Social Security Administration: Procedures for Issuing Numbers and Benefits to the Foreign-Born
Published: 2006-03-02T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: In 2004, an estimated 35.7 million foreign-born people resided in the United States, and many legitimately have SSNs. Many of these individuals have Social Security numbers (SSNs) which can have a key role in verifying authorization to work in the United States. However, some foreign-born individuals have been given SSNs inappropriately. Recent legislation, aimed at protecting the SSN and preventing fraud and abuse, changes how the Social Security Administration (SSA) assigns numbers and awards benefits for foreign-born individuals. The chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security asked GAO to address two questions. First, how does SSA determine who is and is not eligible for an SSN? Second, how does SSA determine who is and is not eligible for Social Security benefits?
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: SSA determines who is eligible for an SSN by verifying certain immigration documents and determining if an individual's card requires a work restriction. Some foreign-born individuals are eligible for one of three kinds of Social Security cards depending in part on their immigration status: (1) regular cards, (2) those valid for work only with authorization from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and (3) those that are not valid for work--non-work cards. As of 2003 SSA had issued slightly more than 7 million non-work cards to people who need them to receive benefits for which they were otherwise entitled. Both SSA's Inspector General and GAO have identified weaknesses in SSA procedures for assigning SSNs and issuing cards, also known as enumeration. For example, working undercover and posing as parents of newborns, GAO investigators were able to obtain Social Security cards by using counterfeit documents. Congress has enacted recent legislation strengthening the SSN enumeration process and documentation requirements. SSA is implementing the law and is improving document verification and now requires third-party verification of noncitizen documents such as birth certificates and visual inspection of documents before issuing an SSN. SSA also continues to strengthen program integrity by, for example, restricting the number of replacement cards. Congress and SSA have also improved laws and procedures designed to strengthen program integrity in the payment of benefits to the foreign-born. Due to provisions of the Social Security Protection Act of 2004, some foreign-born individuals who were not authorized to work will no longer be eligible for benefits. To be entitled to benefits, the law requires noncitizens originally assigned an SSN after 2003 to have a work-authorized SSN. Amendments to the Social Security Act in 1996 require individuals to be lawfully present in the U.S. to receive Social Security benefits, though some noncitizens can receive benefits while living abroad, such as noncitizens who have worked in the U.S. and in a country with which the U.S. has a totalization agreement. SSA's totalization agreements coordinate taxation and public pension benefits. The agreements help eliminate dual taxation and Social Security coverage that multinational employers and employees encounter when workers temporarily reside in a foreign country with its own Social Security program. Successful implementation of these agreements requires the countries involved to carefully coordinate and verify data they exchange. Computer matches with foreign countries, for example, may help protect totalization programs from making payments to ineligible individuals. SSA is exploring options for undertaking such exchanges.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: I am pleased to be here today to discuss the Social Security  Administration’s (SSA) procedures for issuing Social Security numbers  (SSNs) and benefits to foreign-born individuals. In 2004, an estimated   35.7 million foreign-born people resided in the United States, and many  legitimately have SSNs. In light of concern that foreign-born individuals  may have been given SSNs inappropriately as well as recent legislation  that changes how SSA assigns numbers and awards benefits for foreign- born individuals, you asked us to address two questions. First, how does  SSA determine who is and is not eligible for an SSN? Second, how does  SSA determine who is and is not eligible to receive Social Security  benefits?
GAO has over the past few years studied several issues related to these  topics. For example, in 2003 we reported on SSA’s issuance of SSNs to  foreign-born noncitizens. In February of 2005, we reported on SSA’s  ability to develop and manage agreements with other nations to avoid  duplicating Social Security and other taxes and benefits for workers who  have been employed both in the U.S. and in another country, commonly  known as totalization agreements. In both reports GAO found that SSA  was undertaking improvements in its procedures for issuing SSNs and  benefits to the foreign-born, but that SSA nonetheless remained vulnerable  to errors and fraud. My remarks today are drawn from that past work,  updated for recent changes in law and SSA procedures. We conducted our  review in accordance with generally accepted government auditing  standards.
