The Honorable Dan Burton
Chairman, Committee on Government Reform
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable William M. Thomas
Chairman, Committee on House Oversight
1309 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Burton and Chairman Thomas:

In accordance with the requirements of Clause 2 of Rule X of the rules of the House of Representatives, the following is a list of oversight hearings and other oversight-related activities which the Committee on Ways and Means and its subcommittees plan to conduct during the 106th Congress. The list has been broken down by Subcommittee, and follows an order in which the listed activities are likely to occur. This list is not intended to be exclusive; the Committee anticipates that additional oversight activities will be scheduled as issues arise and/or as time permits.

Full Committee

1. Social Security Trust Fund solvency issues. The Committee will continue to hold hearings to examine various issues affecting the well-being of individual recipients and the long-term solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds.

2. Tax Proposals in Administration's Fiscal Year 2000 Budget. The Full Committee will hold a series of hearings beginning February 14, 1999, to examine the tax proposals in the Administration's Fiscal Year 2000 budget.

3. Fundamental Tax Reform. The Full Committee will continue to examine the impact of replacing the current income tax system with a broad-based consumption tax.

4. Y2K Computer Conversion Efforts. The Full Committee will hold a hearing on February 24, 1999, to review the Y2K conversion efforts and contingency plans of

agencies within the jurisdiction of the Committee. The goal of the hearing is to determine whether the agencies have adequate financial and personnel resources and are taking appropriate measures to ensure (1) services to program beneficiaries, and (2) that taxpayers will not be disrupted in the new year.

Subcommittee on Oversight

1. Taxpayer Advocate Report. The Subcommittee held a hearing on February 10, 1999, to examine the third annual report of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Taxpayer Advocate to the tax-writing committees. In this report, which was mandated by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2 ("TBOR2"), the Taxpayer Advocate identifies initiatives undertaken to improve taxpayer services and IRS responsiveness and provides recommendations from the Problem Resolution Officers in IRS District Offices as to how to resolve problems which taxpayers experience in their dealings with the IRS.

2. Y2K Computer Conversion Efforts. The Subcommittee held two hearings in the 105^th Congress and issued a report to review the Y2K conversion efforts and contingency plans of agencies within the jurisdiction of the Committee. Following a Full Committee hearing in February of this year, additional hearings in the Oversight Subcommittee may be scheduled as needed.

3. Steel Trade. In consultation with the Trade Subcommittee, the Oversight Subcommittee will review the President's January 1999 Report to the Congress on a Comprehensive Plan for Responding to the Increase in Steel Imports, and determine whether existing tax and trade laws (and relief for workers) are adequate in light of the recent increase in steel imports.

4. Domestic Oil and Gas Industry. The Subcommittee will review the impact of current tax and trade policies on the domestic oil and gas industry, with an emphasis on the impact of world oil prices on small, independent producers.

5. Tax Code Compliance Burden. The Subcommittee held a hearing in the 105^th Congress on the compliance burden of the Internal Revenue Code for individual taxpayers and small businesses. The Subcommittee will continue this review of individual tax simplification issues such as the alternative minimum tax, family credits, and the capital gains tax, as well as small business issues such as expensing limits.

6. IRS Fiscal Year 2000 Budget/1999 Tax Return Filing Season. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing in March or April to review the Administration's request for the IRS FY 2000 budget and the status of the 1999 tax return filing season. Among other things, the Subcommittee will review how the IRS is improving customer service, how it is implementing recent changes in the tax law, and how it is progressing to modernize its computer systems to handle a growing workload as well as the century date change. Information developed at the hearing will be used as background for preparing the full Committee's recommendations to the Appropriations Committee regarding funding priorities for the IRS for FY 2000.

7. Structured Settlements. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the tax rules that govern the use of structured settlements and the recent growth in transactions in which the recipients of structured settlements sell off future payments to factoring companies in exchange for discounted lump sum payments.

8. Pension Policy. The Subcommittee will continue to review the pension tax law and explore ways in which it might be simplified and improved. The Subcommittee will examine employer coverage and employee participation issues, particularly for low-income and part-time workers, women and others who may not be adequately served by current law. The Subcommittee will also explore ways to remove burdensome regulatory requirements, improve the level of benefits that workers may accrue toward their retirement, and improve the portability of pension benefits by removing artificial barriers which prevent workers from rolling over their benefits among pension plans.

9. Most Serious Management Problems. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing to receive testimony from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Inspectors General regarding high risk programs (i.e., programs vulnerable to waste, fraud, or abuse) within the Committee's jurisdiction. The information obtained at this hearing about high risk programs (e.g., security of information systems, and implementation of a variety of Medicare cost-saving improvements; Medicare claims fraud, IRS Accounts Receivable, Social Security Administration overpayments) will lay the groundwork for additional oversight activities in the 106th Congress.

10. Oversight of the U.S. Customs Service. In consultation with the Trade Subcommittee, the Oversight Subcommittee will review the Customs Service's operations, including efforts to upgrade computer systems, interdict illegal narcotics at the southern and northern borders, comply with the Customs Modernization Act, and implement the Results Act.

