[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 10 (Thursday, February 3, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S981-S982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DeMINT:
  S. 274. A bill to amend title XI of the Social Security Act to 
include additional information in Social Security account statements; 
to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, in 1999, the Social Security 
Administration began mailing the new Your Social Security Statement to 
all Americans over the age of 25 but not retired.
  These statements include an accounting of Social Security taxes the 
individual worker has paid to date, the worker's eligibility status for 
benefits, and an estimate of the benefits the worker could receive.
  For most Americans, this personal statement will be the sole source 
of official information on Social Security; yet it downplays or omits 
important information about the program.
  The bill I am introducing today is called the Social Security Right 
to Know Act and would correct this problem at no cost by simply 
changing the statement to include information available in official 
reports.
  The improved statement would inform workers, using information in the 
Social Security Trustees' Report, that the taxes paid into the program 
may not be sufficient to fund all of their benefits in retirement.
  It would also inform workers, using information from the Office of 
Management and Budget, that the Social Security Trust Fund does not 
consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to 
fund benefits.
  The new statement would inform workers that they pay 6.2 percent of 
their earnings and their employer pays 6.2 percent on their behalf, for 
a total Social Security payroll tax of 12.4 percent.
  It would also illustrate and explain to workers using information 
from the Government Accounting Office that while Social Security has 
performed well in the past, its average rate of return is expected to 
decline in the future.
  While we may not agree on specific changes to Social Security, we 
should all agree that Americans have a right to know the true financial 
status of the program and how it will affect their retirement.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 274

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Right to 
     Know Act''.

     SEC. 2. MATERIAL TO BE INCLUDED IN SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT 
                   STATEMENT.

       Section 1143(a)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     1320b-13(a)(2)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (D) by striking ``and'';
       (2) in subparagraph (E) by striking the period and 
     inserting a semicolon; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(F) a statement of the current social security tax rates 
     applicable with respect to wages and self-employment income, 
     including an indication of the combined total of such rates 
     of employee and employer taxes with respect to wages; and
       ``(G)(i) as determined by the Chief Actuary of the Social 
     Security Administration, a comparison of the total annual 
     amount of social security tax inflows (including amounts 
     appropriated under subsections (a) and (b) of section 201 of 
     this Act and section 121(e) of the Social Security Amendments 
     of 1983 (26 U.S.C. 401 note)) during the preceding calendar 
     year to the total annual amount paid in benefits during such 
     calendar year;
       ``(ii) as determined by such Chief Actuary--
       ``(I) a statement of whether the ratio of the inflows 
     described in clause (i) for future calendar years to amounts 
     paid for such calendar years is expected to result in a cash 
     flow deficit,
       ``(II) the calendar year that is expected to be the year in 
     which any such deficit will commence, and
       ``(III) the first calendar year in which funds in the 
     Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the 
     Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund will cease to be 
     sufficient to cover any such deficit;
       ``(iii) an explanation that states in substance--
       ``(I) that the Trust Fund balances reflect resources 
     authorized by the Congress to pay future benefits, but they 
     do not consist of real economic assets that can be used in 
     the future to fund benefits, and that such balances are 
     claims against the United States Treasury that, when 
     redeemed, must be financed through increased taxes, public 
     borrowing, benefit reduction, or elimination of other Federal 
     expenditures,
       ``(II) that such benefits are established and maintained 
     only to the extent the laws enacted by the Congress to govern 
     such benefits so provide, and
       ``(III) that, under current law, inflows to the Trust Funds 
     are at levels inadequate to ensure indefinitely the payment 
     of benefits in full; and
       ``(iv) in simple and easily understood terms--
       ``(I) a representation of the rate of return that an 
     average taxpayer retiring at retirement age (as defined in 
     section 216(l)) credited each year with average wages and 
     self-employment income would receive on old-age insurance 
     benefits as compared to the total amount of employer, 
     employee, and self-employment contributions of such a 
     taxpayer, as determined by such Chief Actuary for each cohort 
     of workers born in each year beginning with 1925, which shall 
     be set out in chart or graph form with an explanatory caption 
     or legend, and
       ``(II) an explanation for the occurrence of past changes in 
     such rate of return and for the possible occurrence of future 
     changes in such rate of return.

     The Comptroller General of the United States shall consult 
     with the Chief Actuary

[[Page S982]]

     to the extent the Chief Actuary determines necessary to meet 
     the requirements of subparagraph (G).''.
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