I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4274
To require the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of the
Treasury to develop and implement measures to eliminate and prevent
mismatching of earnings information maintained by the Social Security
Administration and the Internal Revenue Service resulting in underpay-
ment of social security benefits.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 28, 1996
Mr. BROWN of California (for himself, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. DEL-
LUMS, Mr. MILLER of California, and Mr. EVANS) introduced the follow-
ing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To require the Commissioner of Social Security and the
Secretary of the Treasury to develop and implement
measures to eliminate and prevent mismatching of earn-
ings information maintained by the Social Security Ad-
ministration and the Internal Revenue Service resulting
in underpayment of social security benefits.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) INITIAL FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the fol-
lowing:
(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 se-
curity earnings records. When the Social Security
Administration is not able to match information on
annual earnings reports to existing workers’ earn-
ings 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 pol-
icy of the Social Security Administration and an un-
acceptable number of errors made by employers on
annual earnings reports submitted to the Adminis-
tration, the suspense file has accumulated approxi-
mately 200,000,000 individual earnings reports to-
taling 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 con-
tinue to lose, benefits because of the failure of the
Social Security Administration to correctly credit
their earnings. This has the practical effect of deny-
ing millions of hard-working Americans up to hun-
dreds of dollars on their monthly retirement or dis-
ability 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 en-
titled.
(2) The impact of uncredited earnings on social
security beneficiaries has not been adequately deter-
mined. 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 com-
pensated 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 proce-
dure to reconcile the wage reports currently in the
suspense file to the rightful beneficiaries, and
(2) put in place a system that will prevent fur-
ther mismatches.
SEC. 2. STUDY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner of Social Secu-
rity and the Secretary of the Treasury shall jointly under-
take, as soon as practicable after the date of the enact-
ment 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 Adminis-
tration 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 in-
ability 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 in-
surance benefits under title II of the Social Security
Act,
(2) proposals for an effective procedure for
eliminating the current backlog of uncredited earn-
ings in the suspense file maintained by the Social
Security Administration,
(3) proposals for an effective procedure for re-
solving 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. 3. REMEDIAL MEASURES.
Pursuant to the study carried out under section 2,
the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of
the Treasury shall promptly—
(1) devise and implement a procedure for elimi-
nating, 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 re-
solving new discrepancies which would prevent the
addition of future uncredited earnings in the sus-
pense file.
SEC. 4. REPORT.
The Commissioner of Social Security and the Sec-
retary 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