11. International Tax Law. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing to review the complexity of provisions of international tax law which have widespread application, with a focus on the need for simplification.

12. Implementation of IRS Restructuring and Reform. The 105^th Congress passed the landmark IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, which contains numerous taxpayer protections, as part of its Taxpayer Bill of Rights 3 title. The Act also includes significant IRS organizational changes. The Subcommittee will review the implementation of the new law, as well as the "tax gap," focusing on the major categories of noncompliant filers, and consider ways to improve compliance where noncompliance rates and revenue losses are the greatest.

13. Public - Private Worker Training Partnerships. The Subcommittee will review whether current law tax incentives are adequate for providing worker retraining, basic and high-tech training, and educational opportunities, including an assessment of successful programs and areas where the tax rules might be strengthened.

14. Internet Commerce. The Subcommittee will examine tax issues related to commerce over the Internet.

15. Urban Revitalization and Land Use. The Subcommittee will continue its review of the impact of tax rules on urban problems and land use, including effectiveness of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and EZ/EC programs, Brownfields, as well as urban sprawl issues.

16. Global Warming. The Subcommittee will review the adequacy of current law tax incentives in encouraging global climate change research to follow up on the full Committee's hearing on the fiscal year 2000 budget.

17. Penalty and Interest Reform. The latest comprehensive revision of the overall penalty structure in the Internal Revenue Code was enacted as part of the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1989. The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 requires the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Treasury Department to conduct separate studies, due no later than July 22, 1999, reviewing the interest and penalty provisions of the Code and making recommendations for administrative and legislative changes. The Subcommittee will review the studies and assess the recommendations.

18. Taxpayer Information Privacy. The Internal Revenue Code prohibits disclosure of tax returns and taxpayer information, except as specifically authorized by the Code. These provisions have been amended in a piecemeal fashion since a major revision in 1976. The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 requires the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Treasury Department to conduct separate studies, due no later than January 22, 2000, on provisions regarding taxpayer confidentiality. The Subcommittee will review the reports when they are issued.

19. Field Investigations and Hearings. The Subcommittee will conduct such field investigations and hearings as Committee staffing and budget resources permit, and as are necessary for purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of and compliance with the programs and laws under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Subcommittee on Trade

1. African Growth and Opportunity Act. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing on February 3 to consider the U.S. trade relationship with Africa and legislation recently introduced by Chairman Crane, Mr. Rangel, and Mr. McDermott.

2. Bilateral, Regional, and Multilateral Trade Negotiations. The Subcommittee will hold a series of hearings, beginning in February, concerning the content and strategy of trade negotiations in which the United States is participating, including the World Trade Organization Ministerial Meeting to be held in Seattle, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, and the negotiations on the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement. In addition, the Subcommittee will examine the prospects for further bilateral trade negotiations, including Europe, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and others. The Subcommittee will address the identification of U.S. priority negotiating objectives for these negotiations. The Subcommittee also intends to analyze the relationship of such negotiations to trade negotiating authority ("fast track"), particularly whether the United States is disadvantaged in these negotiations without having such authority in place. Finally, the Subcommittee will study the impact that trade agreements have on U.S. companies, farmers, workers, and others.

3. Steel Trade. The Subcommittee, with the participation of interested members of the Oversight Subcommittee, will hold a hearing in early March to address the recent increase in imports of steel including its causes and its effects on U.S. companies and workers. In addition, the Subcommittee will examine legislative and other proposals regarding steel in order to determine their consistency with the letter and spirit of the WTO, their impact on trade practices of U.S. trading partners, and their effect on the U.S. steel industry, its workers, U.S. consumers, U.S. exporters, and U.S. industrial users.

4. Authorizations for USTR, Customs, and the International Trade Commission. In March, the Subcommittee will hold a hearing to consider biannual authorizations of these agencies, as provided by statute; the Subcommittee also reviews annually the parts of the budgets of other agencies that have functions within Ways and Means oversight jurisdiction, such as the Commerce Department, State Department (payments to international organizations), etc.

5. Customs Automation and the International Trade Data System (ITDS). In March, in cooperation with the Oversight Subcommittee, the Subcommittee will hold a hearing both on Customs automation efforts and on the ITDS, a program that the Administration is proposing to serve as a single point of interaction between the U.S. Government and the trade community for the collection of revenue, including duties, related to international trade activities and information required by U.S. trade laws.

6. Trade Remedies. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing in the spring to review the application of the new Commerce antidumping and countervailing duty regulations and to review application of "sunset" procedures. In addition, the Subcommittee will focus on how the antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard laws benefit particular industries and will address the consistency of remedies with WTO obligations. Finally, the Subcommittee will also continue to review the effect of antidumping orders on downstream users, especially the lack of availability to users of products subject to these orders.

