Social Security Benefits Protection and Restoration Act of 1997

Summary: Social Security Benefits Protection and Restoration Act of 1997 - Directs the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of the Treasury to:  (1) study jointly and report to the Congress on the inability of the Social Security Administration to provide American workers with their full social security benefits because of insufficient information necessary to identify account earnings information correctly for such workers at the Administration; (2) take appropriate remedial measures, including devising and implementing a procedure for eliminating backlogged uncredited earnings filed with the Administration.  Requires a progress report to the Congress on implementation of such measures, along with any recommendations for appropriate legislative action.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Benefits Protection 
and Restoration Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Initial Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Over the last 5 decades, billions of dollars in social 
        security taxes have been paid by American workers but have not 
        been credited to their social security earnings records. When 
        the Social Security Administration is not able to match 
        information on annual earnings reports to existing workers' 
        earnings records, the amount of such earnings reported are 
        credited by the Administration in a ``suspense file'' of 
        uncredited earnings.
            (2) Largely due to the inflexible matching policy of the 
        Social Security Administration and an unacceptable number of 
        errors made by employers on annual earnings reports submitted 
        to the Administration, the suspense file has accumulated 
        approximately 200,000,000 individual earnings reports totaling 
        approximately $200,000,000,000 in earnings. These numbers 
        continue to grow.
            (3) Because earnings are used to determine an individual's 
        eligibility and benefit amount, uncredited earnings can affect 
        social security benefit payments. Current beneficiaries have 
        lost, and continue to lose, benefits because of the failure of 
        the Social Security Administration to correctly credit their 
        earnings. This has the practical effect of denying millions of 
        hard-working Americans up to hundreds of dollars on their 
        monthly retirement or disability benefits.
    (b) Further Findings.--The Congress further finds the following:
            (1) Current and future retirees should receive the full 
        social security benefits to which they are entitled.
            (2) The impact of uncredited earnings on social security 
        beneficiaries has not been adequately determined. An 
        examination of the practical effects of uncredited earnings on 
        individuals' benefits should be conducted, in order that 
        beneficiaries who are due higher benefits or retroactive 
        payments can be compensated accordingly.
    (c) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that the 
Social Security Administration, together with the Secretary of the 
Treasury, will take prompt action to--
            (1) determine and implement an effective procedure to 
        reconcile the wage reports currently in the suspense file to 
        the rightful beneficiaries, and
            (2) put in place a system that will prevent further 
        mismatches.

SEC. 3. STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Commissioner of Social Security and the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall jointly undertake, as soon as 
practicable after the date of the enactment of this Act, a thorough 
study with respect to the inability of the Social Security 
Administration to provide for American workers their full social 
security benefits by reason of insufficiency of information held by the 
Administration necessary for correctly identifying accounts for the 
earnings of such workers.
    (b) Matters To Be Studied.--The Commissioner and the Secretary, in 
their study under this section, shall address, analyze, and report 
specifically on the following matters:
            (1) the extent of, and the reasons for, the inability of 
        the Social Security Administration to maintain accurate and 
        current records of every worker's annual earnings sufficient 
        for determining eligibility for, and the correct amount of, 
        monthly insurance benefits under title II of the Social 
        Security Act,
            (2) proposals for an effective procedure for eliminating 
        the current backlog of uncredited earnings in the suspense file 
        maintained by the Social Security Administration,
            (3) proposals for an effective procedure for resolving new 
        discrepancies which would result in new uncredited earnings, 
        and
            (4) any additional resources which the Social Security 
        Administration would require to carry out effective procedures 
        described in paragraphs (2) and (3).

SEC. 4. REMEDIAL MEASURES.

    Pursuant to the study carried out under section 3, the Commissioner 
of Social Security and the Secretary of the Treasury shall promptly--
            (1) devise and implement a procedure for eliminating, in 
        accordance with an established time-phased schedule, the 
        backlog of uncredited earnings currently contained in the 
        suspense file maintained by the Administration, and
            (2) devise and implement a procedure for resolving new 
        discrepancies which would prevent the addition of future 
        uncredited earnings in the suspense file.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    The Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, not 
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, a 
report of the findings of the study conducted under section 3 and the 
progress made in meeting the requirements of section 4. Such report 
shall include any recommendations for further legislative action the 
Commissioner and the Secretary consider appropriate.