[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10935-H10937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DENIAL OF FOOD STAMPS FOR DECEASED INDIVIDUALS

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 1733) to amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to require 
food stamp State agencies to take certain actions to ensure that food 
stamp coupons are not issued for deceased individuals, to require the 
Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study of options for the design, 
development, implementation, and operation of a national database to 
track participation in Federal means-tested public assistance programs, 
and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                S. 1733

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DENIAL OF FOOD STAMPS FOR DECEASED INDIVIDUALS.

       (a) In General.--Section 11 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 
     (7 U.S.C. 2020) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(r) Denial of Food Stamps for Deceased Individuals.--Each 
     State agency shall--
       ``(1) enter into a cooperative arrangement with the 
     Commissioner of Social Security, pursuant to the authority of 
     the Commissioner under section 205(r)(3) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)(3)), to obtain information on 
     individuals who are deceased; and
       ``(2) use the information to verify and otherwise ensure 
     that benefits are not issued to individuals who are 
     deceased.''.
       (b) Report.--Not later than September 1, 2000, the 
     Secretary of Agriculture shall submit a report regarding the 
     progress and effectiveness of the cooperative arrangements 
     entered into by State agencies under section 11(r) of the 
     Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2020(r)) (as added by 
     subsection (a)) to--
       (1) the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (2) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 
     of the Senate;
       (3) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
     Representatives;
       (4) the Committee on Finance of the Senate; and
       (5) the Secretary of the Treasury.
       (c) Effective Date.--This section and the amendments made 
     by this section take effect on June 1, 2000.

     SEC. 2. STUDY OF NATIONAL DATABASE FOR FEDERAL MEANS-TESTED 
                   PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct 
     a study of options for the design, development, 
     implementation, and operation of a national database to track 
     participation in Federal means-tested public assistance 
     programs.
       (b) Administration.--In conducting the study, the Secretary 
     shall--
       (1) analyze available data to determine--
       (A) whether the data have addressed the needs of the food 
     stamp program established under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 
     U.S.C. 2011 et seq.);
       (B) whether additional or unique data need to be developed 
     to address the needs of the food stamp program; and
       (C) the feasibility and cost-benefit ratio of each 
     available option for a national database;
       (2) survey the States to determine how the States are 
     enforcing the prohibition on recipients receiving assistance 
     in more than 1 State under Federal means-tested public 
     assistance programs;
       (3) determine the functional requirements of each available 
     option for a national database; and
       (4) ensure that all options provide safeguards to protect 
     against the unauthorized use or disclosure of information in 
     the national database.
       (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress 
     a report on the results of the study conducted under this 
     section.
       (d) Funding.--Out of any moneys in the Treasury not 
     otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 
     provide to the Secretary of Agriculture $500,000 to carry out 
     this section. The Secretary shall be entitled to receive the 
     funds and shall accept the funds, without further 
     appropriation.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this legislation is to ensure that 
deceased people do not receive food stamp benefits. In February of this 
year, the General Accounting Office published an audit of four large 
States that account for 35 percent of the Nation's participants in the 
food stamp program. They found that nearly 26,000 deceased individuals 
were included in households receiving food stamps. These households 
improperly collected an estimated $8.5 million in food stamp benefits. 
This outrageous waste, fraud and abuse cannot be tolerated. While there 
may be differences of opinion on how this money should be spent, I 
believe that we can all agree that the nutritional needs of deceased 
individuals are substantially less than the needs of the living, and 
this abuse must end.
  Under food stamp rules, households must notify their welfare office 
of any change in the makeup of the household within 10 days. The GAO 
report titled ``Food Stamp Overpayments: Thousands of Deceased 
Individuals are Being Counted as Household Members'' shows that the 
names of the deceased individuals it found were counted in the food 
stamp households for an average of 4 months, and in a few instances the 
deceased persons were counted for the full 2 years of the review.
  I introduced H.R. 4366, the Food Stamp Verification Act of 1998, in 
response to this report. This bill requires food stamp State agencies 
to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Commissioner of Social 
Security to obtain information on individuals who are deceased. The 
bill we consider today, S. 1733, is the Senate version of H.R. 4366. It 
allows the Social Security Administration to share all of its 
information on deceased individuals with State agencies administering 
food stamps. This would enable States to use the most comprehensive 
information available on deceased persons and cross-check it with their 
food stamp rolls.
  S. 1733 also requires the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study 
of options for the design, development, implementation and operation of 
a national database to track participation in the food stamp program. 
This study should address the feasibility and cost-benefit ratio of 
every available option for a national database.
  Mr. Speaker, this is simple, common-sense legislation. The CBO 
estimates that it will save American taxpayers $17 million plus it 
allows States to administer their programs more efficiently. Welfare 
programs with lives of their own that continue into the afterlife are 
not acceptable. This problem should have been corrected long ago

