[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 7, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E154-E155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




STRENGTHENING PROTECTIONS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFICIARIES ACT OF 2018

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 5, 2018

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I strongly commend 
Ranking Member Larson and Chairman Johnson on their bipartisan bill to 
dramatically improve the Social Security Representative Payee program. 
We have a responsibility to ensure that this system is strong and fair 
to protect our vulnerable citizens. In addition to the multiple 
improvements in oversight and quality, I want to thank Representatives 
Larson and Johnson for including provisions to improve the Rep Payee 
program for foster youth for which I advocated.
  Currently, when foster youth receive Social Security benefits because 
they are disabled or their parent is deceased, disabled, or retired, it 
is common practice for State child welfare agencies to take the 
children's benefits for state revenue rather than preserving these 
funds for the youth' s current or future needs. We have very poor 
understanding of who serves as representative payees for foster youth 
and whether they conserve the funds for these youth. This bill requires 
long-overdue data coordination between the Social Security 
Administration and state foster care programs. Requiring this data 
coordination is critical to ensuring that we know who is serving in the 
important fiduciary role for foster youth. Right now, we have no clear 
understanding of the number of foster youth with representative payees, 
whether those payees are state agencies or family members, and whether 
the funds are conserved for foster youth or used to plug holes in state 
budgets.
  Just last month, the Social Security Advisory Board recommended 
improving the Representative Payee Program related to foster youth. The 
Board pointed out that state foster care agencies routinely are 
assigned automatically as the payee without any analysis if there is a 
better choice available. The Board highlighted that there can be an 
inherent conflict of interest in designating a state entity as payee 
given that the interests of foster care programs may conflict with the 
interests of the foster youth. The data required by this bill will help 
Social Security better focus on payee determination for foster youth to 
ensure that the payee will act in the best interest of the child. 
Further, it will provide data to help us understand how often state 
agencies are serving in this capacity and how they are using these 
funds. To advance this understanding, the bill requires a GAO study on 
minor beneficiaries in foster care and their representative payees.
  In addition, this bill protects foster youth from overpayment errors 
made by the state. Under current law, if an overpayment occurs and the 
state foster care agency is the beneficiary, the foster youth is 
responsible for repaying the overpayment. This bill includes a 
protection so that if a state agency is the representative payee and an 
overpayment is made, the state and not the foster youth is responsible 
for the overpayment the state received.
  These improvements are critical to improving the representative payee 
program for vulnerable foster youth. I am grateful to Ranking Member 
Larson  and Chairman Johnson for working to strengthen the 
Representative Payee program to protect vulnerable citizens and for 
including these significant protections and transparency provisions to 
support foster youth.

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