In summary, SSA determines who is eligible for an SSN by verifying  certain immigration documents and determining if an individual’s card  requires a work restriction. Some foreign-born individuals are eligible for  one of three kinds of Social Security cards depending in part on their  immigration status: (1) regular cards, (2) those valid for work only with  authorization from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and   (3) those that are not valid for work—nonwork cards. As of 2003 SSA had  issued slightly more than 7 million nonwork cards to people who needed  them to receive benefits for which they were otherwise entitled. Both  SSA’s Inspector General and GAO have identified weaknesses in SSA  procedures for assigning SSNs and issuing cards, also known as  enumeration. For example, working undercover and posing as parents of  newborns in 2003, GAO investigators were able to obtain Social Security  cards by using counterfeit documents. Congress has enacted recent  legislation strengthening the SSN enumeration process and documentation  requirements. SSA is implementing the law and is improving document  verification and now requires third-party verification of noncitizen  documents such as birth certificates and visual inspection of documents  before issuing an SSN. SSA also continues to strengthen program integrity  by, for example, restricting the number of replacement cards it issues.
Congress and SSA have also improved laws and procedures designed to  strengthen program integrity in the payment of benefits to the foreign- born. Due to provisions of the Social Security Protection Act of 2004, some  foreign-born individuals who were not authorized to work will no longer  be eligible for benefits. To be entitled to benefits, the law requires  noncitizens originally assigned an SSN after 2003 to have a work- authorized SSN. Amendments to the Social Security Act in 1996 require  individuals to be lawfully present in the U.S. to receive Social Security  benefits, though some noncitizens can receive benefits while living abroad,  such as noncitizens who have worked in the U.S. and in a country with  which the U.S. has a totalization agreement. SSA’s totalization agreements  coordinate taxation and public pension benefits. The agreements help  eliminate dual taxation and Social Security coverage that multinational  employers and employees encounter when workers temporarily reside in a  foreign country with its own Social Security program. Successful  implementation of these agreements requires the countries involved to  carefully coordinate and verify data they exchange. Computer matches  with foreign countries, for example, may help protect totalization  programs from making payments to ineligible individuals. SSA is exploring  options for undertaking such exchanges.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: Originally, SSNs were used to keep track of earnings, contributions, and  old-age, disability, and survivor benefits for people covered by the Social  Security program. Increasingly, however, SSNs have been used for a wide  variety of purposes by private firms and federal, state, and local  governments. Cases in which ineligible foreign-born individuals have  obtained or used SSNs to secure employment and receive Social Security  benefits, and increasing incidents of identity theft, have focused attention  on the need to prevent abuse of SSNs.
An estimated 96 percent of workers in the U.S., including many foreign- born citizens and noncitizens, are required to pay Social Security payroll  taxes, also called Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxes. When  workers pay Social Security taxes, they earn up to 4 coverage credits each  year.  Generally 40 credits—equal to at least 10 years of work—entitle  workers to Social Security benefits when they reach retirement age.  Social Security benefits are based on workers’ covered earnings during  their career. Different requirements apply in cases where workers become  disabled or die with relatively short work careers. Although the Social  Security Act provides that people meeting the work and contribution  requirements accrue benefits, the act also generally prohibits payment of  benefits to people who are not lawfully present in the U.S. as specified by  DHS regulations.
In fiscal year 2005, SSA assigned about 1.1 million original SSNs to  noncitizens, representing about one-fifth of the 5.4 million original SSNs  issued that year. Fewer than 15,000 of these were cards with “nonwork”  SSNs issued to noncitizens unauthorized to work in the U.S. under  immigration law. SSA also issues replacement cards to people who have  already been assigned SSNs, but have lost their card. In fiscal year 2005,  SSA issued over 800,000 such replacement cards to noncitizens, about   7 percent of the 12.1 million replacement cards issued that year.
subsections: section_title: Citizenship and Immigration Status
paragraphs: SSA uses different procedures for assigning SSNs depending on whether  individuals are born in the U.S. or are foreign-born and depending on their  citizenship or immigration status.
subsections: section_title: U.S. Citizens:
paragraphs: Almost all individuals born in the U.S. or in U.S. jurisdictions are U.S.  citizens at birth; however, some foreign-born individuals can also  become U.S. citizens if their adoptive or birth parents are U.S. citizens  or if they become naturalized citizens. Because foreign-born citizens  are eligible for the same types of SSNs and benefits as U.S.-born  citizens, we will focus for the remainder of this testimony on  noncitizens.
section_title: Noncitizens:
paragraphs: Immigrants are noncitizens who may lawfully reside and work  permanently in the U.S. About 600,000 to 1.1 million noncitizens come  to the US each year as immigrants.
