II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 181 

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to preserve and protect Social 

Security benefits of American workers and to help ensure greater congressional oversight of the Social Security system by requiring that 

both Houses of Congress approve a totalization agreement before the 

agreement, giving foreign workers Social Security benefits, can go into 

effect. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 2011 

Mr. ENSIGN (for himself, Mr. BURR, Mr. ENZI, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. ROBERTS, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend title II of the Social Security Act to preserve 

and protect Social Security benefits of American workers 

and to help ensure greater congressional oversight of 

the Social Security system by requiring that both Houses 

of Congress approve a totalization agreement before the 

agreement, giving foreign workers Social Security benefits, can go into effect. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Total3 ization Agreement Reform Act of 2011’’ or the ‘‘STAR 

4 Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL AND APPROVAL OF TOTALIZATION 

6 AGREEMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 233(e) of the Social Secu8 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 433(e)) is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(e)(1) Any agreement to establish a totalization ar10 rangement which is entered into with another country 

11 under this section shall enter into force with respect to 

12 the United States if (and only if)— 

13 ‘‘(A) the President, at least 90 calendar days 

14 before the date on which the President enters into 

15 the agreement, notifies each House of Congress of 

16 the President’s intention to enter into the agree17 ment, and promptly thereafter publishes notice of 

18 such intention in the Federal Register, 

19 ‘‘(B) the President transmits the text of such 

20 agreement to each House of Congress as provided in 

21 paragraph (2), and 

22 ‘‘(C) an approval resolution regarding such 

23 agreement has passed both Houses of Congress and 

24 has been enacted into law. 

25 ‘‘(2)(A) Whenever an agreement referred to in para26 graph (1) is entered into, the President shall transmit to 


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1 each House of Congress a document setting forth the final 

2 legal text of such agreement and including a report by the 

3 President in support of such agreement. The President’s 

4 report shall include the following: 

5 ‘‘(i) An estimate by the Chief Actuary of the 

6 Social Security Administration of the effect of the 

7 agreement, in the short term and in the long term, 

8 on the receipts and disbursements under the Social 

9 Security system established by this title. 

10 ‘‘(ii) A statement of any administrative action 

11 proposed to implement the agreement and how such 

12 action will change or affect existing law. 

13 ‘‘(iii) A statement describing whether and how 

14 the agreement changes provisions of an agreement 

15 previously negotiated. 

16 ‘‘(iv) A statement describing how and to what 

17 extent the agreement makes progress in achieving 

18 the purposes, policies, and objectives of this title. 

19 ‘‘(v) An estimate by the Chief Actuary of the 

20 Social Security Administration, working in consulta21 tion with the Comptroller General of the United 

22 States, of the number of individuals who may be23 come eligible for any benefits under this title or who 

24 may otherwise be affected by the agreement. 


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1 ‘‘(vi) An assessment of the integrity of the re2 tirement data and records (including birth, death, 

3 and marriage records) of the other country that is 

4 the subject of the agreement. 

5 ‘‘(vii) An assessment of the ability of such 

6 country to track and monitor recipients of benefits 

7 under such agreement. 

8 ‘‘(B) If any separate agreement or other under9 standing with another country (whether oral or in writing) 

10 relating to an agreement to establish a totalization ar11 rangement under this section is not disclosed to Congress 

12 in the transmittal to Congress under this paragraph of 

13 the agreement to establish a totalization arrangement, 

14 then such separate agreement or understanding shall not 

15 be considered to be part of the agreement approved by 

16 Congress under this section and shall have no force and 

17 effect under United States law. 

18 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘ap19 proval resolution’ means a joint resolution, the matter 

20 after the resolving clause of which is as follows: ‘That the 

21 proposed agreement entered into pursuant to section 233 

22 of the Social Security Act between the United States and 

23 lllllll establishing totalization arrangements 

24 between the Social Security system established by title II 

25 of such Act and the Social Security system of 


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1 lllllll, transmitted to Congress by the Presi2 dent on llllll, is hereby approved.’, the first two 

3 blanks therein being filled with the name of the country 

4 with which the United States entered into the agreement, 

5 and the third blank therein being filled with the date of 

6 the transmittal of the agreement to Congress. 

