[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE CRIMINAL WELFARE PREVENTION ACT, PART II

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. WALLY HERGER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 4, 1997

  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, today Mr. Clement, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Bunning, 
Ms. Dunn, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Hayworth, and Mr. Burton join me in 
introducing legislation--the Criminal Welfare Prevention Act, Part II--
which will prevent the needless waste of taxpayer dollars.
  Last year, the 104th Congress took an important step forward in this 
regard by enacting legislation that denies Federal SSI benefits to 
inmates of State and local correctional facilities. Although prisoners 
were not entitled to these benefits under existing Federal law, there 
was no way to match prisoners in local institutions with benefit checks 
mailed by the Federal Government. The Criminal Welfare Prevention Act--
signed into law as part of last year's welfare reform package--creates 
a voluntary bridge between local sheriffs and the Federal Government, 
helping sheriffs identify ineligible individuals. This commonsense 
reform will save taxpayers millions of dollars--without imposing 
unfunded mandates or establishing new government bureaucracies.
  However, there is still more work to do. Originally, the Criminal 
Welfare Prevention Act had aimed to deny local prisoners Social 
Security [OASDI] benefits as well, but these provisions were dropped 
from the final conference report to comply with Senate rules against 
making changes to OASDI in a reconciliation bill. Consequently, many 
local prisoners are still receiving OASDI benefits for which they are 
currently ineligible under Federal law.
  To address this problem, we are introducing the Criminal Welfare 
Prevention Act, Part II. This bill will create monetary incentives for 
State and local law enforcement authorities to enter into voluntary 
data-sharing contracts with the Social Security Administration. This 
exchange of information will help get prisoners off our benefit rolls 
and will save taxpayers an estimated $35 million by the year 2002. 
Under our proposal, if a participating local authority reports to the 
SSA that an incarcerated convict has received an OASDI check within the 
previous 30 days, that local authority will receive a cash payment of 
$400. If the discovery is made within 90 days, the local authority will 
receive $200. Again, participation in these contracts is purely 
voluntary--our bill will create an incentive structure, not an unfunded 
Federal mandate.
  In this time of severe budgetary constraints, we strongly believe 
that Congress needs to cut off this tremendously wasteful flow of 
scarce resources. Last Congress, the original Criminal Welfare 
Prevention Act attracted nearly 200 cosponsors, and its SSI-related 
portions are now law. The remaining OASDI provisions passed the House 
late last year as part of a Social Security Technical Corrections bill, 
but Congress adjourned before Senate action could be taken. Now is the 
time to finish the job. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this much-
needed bipartisan reform.

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