Nonimmigrants include noncitizens who come to the U.S. lawfully (for  example, with temporary visas) and those who reside in the U.S.  unlawfully (in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act).  Nonimmigrants who remain in the U.S. without DHS authorization  overstay their nonimmigrant visas or enter the country illegally. As of  2004, an estimated 10.3 million unauthorized noncitizens lived in the  U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center’s analysis of March 2004  Current Population Survey and other Census data.
section_title: Responsibilities for Preventing Abuse of SSNs and Improper Social Security Payments
paragraphs: The State Department, DHS, SSA, and employers have responsibilities to  help ensure that noncitizens who are not authorized to work are denied  employment. The State Department identifies who among people abroad  seeking to come to the U.S. is eligible to enter the U.S. and who is eligible  to work in the U.S. DHS denies entry to people who are ineligible and  enforces immigration requirements in cases where people enter the U.S.  illegally or work without authorization. In cooperation with the State  Department and DHS, SSA assigns SSNs to eligible noncitizens. Employers  are required to inspect employees’ work authorization documents. A  regular Social Security card can be one of the key documents that  employers use to verify that employees are authorized to work. In some  cases, however it may be difficult to distinguish a regular card from a  nonwork card. Specifically, cards for individuals not eligible to work did  not contain the restriction “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT” until May  1982. Finally, the SSA ensures that benefit payments go only to people  who have earned them and who are lawfully present in the U.S. or in  another country with which the U.S. has an agreement for reciprocal cross  border payment of benefits.
section_title: Recent Legislation to Prevent Social Security Fraud and Abuse
paragraphs: The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA)  was enacted in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to  reform our nation’s intelligence community and strengthen terrorism  prevention and prosecution, border security, and international  cooperation and coordination. IRTPA included several specific provisions  for strengthening the SSN enumeration process and documentation  requirements for obtaining SSNs and cards. For example, the act required  minimum standards for birth certificates and directed the Department of  Health and Human Services to establish these standards in consultation  with DHS, SSA, and others. IRTPA also required that SSA limit the number  of replacement cards it issues annually; adopt measures to improve  verification of documents presented to obtain an original or replacement  Social Security card; independently verify any birth record presented to  obtain an SSN; prevent the assignment of SSNs to unnamed children and  adopt additional measures to prevent assignment of multiple SSNs to the  same child; form an interagency taskforce to establish standards to better  protect Social Security cards and SSNs from counterfeiting, tampering,  alteration, and theft; and provide for implementation of security  requirements by June 2006.
The Social Security Protection Act (SSPA) of 2004 imposed new  restrictions on the payment of Social Security benefits to noncitizens.  Before these provisions went into effect, all payments into the system  would count toward insured status, regardless of whether or not the  noncitizen was authorized to work by DHS. Under this new law,  noncitizens who apply for benefits with an SSN originally assigned after  2003 must have work authorization at the time their SSN is assigned or at  some later point before applying for benefits to gain insured status under  the Social Security program. If the individual never had authorization to  work in the United States, none of his or her earnings would count toward  insured status and neither the worker nor dependent family members  could receive Social Security benefits.
section_title: Totalization Agreements
paragraphs: SSA also has specific procedures to award benefits for foreign-born  workers who work in both the U.S. and in another country with which the  U.S. has a totalization agreement. These are bilateral agreements intended  to accomplish three purposes. First, they eliminate dual social security  coverage and taxes that multinational employers and employees  encounter when workers temporarily reside in a foreign country with its  own Social Security program. Under these agreements, U.S. employers and  their workers sent temporarily abroad benefit by paying only U.S. social  security taxes, and foreign businesses and their workers benefit by paying  only Social Security taxes to their home country. Second, the agreements  provide benefit protection to workers who have divided their careers  between the U.S. and a foreign country, but do not qualify for benefits  under one or both Social Security systems, despite paying taxes into both.  Totalization agreements allow such workers to combine (totalize) work  credits earned in both countries to meet minimum benefit qualification  requirements. Third, totalization agreements generally improve the  portability of Social Security benefits by authorizing the waiver of  residency requirements. The U.S. has totalization agreements in effect with  21 countries—several western European countries, and others including  Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Chile. (See table 4 in App. I for  a list of countries with which the U.S. has totalization agreements.)
