    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [February 25, 1997]
    [Pages 204-205]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Congress Transmitting the United Kingdom-United States
    Supplementary Social Security Agreement
    February 25, 1997

    To the Congress of the United States:
        Pursuant to section 233(e)(1) of the Social Security Act, as amended
    by the Social Security Amendments of 1977 (Public Law 95-216, 42 U.S.C.
    433(e)(1)), I transmit herewith the Supplementary Agreement Amending the
    Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the
    Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
    on Social Security (the Supplementary Agreement), which consists of two
    separate instruments: a principal agreement and an administrative
    arrangement. The Supplementary Agreement, signed at London on June 6,
    1996, is intended to modify certain provisions of the original United
    States-United Kingdom Social Security Agreement signed at London
    February 13, 1984.

    [[Page 205]]

        The United States-United Kingdom Social Security Agreement is
    similar in objective to the social security agreements with Austria,
    Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
    Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and
    Switzerland. Such bilateral agreements provide for limited coordination
    between the U.S. and foreign social security systems to eliminate dual
    social security coverage and taxation, and to help prevent the loss of
    benefit protection that can occur when workers divide their careers
    between two countries.
        The Supplementary Agreement, which would amend the 1984 Agreement to
    update and clarify several of its provisions, is necessitated by changes
    that have occurred in U.S. and English law in recent years. Among other
    things, the Supplementary Agreement removes certain restrictions in the
    original agreement concerning payment of UK disability benefits to
    residents of the United States. The Supplementary Agreement will also
    make a number of minor revisions in the Agreement to take account of
    other changes in U.S. and English law that have occurred in recent
    years.
        The United States-United Kingdom Social Security Agreement, as
    amended, would continue to contain all provisions mandated by section
    233 and other provisions that I deem appropriate to carry out the
    provisions of section 233, pursuant to section 233(c)(4) of the Act.
        I also transmit for the information of the Congress a report
    prepared by the Social Security Administration explaining the key points
    of the Supplementary Agreement, along with a paragraph-by-paragraph
    explanation of the effect of the amendments on the principal agreement
    and the related administrative arrangement. Annexed to this report is
    the report required by section 233(e)(1) of the Act on the effect of the
    Agreement, as amended, on income and expenditures of the U.S. Social
    Security program and the number of individuals affected by the amended
    Agreement. The Department of State and the Social Security
    Administration have recommended the Supplementary Agreement and related
    documents to me.
        I commend the United States-United Kingdom Supplementary Social
    Security Agreement and related documents.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,

    February 25, 1997.