[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 137 (Saturday, September 28, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE REHABILITATION AND RETURN TO WORK OPPORTUNITY ACT 
                                OF 1996

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM BUNNING

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 27, 1996

  Mr. BUNNING of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, today, in behalf of myself, 
Andy Jacobs, Clay Shaw, and other members of the Ways and Means 
Committee on both sides of the aisle, I am introducing the 
Rehabilitation and Return to Work Opportunity Act of 1996. This 
legislation will help Social Security and Supplemental Security Income 
disability recipients who want to work return to a life of financial 
independence and self-sufficiency.
  We are all too familiar with the huge increases in the Social 
Security disability insurance and Supplemental Security Income 
disability rolls over the last decade. From 1986 to 1995 alone, the 
rolls grew almost 70 percent, to 7.5 million recipients. Unfortunately, 
there is no end to this alarming trend in sight. In fact, new 
disability awardees are, on average, becoming younger and younger. This 
means they will spend more of their lives dependent on Social Security 
or SSI unless Congress gives them the opportunity to obtain the tools 
and training they need to return to productive and self-sufficient 
lives.
  The General Accounting Office recently reported that the Social 
Security Administration has placed little priority on helping disabled 
recipients return to productive employment. GAO found that SSA's 
rehabilitation programs don't focus on providing the support and 
assistance that many people with disabilities need to transition from 
the disability rolls back to work. In my view, SSA's record on 
rehabilitation is appalling.
  Of the 6.6 million working-age people who were receiving Social 
Security or SSI benefits in 1995, only 4 percent were even referred for 
rehabilitation. Of these, only 6,238, or less than one-tenth of 1 
percent, were successfully rehabilitated. This isn't fair to disabled 
recipients, who will otherwise face a life of dependency and denied 
opportunity. It is time we let Social Security and SSI recipients who 
are disabled know we care enough to invest in their future.
  The Social Security Act requires that individuals applying for 
disability benefits be referred to State vocational rehabilitation 
agencies for services, but State agencies are reluctant to take on the 
more difficult cases. GAO estimates that if only an additional 1 
percent of the 6.6 million working-age people receiving Social Security 
or SSI disability benefits were to leave the rolls by returning to 
work, an estimated $3 billion could be saved in subsequent years.
  Under my legislation, Social Security and SSI disability recipients 
would no longer be limited to using State vocational rehabilitation 
agencies for services, but would be able to choose whether to receive 
rehabilitation services from private, nonprofit, or State 
rehabilitation providers. Disabled recipients would, for the first 
time, have a broad choice of certified providers from whom they could 
receive the rehabilitation services they need. It would be up to the 
individual with the disability to decide which rehabilitation provider 
best met his or her needs. The competition that would result would 
guarantee that persons with disabilities would be choosing from the 
highest quality services.
  In addition, my bill would extend Medicare coverage for 5 years for 
disabled recipients who work, and Medicare would continue to be the 
primary insurer for employers with fewer than 100 employees. And 
employers who hire Social Security or SSI disability recipients would 
be eligible for a 1-year tax credit for the employer share of FICA 
taxes.
  The legislation creates a commission of rehabilitation experts to 
oversee the implementation of a new out-come-based rehabilitation 
program designed to help recipients move from dependency to self-
sufficiency. The program would create a competitive system utilizing 
networks of service providers; a straight-forward incremental fee 
structure for providers that caps overall costs at certain milestones 
of service; criteria for SSA to contract out the administration of the 
new system; and a coucher-type system to maximize consumer choice and 
limit costs.
  To ensure that disabled recipients receive the best quality services, 
the bill calls for standards, including review by consumer 
organizations, that rehabilitation providers must meet in order to 
serve Social Security or SSI disability recipients.
  These are all features that persons with disabilities, rehabilitation 
providers, and small businesses agree are necessary for a successful 
return-to-work effort. I look forward to hearing comments from all of 
these constituencies so that in the next Congress we can take 
legislative action to provide real opportunity to persons with severe 
disabilities, enabling them to return to productive employment and 
self-sufficiency. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
join with me in this effort by supporting this legislation.

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