section_title: Revised Enumeration Procedures for the Foreign-Born Are Expected to Reduce Potential for Abuse
paragraphs: In coordination with the State Department and DHS, SSA determines who  is eligible for an SSN by verifying certain immigration documents and  determining if an individual’s card requires a work restriction. Our 2003  report identified improvements SSA had made in its enumeration  processes, but also pointed to continued weaknesses, some of which SSA  and the Congress have since addressed.
subsections: section_title: Foreign-Born may be Eligible for One of Three Types of Social Security Cards
paragraphs: Under current law U.S. citizens are eligible for SSNs whether they were  born in the U.S. or elsewhere. Depending on their immigration status,  noncitizens may be eligible for one of three types of Social Security cards:  regular cards, those cards valid for work only with authorization from the  DHS, and nonwork SSN cards.  1.  Regular Social Security card: The first and most common type of  card is for individuals who are eligible to work. Individuals issued  these SSNs receive a Social Security card showing their name and SSN  without marked restriction. To be eligible for this card an individual  must be one of the following    U.S. citizen (whether foreign-born or not),   noncitizen lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence  (an immigrant),    noncitizen with permission from the DHS to work permanently in    member of a group eligible to work in the U.S. on a temporary basis  (e.g., with a work visa, certain authorized workers in an approved  exchange program).  2.  DHS-authorized work card: A much less common type of Social  Security card is issued to noncitizens who are eligible to work under  limited circumstances. They receive a card showing the inscription  “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION.” To be  eligible for these cards noncitizens must have DHS permission to work  temporarily in the U.S. SSA issues these cards to eligible workers, such  as certain foreign students and spouses and children of exchange  visitors.  3.  Nonwork card: The third type of card is for people not eligible to  work in the U.S. SSA sends recipients of these SSNs a card showing  their name, SSN, and the inscription “NOT VALID FOR  EMPLOYMENT.” To be issued these cards, noncitizens who are legally  in the U.S. and do not have DHS permission to work must have been  found eligible to receive a federally-funded benefit or are subject to a  state or local law that requires them to have an SSN to get public  benefits. Examples include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,  Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Survivor benefits,  Medicaid, and Food Stamps. As of 2003, SSA had issued a total of  slightly more than 7 million nonwork Social Security cards, but in  recent years SSA has greatly reduced the number it issues.
section_title: SSA Has Made Some Progress in Addressing Weaknesses in the Enumeration Process
paragraphs: Our 2003 report identified improvements SSA had made in its enumeration  processes, but also pointed to continued weaknesses, some of which SSA  and the Congress have since addressed. We found that SSA has over the  years improved document verifications and developed new initiatives to  prevent the inappropriate assignment of SSNs to noncitizens. For example,  SSA requires third-party verification of all noncitizen documents, such as a  birth certificate, with DHS and the State Department before issuing an  SSN. SSA also requires field staff to visually inspect documents before  issuing an SSN. However, many field staff we interviewed at that time  were relying heavily on DHS’s verification and neglecting SSA’s standard  inspection practices, even though both were required. We found that SSA’s  automated system for assigning SSNs was not designed to prevent issuing  SSNs if field staff bypass required verification steps. We also found that  SSA has undertaken new initiatives to shift the burden of processing  noncitizen SSN applications and verifying documents away from its field  offices. In late 2002, SSA began phasing in a new process for issuing SSNs  to noncitizens, called “Enumeration at Entry” (EAE). Through this  initiative, immigrants 18 and older can visit a State Department post  abroad to apply for an SSN at the same time they apply for a visa to come  to the U.S. The State Department and DHS authenticate the documents  and transmit them to SSA, which then issues the SSN. Also, SSA was  planning to expand the program over time to include other noncitizen  groups, such as students and exchange visitors. In addition, SSA  established a specialized center in Brooklyn, New York, which focuses  exclusively on enumeration and utilizes the expertise of DHS immigration  status verifiers and investigators from SSA’s Office of the Inspector  General. More recently, SSA established a similar center in Las Vegas,  Nevada.
