[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1042 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1042

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 14, 2009

  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 Veterans 
and 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 
              VETERANS AND SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS UNTIL ASSURANCE OF 
              PROTECTION FROM ATTACHMENT OR GARNISHMENT.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Section 5301(a)(1) of title 38 of the United States 
        Code provides that Veterans benefit payments ``shall be exempt 
        from the claim of creditors, and shall not be liable to 
        attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable 
        process whatever, either before or after receipt by the 
        beneficiary.''.
            (2) 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.''.
            (3) Congress intended for Veterans and Social Security 
        benefits to provide at least a minimum subsistence for our 
        nation's veterans, elderly, and disabled.
            (4) \\Social Security benefits are the only source of 
        income for over 20 percent of Social Security recipients.
            (5) 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 Veterans and 
        Social Security benefits are electronically deposited.
            (6) Many recipients of these benefits are left temporarily 
        destitute when financial institutions freeze access to their 
        only source of income.
            (7) Despite the lack of protections for direct deposit 
        recipients of Veterans and Social Security benefits, the 
        Treasury is spending millions of dollars encouraging veterans, 
        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, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or 
the Commissioner of Social Security for fiscal year 2010 or any fiscal 
year thereafter 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, or veterans benefits 
provided under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs, 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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