7 ‘‘(4) Whenever a document setting forth an agree8 ment entered into under this section and the President’s 

9 report in support of the agreement is transmitted to Con10 gress pursuant to paragraph (2), copies of such document 

11 shall be delivered to both Houses of Congress on the same 

12 day and shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of 

13 Representatives if the House is not in session and to the 

14 Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is not in session. 

15 ‘‘(5) On the day on which a document setting forth 

16 the agreement is transmitted to the House of Representa17 tives and the Senate pursuant to paragraph (1), an ap18 proval resolution with respect to such agreement shall be 

19 introduced (by request) in the House by the majority lead20 er of the House, for himself or herself and the minority 

21 leader of the House, or by Members of the House des22 ignated by the majority leader and minority leader of the 

23 House; and shall be introduced (by request) in the Senate 

24 by the majority leader of the Senate, for himself or herself 

25 and the minority leader of the Senate, or by Members of 


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1 the Senate designated by the majority leader and minority 

2 leader of the Senate. If either House is not in session on 

3 the day on which such an agreement is transmitted, the 

4 approval resolution with respect to such agreement shall 

5 be introduced in that House, as provided in the preceding 

6 sentence, on the first day thereafter on which that House 

7 is in session. The resolution introduced in the House of 

8 Representatives shall be referred to the Committee on 

9 Ways and Means and the resolution introduced in the Sen10 ate shall be referred to the Committee on Finance.’’. 

11 (b) ADDITIONAL REPORTS AND EVALUATIONS.—Sec12 tion 233 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 433) is 

13 amended by adding at the end the following new sub14 sections: 

15 ‘‘(f) BIENNIAL SSA REPORT ON IMPACT OF TOTAL16 IZATION AGREEMENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) REPORT.—For any totalization agreement 

18 transmitted to Congress on or after January 1, 

19 2011, the Commissioner of Social Security shall sub20 mit a report to Congress and the Comptroller Gen21 eral that— 

22 ‘‘(A) compares the estimates contained in 

23 the report submitted to Congress under clauses 

24 (i) and (v) of subsection (e)(2)(A) with respect 

25 to that agreement with the actual number of inVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:14 Feb 01, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181

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1 dividuals affected by the agreement and the ac2 tual effect of the agreement on Social Security 

3 system receipts and disbursements; and 

4 ‘‘(B) contains recommendations for adjust5 ing the methods used to make the estimates. 

6 ‘‘(2) DATES FOR SUBMISSION.—The report re7 quired under this subsection shall be provided not 

8 later than 2 years after the effective date of the to9 talization agreement that is the subject of the report 

10 and biennially thereafter. 

11 ‘‘(g) GAO EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 

12 ‘‘(1) EVALUATION OF INITIAL REPORT ON IM13 PACT OF TOTALIZATION AGREEMENTS.—With re14 spect to each initial report regarding a totalization 

15 agreement submitted under subsection (f), the 

16 Comptroller General of the United States shall con17 duct an evaluation of the report that includes— 

18 ‘‘(A) an evaluation of the procedures used 

19 for making the estimates required by subsection 

20 (e)(2)(A); 

21 ‘‘(B) an evaluation of the procedures used 

22 for determining the actual number of individ23 uals affected by the agreement and the effects 

24 of the totalization agreement on receipts and 


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1 disbursements under the Social Security sys2 tem; and 

3 ‘‘(C) such recommendations as the Comp4 troller General determines appropriate. 

5 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

6 date of submission of an initial report regarding a 

7 totalization agreement under subsection (f), the 

8 Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a re9 port setting forth the results of the evaluation con10 ducted under paragraph (1). 

11 ‘‘(3) DATA COLLECTION.—The Commissioner of 

12 Social Security shall collect and maintain the data 

13 necessary for the Comptroller General of the United 

14 States to conduct the evaluation required by para15 graph (1).’’. 

16 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 this section shall apply with respect to agreements estab18 lishing totalization arrangements entered into under sec19 tion 233 of the Social Security Act which are transmitted 

20 to Congress on or after January 1, 2011. 

Æ 


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