I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 930

To modify the annual reporting requirements of the Social Security Act,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 7, 2001

Mr. SUNUNU (for himself, Mr. WELLER, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. BARTLETT of

Maryland, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. SHADEGG,

Mr. OSE, Mr. BASS, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr.

CANNON, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. COX, Mr.

SOUDER, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. OTTER, Mr. KIRK, and Ms. HART) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and

Means

A BILL

To modify the annual reporting requirements of the Social

Security Act, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Right

5 To Know Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. MATERIAL TO BE INCLUDED IN ANNUAL REPORT

2 OF TRUSTEES.

3 Section 201(c) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

4 401(c)) is amended—

5 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through

6 (5) as subparagraphs (A) through (E), respectively;

7 (2) by striking ‘‘under paragraph (2)’’ and in8 serting ‘‘under subparagraph (B)’’;

9 (3) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(c)’’;

10 (4) by redesignating the undesignated text fol11 lowing subparagraph (E) (as redesignated by para12 graph (1) of this section) as paragraph (2);

13 (5) by moving the last sentence of paragraph

14 (2) (as redesignated by paragraph (4) of this sec15 tion) so that it follows the fifth sentence of para16 graph (1) (as redesignated by paragraph (3) of this

17 section);

18 (6)(A) by moving the text of the fifth sentence

19 of paragraph (2) (as redesignated by paragraph (4)

20 of this section) beginning with ‘‘shall be printed’’

21 and ending with ‘‘report is made’’ so that it follows

22 ‘‘above’’ in the first sentence of paragraph (2) (as

23 redesignated by paragraph (4) of this section);

24 (B) by striking the remainder of the fifth sen25 tence of paragraph (2) (as redesignated by para26 graph (4) of this section); and
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1 (C) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the text so moved;

2 (7) in the fourth sentence of paragraph (2) (as

3 redesignated by paragraph (4) of this section), by

4 striking ‘‘Such report shall also include an’’ and in5 serting the following:

6 ‘‘(C) An’’;

7 (8) in the third sentence of paragraph (2) (as

8 redesignated by paragraph (4) of this section), by

9 striking ‘‘Such report shall include an’’ and inserting

10 the following:

11 ‘‘(B) An’’;

12 (9) in the first sentence of paragraph (2) (as

13 redesignated by paragraph (4) of this section)—

14 (A) by striking ‘‘(2) above’’ after ‘‘para15 graph’’ and inserting ‘‘(1)(B)’’; and

16 (B) by striking ‘‘shall include a statement’’

17 and inserting ‘‘shall include the following:

18 ‘‘(A) A statement’’;

19 (10) by inserting after subparagraph (C) (as re20 designated by paragraph (7) of this section) the fol21 lowing:

22 ‘‘(D) A statement, in terms of inflation-ad23 justed dollars, present discounted value, and nominal

24 dollars, of—
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1 ‘‘(i) the aggregate amount of the unfunded

2 long-term projected liability of the social secu3 rity system and any change in that amount

4 from the preceding year; and

5 ‘‘(ii) the amount of deficit or surplus that

6 the social security system will run in the last

7 year of such long-term projection period, with

8 any aggregate assets or liabilities held by the

9 Trust Funds in that final projected year.

10 ‘‘(E) The economic model and relevant data

11 used to make the financial projections required to be

12 reported under this paragraph, including any

13 changes in the model and data from the preceding

14 year.

15 ‘‘(F) A conspicuous summary of the items re16 quired by clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (D),

17 in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars.

18 ‘‘(G) An explanation that states in substance

19 that the Trust Funds balances reflect resources au20 thorized by Congress to pay future social security

21 benefits, but do not consist of real economic assets

22 that can be used in the future to fund benefits, and

23 that such balances are claims against the United

24 States Treasury that, when redeemed, must be fi25 nanced through increased taxes, public borrowing,
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1 benefit reduction, or elimination of other Federal ex2 penditures.’’.

3 SEC. 3. MATERIAL TO BE INCLUDED IN SOCIAL SECURITY

4 ACCOUNT STATEMENT.

5 Section 1143(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

6 1320b–13(a)) is amended—

7 (1) in paragraph (2)(C) by striking ‘‘and’’;

8 (2) in paragraph (2)(D) by striking the period

9 and inserting ‘‘; and’’;

10 (3) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the

11 following new subparagraph:

12 ‘‘(E)(i) as determined by the Chief Actuary of

13 the Social Security Administration—

14 ‘‘(I) a comparison of the annual social se15 curity tax inflows (including amounts appro16 priated under subsections (a) and (b) of section

17 201 of this Act and section 121(e) of the Social

18 Security Amendments of 1983 (26 U.S.C. 401

19 note)) to the amount paid in benefits annually;

20 and

21 ‘‘(II) a statement whether the ratio de22 scribed in subclause (I) will result in a cash

23 flow deficit and what year any such deficit will

24 commence, as well as the first year in which

25 funds in the Federal Old-Age and Survivors In-
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1 surance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability

2 Insurance Trust Fund will cease to be sufficient

3 to cover any such deficit and the percentage of

4 benefits due at that time that could be paid

5 from the annual social security tax inflows (as

6 that term is used in subclause (I));

7 ‘‘(ii) the explanation required by section

8 201(c)(2)(G); and

9 ‘‘(iii) an explanation, in simple and easily un10 derstood terms, of the average rate of return that a

11 taxpayer can expect to receive on old-age insurance

12 benefits as compared to the total amount of social

13 security taxes a taxpayer expects to pay, including

14 the inflation-adjusted average rate of return for

15 workers born in every year beginning with 1900, set

16 out in chart or graph form, with an explanatory cap17 tion or legend, as determined by the Chief Actuary

18 of the Social Security Administration.’’.

19 SEC. 4. USE OF CONTINUOUS WORK HISTORY SAMPLE FOR

20 STATISTICAL RESEARCH.

21 (a) DATA TO BE MADE AVAILABLE.—Notwith22 standing any other provision of law, the Social Security

23 Administration shall make available to the public the Con24 tinuous Work History Sample (referred to in this section

25 as the ‘‘CWHS’’) data administered by such Administra-
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1 tion subject to the restrictions provided for in subsections

2 (b) and (c).

3 (b) LIMITATIONS ON RELEASE OF DATA.—The Of4 fice of Research and Statistics of the Social Security Ad5 ministration shall make statistical samples of individual

6 records from the CWHS available to a user if the user—

7 (1) agrees to make use of the data from the

8 CWHS solely for the purpose of conducting statis9 tical research activities;

10 (2) agrees in writing to such conditions as may

11 be reasonably determined by the Commissioner of

12 the Social Security Administration to be necessary

13 to ensure that data from the CWHS is not made

14 available in individually identifiable form; and

15 (3) fully reimburses the Office of Research and

16 Statistics for the cost of supplying the data.

17 (c) NO PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA18 TION.—To protect privacy, the Office of Research and

19 Statistics of the Social Security Administration shall re20 move all identifiers which can link CWHS records to the

21 identity of an individual respondent prior to the release

22 of the data.

23 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section—

24 (1) the term ‘‘Continuous Work History Sam25 ple’’ means the statistical sample of individual ad-
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1 ministrative records held by the Social Security Ad2 ministration; and

3 (2) the term ‘‘user’’ means any individual or

4 legal entity, including an employee of the Federal

5 Government, who receives access to the Continuous

6 Work History Sample.

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