[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 86 (Friday, June 26, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     INTRODUCTION OF THE CRIMINAL WELFARE PREVENTION ACT, PART III

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                           HON. WALLY HERGER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 25, 1998

  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce the introduction of 
``The Criminal Welfare Prevention Act, Part III''--the third in a 
series of legislative initiatives I have sponsored to help cut off 
fraudulent federal benefits to prisoners in state and local jails.
  Because of the original ``Criminal Welfare Prevention Act''--
legislation I introduced during the 104th Congress which was enacted as 
part of welfare reform in 1996--an effective new incentive system is 
now in place that enables the Social Security Administration (SSA) to 
detect and cut off fraudulent Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and 
Social Security (OASDI) benefits that would otherwise be issued to 
prisoners. That provision established monetary incentives for state and 
local law enforcement authorities to enter into voluntary data-sharing 
contracts with SSA. Now, participating local authorities can elect to 
provide the Social Security numbers of their inmates to the Social 
Security Administration. If SSA identifies any ``matches''--instances 
where inmates are fraudulently collecting SSI benefits--SSA now cuts 
off those benefits and the participating local authority receives a 
cash payment of as much as $400. Participation in these data-sharing 
contracts is strictly voluntary; they do not involve any unfunded 
federal mandates. According to a recent estimate by SSA's Inspector 
General, this initiative could help save taxpayers as much as $3.46 
billion through the year 2001.
  Mr. Speaker, on June 4th of this year, the House passed my follow-up 
legislation, ``The Criminal Welfare Prevention Act, Part II.'' This 
proposal would encourage even more sheriffs to become involved in 
fraud-prevention by extending the $400 incentive payments to 
intercepted Social Security (OASDI) checks as well. This provision--
included as Section 7 of ``The Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency 
Act''--is now awaiting action in the Senate.
  Despite this important progress, Mr. Speaker, our work is still not 
complete. In addition to establishing the new system of monetary 
incentives, the original Criminal Welfare Prevention Act also 
authorized the SSA to share the agency's augmented prisoner database 
with other federal agencies so that similar inmate fraud could be 
prevented in other federal and federally-assisted benefit programs. In 
April of this year, President Clinton issued an executive memorandum 
directing the SSA to act on its newly-granted authority and to make its 
database available by November 1st. This action, if faithfully 
executed, could potentially uncover a tremendous number of fraudulent 
benefit checks that would otherwise be issued to prisoners by the 
Departments of Agriculture, Education, Labor, Veterans' Affairs, and 
others. In fact, according to Administration estimates, this could save 
taxpayers an additional $500 million over five years.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the 
President for joining this important fight against fraud in our 
nation's federal programs. However, because fraud prevention has not 
historically been a top priority at the SSA, I believe that Congress 
should nonetheless move to codify this administrative action into law.
  The Criminal Welfare Prevention Act, Part III is quite 
straightforward. It would simply require the SSA to share its prisoner 
database with other federal departments and agencies to help prevent 
the continued payment of other fraudulent benefits (i.e., food stamps, 
veterans' benefits, education aid, etc.) to prisoners. I would urge all 
of my colleagues--on both sides of the aisle--to cosponsor this 
important legislation and to remind criminals that crime isn't supposed 
to pay.

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