[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 8, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: February 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
DISABILITY PAYMENTS TO DRUG ADDICTS AND ALCOHOLICS
Mr. COHEN. Mr. President, the President of the United States has just
submitted a $1.52 trillion budget proposal to Congress and this week
will introduce his drug strategy plan. We will soon start rolling up
our sleeves to hammer out the details of major health care reform
proposals--and will then turn to the rather large task of reforming our
Nation's welfare system.
While there will be many solutions proposed to these problems of
crime, drugs, health care, and welfare, I rise today to report to my
colleagues on one way that we can make a dent in each of these problems
facing our Nation today.
Stop giving drug dealers and drug addicts cash to buy more drugs.
Absurd as it must seem to hardworking Americans who see more and more
of their paychecks going to taxes, and to severely disabled persons who
truly need assistance, we are now paying over a billion dollars a year
in disability payments to drug addicts and alcoholics--many of whom are
using taxpayer dollars to buy more drugs and alcohol.
For the past several months, my staff on the Senate Special Committee
on Aging has been investigating the payment of Social Security
disability benefits to drug addicts and alcoholics. As part of this
investigation, I asked the GAO to review the adequacy of the Social
Security Administration's program for SSI and DI recipients who are
drug addicts and alcoholics [DA&A].
findings
The current policy of allowing addicts and alcoholics to use
disability payments to turn around and buy more drugs and alcohol
seriously undermines our efforts to combat crime, promote preventive
health care, and reform our welfare system. In addition to wasting
taxpayer dollars, the current situation hurts the addicts themselves--
and only perpetuates drug and alcohol abuse.
We found that:
The word on the street is that SSI gives easy cash for drugs and
alcohol.
The director of a homeless shelter in Denver told staff investigators
that SSI is, in effect ``suicide on the installment plan'' because the
program provides ready cash to addicts and alcoholics with no strings
attached for followup or treatment. He maintains that the first day of
every month is considered Christmas Day by many of the alcoholics and
addicts who use the money for illegal drugs and alcohol, fail to enter
treatment programs, and then either stay on the street or return to
homeless shelters for food and shelter once their disability benefit
has been spent on drugs.
An expert who works with drug abusers and alcoholics compared the
policy of giving addicts cash to ``giving someone on disability because
of cancer a monthly injection of cancer cells.''
A mental health worker specializing in chemical dependency told the
committee that his caseload of illegal drug users was about 99.5
percent SSI recipients. He said that he has witnessed several deaths of
SSI recipients from drug overdoses, ``yet their checks just keep
coming.''
In San Francisco, a drug addict used his disability benefits to buy
high-grade drugs, diluted these into small doses, and realized huge
profits by reselling them on the street.
In our investigation, we heard several allegations that the current
disability process has spawned a cottage industry of clinics, attorney
representatives, and doctors who help abusers get on the disability
rolls.
Another major finding is that lump sum disability benefits of
thousands of dollars are being paid to substance abusers who are using
these funds to buy drugs and alcohol.
Since it frequently takes a year or longer to be awarded benefits for
SSI and DI, lump sums as high as $15,000 to $20,000 can be awarded to
substance abusers. For example:
An SSI applicant alleging drug addiction was found disabled and then
died of a lethal drug overdose purchased with thousands of dollars of
unrestricted retroactive benefits.
An SSI and DI recipient with a history of drug abuse was awarded
retroactive benefits of $19,000. He went directly to Las Vegas and
proceeded to purchase cocaine, using up all of his money.
We know directly that some recipients are dealing drugs but we still
pay them.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that under the
current law governing the SSI program, active drug dealing is not
enough to deny disability benefits.
So even if you are dealing in drugs that is not enough to stop the
flow of taxpayer money going to that individual. I would like to try to
explain that one to the American taxpayer.
The protections that are supposed to exist in the program have
failed.
Congress required that drug abusers and alcoholics comply with two
requirements in order to get disability and SSI benefits:
They must have treatment and have a third party, either a friend,
relative, or an institution manage the payments on their behalf.
Both of these protections have failed.
Up until last month, the Social Security Administration had set up
programs to monitor and enforce the treatment requirement in only 18
States. In fact, 26 States had never had an agency approved by SSA to
monitor treatment.
Fewer than one-third of the approximately 250,000 drug addicts and
alcoholics are even required to get treatment or have someone else
collect their benefits for them.
Of the $1.4 billion in benefits flowing to drug addicts and
alcoholics on the SSI and disability programs, only $320 million of
these payments are even covered by these protections. So, over $1.1
billion in payments are exposed to widespread abuse--with no controls
in place.
There are widespread problems in the collection of payments by third
parties on behalf of the drug and alcohol abusers--in fact, we found
cases where the bartender, the local drug dealer, or another addict was
appointed as the guardian of the payments.
Mr. President, this simply cannot be allowed to continue, that we are
making payments directly to local bartenders, or to other drug addicts
to collect the money who then go out and buy more alcohol and more
drugs. It is an intolerable situation. Soon I will be introducing
legislation that I think we can take corrective action very quickly and
very simply to stop the flow of money going to this type of abuse.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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