (G) The Ranking Member of the Special Committee on 
                Aging of the Senate.
            (3) Meetings.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
        establish meetings of the Committee.
            (4) Duties.--The Committee shall review the procedures 
        promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury to carry out 
        subsection (b) and, upon the concurrence of at least 5 members 
        of the Committee, advise the Secretary of the Treasury as to 
        the adequacy of such procedures with respect to protecting old-
        age, survivors, or disability insurance benefits paid under 
        title II of the Social Security Act from attachment and 
        garnishment.
            (5) FACA exemption.--The Committee shall not be subject to 
        the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
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