[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION LEGISLATION

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                       HON. GEORGE E. BROWN, JR.

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mr. BROWN of California. Mr. Speaker, the Social Security 
Administration is sitting on a scandal of immense proportions that has 
been kept under wraps by a conspiracy of silence inside the Washington 
beltway.
  Every day, millions of deserving Americans are being short-changed 
billions of dollars in hard-earned Social Security benefits, yet very 
little is being done about it. In my southern California district, 
retired workers caught up in this debacle are owed on average $1,000 in 
back Social Security payments. Some have been shorted by as much as 
$4,500-$7,000 in back payments.
  How could this be?
  In response to constituent complaints, I have been investigating the 
handling of earnings reports filed with the Social Security 
Administration. I have discovered that what seemed like isolated 
incidences of wages not being credited to individuals' records is 
actually a long-standing immense problem that exists nationwide. the 
SSA procedure for posting wage and self-employment returns has pitfalls 
previously unknown to most working Americans, and even many Social 
Security employees themselves.
  For five decades, poor record-keeping, managerial mistakes, sloppy 
bookkeeping on the part of too many employers, and bureaucratic errors 
have caused a problem so large that seemingly nobody now wants to admit 
that it exists, let alone tackle if head on.
  The evidence of this massive problem resides in what the SSA calls 
the suspense file, where earnings are placed with the SSA is notable to 
match the name and Social Security number from an annual wage report to 
an existing worker's Social Security record. Reasons earnings are not 
credited to workers account abound, but among the most common are 
typographical errors on employers' wage reports, such as unreadable 
data, first or middle name used as surname, and other mistakes 
occurring with unfamiliar names of workers of diverse countries of 
origin. When a match cannot be made, the employers' wage report is 
thrown into the suspense file, under the assumption that the correct 
owner of those wages will come forward in the future to claim the 
credits. The crux of the problem stems from the fact that many people 
never know that they are missing credits, even after retirement, and 
even if it causes a reduction in their benefits.
  Even when the employer reports correctly, the SSA's strict matching 
policy results in wage reports going into the suspense file. Women who 
do not change their names on the SSA's data bank will often lose credit 
for earnings until they do.
  The adverse impact of this ticking time bomb on working Americans is 
staggering. These mismatches, whether they be the fault of shoddy 
employer practices or the inflexibility of the SSA's strict matching 
policy, have the practical effect of denying millions of Americans up 
to hundreds of dollars on their monthly retirement or disability 
income. The overall numbers are mind-boggling and, quite frankly, I am 
astounded that a problem of this magnitude has not received the 
attention of the public, the media, Congress, or the administration.
  Unfortunately, left to their own devices the SSA has few incentives 
to correct this decades-old problem. The FICA taxes are paid and 
credited to the Social Security Trust Fund whether or not the 
individual employee gets credit for them. Computer operations that 
could easily detect many mismatches are expensive and have no priority 
in budget-setting. I am told that lack of knowledge of he extent of the 
problem has prevented claims staffs in local offices from being 
effective in finding and crediting lost wage earnings.
  The first step in fully addressing this problem is to assess the 
scope of the problem in terms of its impact on Social Security retiree 
benefits. The next step is to determine how to reconcile the wage 
reports currently in the suspense file to the rightful owner and to put 
in place a system that will prevent future mismatches, potentially 
leading to the loss of substantial benefits.
  Today, I introduced legislation to address this serious problem. My 
bill calls on the SSA to take immediate action to determine and 
implement an effective procedure to reconcile the wage reports 
currently in the suspense file to the rightful owner and put in place a 
system that will prevent future mismatches.
  In addition, my bill requires the SSA and IRS to submit a plan of 
action to Congress for eliminating the backlog of uncredited earnings 
in the suspense file and resolving new discrepancies and any additional 
resources which the SSA would require to carry out this mission.
  The Federal Government should strive for nothing less than 100-
percent accuracy for the American wage earner. I will not rest until I 
am convinced that the SSA and Congress have done everything possible to 
ensure that hard-working Americans are receiving every dime in 
retirement benefits that they deserve.
  Bob Dole, the Republican nominee for President, does not let a 
campaign day go by without promising every American a raise in the form 
of a 15-percent income tax cut. If the Congress were to tackle the 
suspense file snafu within SSA, we would be able to provide an 
immediate raise to millions of hard-working American families by simply 
doing what is right and keeping faith with the Social Security promise.
  I invite my colleagues to cosponsor this bill and join with me in 
sending out a clear message that we will not rest until we are 
convinced that the SSA and Congress have done everything possible to 
ensure that American wage earners are receiving every dime in 
retirement benefits that they deserve.

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