At the time we did our field work for the 2003 report, SSA had not  tightened controls in two key areas of its enumeration process that could  be exploited by individuals seeking fraudulent SSNs: the assignment of  SSNs to children under age 1 and the replacement of Social Security cards.  SSA requires third-party verification of the birth records for U.S.-born  children age 1 and over, but calls only for a visual inspection of birth  documents for children under age 1. In our field work, we found that this  remains an area vulnerable to fraud. Working undercover and posing as  parents of newborns, our investigators were able to obtain two SSNs using  counterfeit documents. Since then the IRTPA was enacted and requires  SSA to independently verify any birth documents other than for purposes  of enumeration at birth.
Until the passage of the IRTPA, SSA’s policy allowed individuals to obtain  up to 52 replacement cards per year, leaving it vulnerable to misuse. While  SSA requires noncitizens applying for a replacement SSN card to provide  the same identity and immigration documents as if they were applying for  an original SSN, SSA’s requirements for citizens were much less stringent.  Individuals could obtain numerous replacement SSN cards with relatively  weak or counterfeit documentation for a wide range of illicit uses,  including selling them to noncitizens.
Our 2003 report contained six recommendations to SSA. As shown in table  1 below, SSA has implemented all, except one concerning enhancement of  its Modernized Enumeration System to prevent issuance of SSNs without  use of required verification procedures. In the interim, however, SSA now  requires staff to use a software tool that documents verification  procedures. Although SSA has implemented our recommendation  concerning an evaluation of the Enumeration at Entry program, the results  of the evaluations prompted the SSA’s Office of Inspector General and  Office of Quality Assurance and Performance Assessment to recommend  several additional measures to correct errors during the early  implementation of the program.
section_title: New Procedures for Awarding Benefits to Non-Citizens Protect Against Abuse and Improve Coordination with Other Countries
paragraphs: To determine whether noncitizens are eligible for SSA benefits, SSA has  implemented new procedures including some required by the SSPA. The  SSPA tightened restrictions on payment of benefits to noncitizens who are  not authorized to work. Generally both citizens and noncitizens in the U.S.  accrue credits through paying Social Security payroll taxes. Noncitizens  must also have authority to work in the U.S., and be lawfully present in the  U.S. at the time they apply for benefits. Under some circumstances,  unauthorized workers may receive benefits based on work credits they  accrued while working without an immigration status permitting  employment in the U.S., with a nonwork SSN or without a valid SSN  during their work years. If noncitizens later receive a valid SSN and  become eligible to work, they can show SSA their wage records and  request credit for earnings from prior unauthorized work. If they  establish legal immigration status, they may then receive benefit payments  based on the earlier periods of unauthorized work. There are some  exceptions for the lawful presence requirement, such as for workers  covered under the terms of a totalization agreement.  However, our work  shows that SSA’s processes for entering into totalization agreements have  been largely informal and do not mitigate potential risks.
subsections: section_title: SSPA Provisions Tighten Restrictions on Benefits to Unauthorized Workers
paragraphs: The enactment of the SSPA in 2004 tightened the eligibility requirements  for paying Social Security benefits to noncitizens. Before SSPA,  noncitizens who worked in covered employment could in some  circumstances eventually earn SSA benefits without obtaining a work- authorized SSN. If noncitizens had no SSN, but were entitled to benefits,  SSA would assign a nonwork SSN so their Social Security eligible earnings  could be recorded. SSPA provides that in order to accrue benefits  noncitizens with a SSN issued on or after January 1, 2004 must have  authorization to work in the U.S. at the time that the SSN is assigned, or at  some later time. Without work authorization, noncitizens and their  dependents or surviving family members cannot receive any benefits. See  table 2 below.