[[Page H10936]]

and the solution is only a matter of requiring cooperation between 
government agencies.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) the ranking 
member of the Committee on Agriculture and the gentlewoman from North 
Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) for their support for this legislation as well. 
I urge support of S. 1733 and request its quick passage by the House of 
Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 1733, a bill that will 
require that food stamp State agencies take steps necessary to ensure 
that food stamp coupons are not issued to deceased individuals.
  As the gentleman from Virginia has explained, this is a rather 
common-sense bill today, something that needs to be done and in my 
judgment is another step in a series of steps that the House 
Agriculture Committee has taken in cooperation with our various States 
to see that the food stamp program works better to ensure that the food 
gets to the people that need the food and that waste and fraud and 
sometimes plainly mistakes, many of those, where we cannot be in a 
perfect world we can in fact ensure that we make the least amount of 
mistakes. That is what this bill is about.
  I commend the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), the chairman 
of the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign 
Agriculture for holding a hearing on this issue. Far too few hearings 
have been held this year on matters of substance within the Committee 
on Agriculture. This is one of them in which substance was worked on 
and a desired result occurs now today. I want to thank him for his 
diligence and work in continuing to work to ferret out this kind of 
issues and present to the full House this bill today which will result 
in a savings, as has already been pointed out, $1 million savings over 
the period of 1999 to 2002 and $17 million over a period of 1999 to 
2008.
  This is a good bill, I commend its support to all of my colleagues, I 
support this legislation and urge its passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman 
from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
yielding me this time, and I thank the chairman of the subcommittee for 
introducing this bill and want to join with him in strong support of 
this legislation which indeed removes deceased persons from the rolls 
and from receiving food stamps.
  The food stamp program is the Nation's best and strongest program for 
providing nutrition to American persons who need food. Certainly we 
should do everything to remove fraud from it. This is a common-sense 
measure. It is one I agree with the ranking member should have been 
done. I am delighted it is now being done. It is a step in the right 
direction. It will save moneys for food for the needy, those who need 
America's resources. It is indeed as a result of the 1996 welfare 
reform which gave the Agriculture Department the authority to move 
forward and I think they have moved in a number of ways. I want to say 
parenthetically having relationship with the States, showing that there 
is greater monitoring of the process, also there are greater penalties 
for failure to do that. So as this bill is introduced, there is the 
capacity for making sure that we have the penalties and the resources 
and technical assistance of coordinating with various States. More 
importantly, there is the mechanism that this particular bill gives for 
the coordination between the Social Security Administration and 
monitoring those persons who are deceased with the food stamp programs 
so there can be a collaboration of that information.
  I would say, also, the ability to now have food stamps electronically 
the way we transfer adds again to the efficiency for monitoring food 
stamps. All of these things combined, I think, adds to the efficiency 
and, therefore, for the greater utilization of American moneys and 
resources for those who need food.
  I join with my colleagues and urge all of us to support this 
worthwhile legislation.
  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill S. 
1733. I congratulate the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Department 
Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture for his hard work on 
this subject. He introduced a similar bill, H.R. 4366, and has held 
several hearings on the subject of the administration of the food stamp 
program.
  S. 1733 amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to provide for the sharing 
of death and other information between state food stamp agencies and 
the Social Security Administration. The purpose is to ensure that food 
stamp benefits are not issued for deceased individuals. Each state is 
required to establish a cooperative relationship with the Social 
Security Administration to obtain information on deceased individuals 
and then use that information to make sure food stamp benefits are not 
issued on their behalf.
  Additionally, the Secretary of Agriculture is required to study 
options for design of a system to track participation in Federal means-
tested programs to ensure, among other things, that people do not 
receive food stamp benefits in more than one state at a time.
  The General Accounting Office has conducted several reviews of the 
operation of the food stamp program and most recently identified areas 
in which computer matching can reduce fraud and abuse in that program. 
In a February 1998 report, the GAO identified nearly 26,000 deceased 
individuals in four states who were included in households improperly 
collected $8.5 million in benefits over a two-year period.
  In an August 1998 report, the GAO found that, in four widely 
separated states, over 20,000 individuals were identified who were 
potentially improperly included in food stamp households in at least 
two of the four states at the same time.
  Based on the identification of these problems by the GAO, S. 1733 was 
passed by the Senate and I urge my colleagues to support this bill
  Mr. Speaker, I want to include in the Record letters that have been 
exchanged between the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on 
Ways and Means. I appreciate the assistance of the Chairman and the 
Ranking Members of the Committee on Ways and Means and the Subcommittee 
on Social Security and I thank them for their cooperation.

