[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 48 (Thursday, April 11, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY INSURANCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS DOUBLE 
                      DIP ELIMINATION ACT OF 2013

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                            HON. SAM JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 11, 2013

  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, for more than 50 years the 
Social Security Disability Insurance program has provided a vital 
safety net for workers who have worked long enough and recently enough 
and who meet the definition of disability.
   Unemployment benefits, through the Federal-State Unemployment 
Insurance program and Trade Adjustment Assistance, are available for 
those workers who have lost a job and are looking for a new one. These 
workers know they can work and these important benefits are there to 
help them through a tough time.
   Now here's the rub. Even though disability benefits are for those 
who can't work and unemployment benefits are for those who can work if 
they could find a job, under current law someone can receive both 
benefits at the same time. That just doesn't make sense.
   A July 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, 
Overlapping Disability and Unemployment Benefits Should be Evaluated 
for Potential Savings, highlighted this double dip situation. In fiscal 
year 2010, at least 117,000 individuals received both disability 
insurance and unemployment insurance, representing less than 1 percent 
of total beneficiaries of both programs. The overlapping cash benefits 
paid to these individuals totaled over $281 million from disability 
insurance and more than $575 million from the unemployment insurance 
program in that year. By paying cash benefits through both programs, 
these workers are being paid twice.
   That's why I am introducing the Social Security Disability Insurance 
and Unemployment Benefits Double Dip Elimination Act of 2013, which 
ends this double dipping and preserves Social Security benefits for 
only those who truly cannot work. Starting next year, those applying 
for disability benefits won't be eligible to receive these benefits in 
any month they are also receiving unemployment benefits. And for those 
workers who are already on the rolls, receiving unemployment benefits 
will count towards the maximum number of months they may try work 
without impacting their benefits.
   President Obama agrees and in his budget, he included his own 
proposal to stop the double dipping. When we agree, we should act.
   I urge my colleagues to sponsor this common sense legislation.

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