Nonetheless to receive benefits while in the U.S., noncitizens must be  legally present in the U.S. under immigration law regardless of when they  were first assigned an SSN. Previously if noncitizens accrued Social  Security benefits and resided outside the U.S., they could under some  circumstances receive those benefits without ever having been legally  present in the U.S. Since SSPA required all noncitizens originally assigned  an SSN on or after January 1, 2004, to have a work authorized SSN to  accrue benefits, those living outside the country must also obtain a work- authorized SSN. Obtaining a work-authorized SSN requires both lawful  presence in the U.S. and an immigration status permitting work in the U.S.
However, a noncitizen may receive benefits outside the U.S. if he or she is  a citizen of a country that has a social insurance or pension system that  pays benefits to eligible U.S. citizens residing outside that country or is a  worker covered under a totalization agreement. A noncitizen not meeting  any of these exceptions will have his or her benefits suspended beginning  with the seventh month of absence.
section_title: Totalization Agreements with Foreign Countries Can Be Mutually Beneficial, but Can Increase SSA Costs
paragraphs: In general, totalization agreements between the U.S. and other countries  provide mutually beneficial business, tax and other incentives to  employers and employees, but the agreements also expose both countries  to financial costs and risk. Our recent reports on totalization agreements  identified two fundamental vulnerabilities in SSA’s existing procedures  when entering into totalization agreements. First, our analysis  demonstrated that the agency’s actuarial estimates for the number of  foreign citizens who would be affected by an agreement (and thus entitled  to U.S. Social Security benefits) have overstated or understated the  number, usually by more than 25 percent. As a result, depending on the  size of the foreign population covered by an agreement, the actual cost to  the Social Security trust fund from a given agreement could be greater or  smaller than predicted. In response to our recommendation to improve its  process for projecting costs to the trust fund from totalization agreements,  SSA responded that it cannot eliminate all variations between projected  costs and subsequent actual experience.
Secondly, our work has shown that SSA’s processes for entering into these  agreements have been largely informal and have not included specific  steps to assess and mitigate potential risks to the U.S. Social Security  system. For example, we found that SSA’s procedures for verifying critical  information such as foreign citizens’ earnings, birth, and death data were  insufficient to ensure the integrity of such information. Inaccurate or  incomplete information could lead to improper payments from the Social  Security trust fund. In response to our recommendations, SSA developed  several new initiatives to identify risks associated with totalization  agreements. For example, SSA developed a standardized questionnaire to  help the agency identify and assess the reliability of earnings data in  countries that may be considered for future totalization agreements. In  addition, SSA is conducting numerous “vulnerability assessments” to  detect potential problems with the accuracy of foreign countries’  documents. SSA is also exploring a more systematic approach for  independently verifying foreign countries’ data, such as the use of  computer matches. (For a summary of the status of recommendations, see  table 3 below.)
section_title: Concluding Observations
paragraphs: Laws and policies are in place to ensure that SSA treats noncitizens fairly  in the issuance of SSNs, the provision of benefits, and in cases where they  are covered under the terms of totalization agreements. Recent legislation  and revisions to SSA policies represent some progress in these areas.
While SSA is making progress in improving the program’s integrity by  strengthening its procedures for verifying documents and coordinating  with other agencies and foreign governments, opportunities remain for  additional progress.  SSA plans further enhancements to the Enumeration  at Entry program in order to protect against errors, fraud and abuse. In  addition, a more systematic approach to verifying data from other  countries with which we have totalization agreements can help ensure  proper payments of benefits and prompt notice of the death of  beneficiaries. SSA will, however, continue to face challenges in its dealings  with noncitizens. Changes in immigration laws and shortcomings in the  enforcement of those laws make it difficult for SSA to identify noncitizens  who are eligible for SSNs and for benefit payments.  Continued attention  to these issues by both SSA and the Congress is essential to ensure that  noncitizens receive benefits to which they are entitled and the integrity of  the Social Security program is protected.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, this concludes my  prepared statement. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.
section_title: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgements
paragraphs: For further information regarding this testimony, please contact   Barbara D. Bovbjerg, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income  Security Issues at (202) 512-7215. Blake L. Ainsworth, Assistant Director;  Alicia Puente Cackley, Assistant Director; Benjamin P. Pfeiffer;   Anna H. Bonelli; Jeremy D. Cox; Jacqueline Harpp; Nyree M. Ryder;   Daniel A. Schwimer; and Paul C. Wright also contributed to this report.