                                     Committee on Agriculture,

                                 Washington, DC, October 10, 1998.
     Hon. Bill Archer,
     Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means,
     Longworth HOB, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing with regard to S. 1733, as 
     amended, a bill that amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to 
     provide for the sharing of death and other information 
     between State food stamp agencies and the Social Security 
     Administration for the purpose of ensuring that food stamp 
     benefits are not issued for deceased individuals. This bill 
     is similar to H.R. 4366 which was primarily referred to the 
     Committee on Agriculture and additionally to the Committee on 
     Ways and Means. Please find the enclosed copy of S. 1733. In 
     the event that the Senate passes S. 1733, I am requesting 
     that you waive your Committee's jurisdiction over S. 1733 in 
     order to allow the timely consideration by the entire House 
     of Representatives during the remaining period in the 105th 
     Congress.
       In the unlikely event that this bill or a similar measure 
     should go to conference, I will support your Committee's 
     representation on the conference committee. I understand that 
     such an action is not intended to waive your Committee's 
     jurisdiction over this matter or any similar legislation.
       I thank you for your attention to this legislation.
           Sincerely,
                                            Robert F. (Bob) Smith,
     Chairman.
                                  ____



                                  Committee on Ways and Means,

                                 Washington, DC, October 14, 1998.
     Hon. Robert F. Smith,
     Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, Longworth House Office 
         Building, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Bob: Thank you for your letter regarding S. 1733, a 
     bill to require the Commissioner of Social Security and food 
     stamp State agencies to take certain actions to ensure that 
     food stamp coupons are not issued for deceased individuals. 
     The bill contains provisions within the jurisdiction of the 
     Committee on Ways and Means similar to those in H.R. 4366, 
     which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture and in 
     addition to the Committee on Ways and Means.
       I understand that you will seek shortly to consider the 
     bill in the House under suspension of the rules following 
     passage by the Senate. Accordingly, in order to expedite 
     consideration of this noncontroversial legislation, I do not 
     believe that a markup by the Committee on Ways and Means will 
     be necessary. However, this is being done only with the 
     understanding that you will bring the bill to the House floor 
     for a vote under suspension of the rules, and that you have 
     agreed to accept no additional changes on matters of concern 
     to this Committee during further consideration of this 
     legislation. In addition, this action is being done with the 
     understanding that it does not in any way

[[Page H10937]]

     prejudice the Committee's jurisdictional prerogatives on 
     these measures or any other similar legislation, and it 
     should not be considered as precedent for consideration of 
     matters of jurisdictional interest to the Committee in the 
     future.
       Thank you again for your letter confirming this 
     understanding, and I would ask that a copy of our exchange of 
     letters on this matter be included in the Record during floor 
     consideration. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance 
     on this matter. With best personal regards, I am
           Sincerely,
                                                      Bill Archer,
                                                         Chairman.

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of S. 1733, 
which asks the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the states to 
work together to avoid waste in the administration of the Food Stamps 
program.
  This bill takes a common sense approach to a sizable problem. 
Recently the General Accounting Office (GAO) released a study that 
found that due to a lack of communication between the states and the 
SSA, over 26,000 dead people in four states, including my home state of 
Texas, were erroneously issued food stamps. The cost of that oversight 
to the Food Stamps Program totalled over $8.6 million--a sizable amount 
of money that could be better used elsewhere.
  The bill fixes this problem simply by requiring that the SSA and 
state agencies that help administrate the program, share information 
about the people that receive food stamp benefits. That information 
sharing should all but eliminate the erroneous issuance of food stamps 
to people that have deceased. In addition, the bill requires that the 
SSA submit reports to Congress on the progress that they have made on 
this issue, and on the savings that the bill produces.
  Food stamps area matter of life and death for many people throughout 
the United States, including children. As the Founder and chair of the 
Congressional Childrens Caucus, I know that food stamps are often the 
lifeline for families that are trying to stay afloat in an turbulent 
and difficult economy. Many of those families reside in my district and 
in the State of Texas, where a study a few years ago concluded that 
Food Stamps and Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) 
contribute over $675 million to the local economy.
  We must do what we can to improve this important and vital program, 
and I believe that this bill is a step in the right direction. 
Furthermore, I look forward to working with all of you next year to 
make sure that the savings we have realized from this bill are funneled 
back into the Food Stamps program.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, and to work with me 
in supporting food Stamps every year.
  Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 1733.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule I and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________