7. The World Trade Organization (WTO). Between now and November, the Subcommittee intends to hold a hearing and a series of consultations with the Administration on U.S. objectives for the WTO Ministerial meeting, which will be hosted by the United States. The Subcommittee and Committee expect to develop a U.S. agenda for the Ministerial together with the Administration through the process of consultations noted. Particular focus will be paid to areas in which the WTO needs to be deepened, broadened or improved, including with respect to next steps in agricultural trade, services trade, industrial tariffs, TRIPS, and addressing informal barriers to trade. The Subcommittee will also continually review ongoing trade negotiations within the WTO, including negotiations of accessions (particularly China and Russia). The Subcommittee will also examine the WTO dispute resolution system in order to assess the formal WTO review of the system and issues relating to the operation of the system in cases of interest to the United States. Finally, the Subcommittee will focus on the operation of key agreements in areas of greatest interest to the United States.

8. Unilateral Trade Sanctions. The Subcommittee intends to continue its review of the use of unilateral trade sanctions to enforce non-trade goals and whether a process should be established with guidelines for the use of such sanctions.

9. Trade Deficit Review Commission. The Subcommittee will review the findings of the Trade Deficit Review Commission and study the impact of the current account deficit on the U.S. economy.

10. Caribbean Basin Trade Security Act. Particularly in light of the severe devastation and economic dislocation wrought on Central America as a result of recent hurricanes, the Subcommittee intends to continue its oversight concerning efforts to achieve NAFTA parity for the nations of the Caribbean Basin.

11. Customs drug interdiction efforts. In cooperation with the Oversight Subcommittee, the Subcommittee will review Customs' current drug interdiction efforts to analyze their effectiveness and impact on business facilitation functions; determine whether additional authorizations are appropriate for drug interdiction efforts; study whether rotation policy should be changed to improve interdiction efforts; examine the impact of collective bargaining agreements and union grievances on drug interdiction efforts.

12. Extension of the GSP program. The current program of tariff assistance to developing countries will expire on July 1, 1999. The Subcommittee will likely consider whether it should be renewed for short time periods (and paid for under the budget rules) or for a longer duration.

13. China's normal trade relations (NTR) status. The annual renewal process of China's NTR status under the Jackson-Vanik provisions of law begin each June with a Presidential determination of what the status should be for the upcoming year. The Subcommittee will examine the President's determinations in 1999 and 2000.

14. Trade relations with Europe. The Subcommittee will review implementation by Europe of WTO panel rulings (bananas and beef hormones); review negotiations with Europe as part of the Transatlantic Economic Partnership and the Transatlantic Business Dialogue.

15. Trade Relations with Japan. The Subcommittee will continue its oversight of U.S.-Japan trade relations, including: (1) operation of sectoral bilateral agreements (in particular, the U.S.-Japan bilateral agreement on insurance); (2) U.S.-Japan trade relations under the Uruguay Round agreements; (3) ability of WTO rules and dispute procedures to address opaque forms of protection still operating in Japan's market; and (4) importance of deregulation and market access in Japan to hastening recovery of Asia from its financial crisis.

16. Normal Trade Relations with the Kyrgyz Republic. The Subcommittee will examine whether to authorize the President to determine that the Jackson-Vanik amendment to title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 should no longer apply to the Kyrgyz Republic and to extend unconditional normal trade relations to that country.

17. Normal Trade Relations with the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The Subcommittee will consider whether to extend normal trade relations to the Lao People's Democratic Republic upon publication of a Federal Register notice that a bilateral commercial agreement between the United States and the Lao People's Democratic Republic has entered into force.

18. Jackson-Vanik Waiver for Vietnam. The annual review process of Vietnam's Jackson-Vanik waiver will begin in June with a Presidential determination of what that country's status should be for the upcoming year. If a resolution of disapproval is introduced with respect to the President's determination, the Subcommittee will consider that issue. In addition, the Subcommittee will review the status of the ongoing bilateral commercial agreement negotiations with Vietnam, which must be concluded and the results approved by Congress before an extension of normal trade relations to Vietnam can take place.

19. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The Subcommittee will consider whether an extension of the general TAA programs for workers and firms, as well as the NAFTA-related TAA programs, is appropriate beyond the current expiration on June 30, 1999. In this context, the Subcommittee may also consider ways in which trade adjustment assistance programs can be improved to ensure that they are as effective as possible in enabling workers and firms to adjust rapidly to dynamic economic changes that occur as a result of the increasing importance of trade to the U.S. economy.

20. Rules of origin and country of origin marking. The Subcommittee will review and continue to consult with the Administration and the trade community on the status of the rules of origin negotiations underway in the World Customs Organization; updating rules of origin and country of origin marking to implement those negotiations so they reflect current business production, sales, and distribution practices; review whether U.S. law and practices are effective in preventing unlawful transhipment; review labeling requirements of U.S. trading partners with respect to meat and fresh produce.

21. Miscellaneous reforms of U.S. Customs laws and practices. In cooperation with the Oversight Subcommittee, the Subcommittee will continue its oversight and review of customs laws, regulations and practices to ensure that they are not creating an unnecessary burden and cost to U.S. users (including turn-around time for ruling letter and decisions relating to detained and seized merchandise); reform overtime and premium pay for Customs inspectors; verification of Customs operational enhancement; review the relationship of the Customs user fee and the actual cost to Customs of the services provided; and conduct oversight hearings of Customs on various issues including Customs progress in implementing regulations and Customs practices under the Customs Modernization Act. In addition, the Subcommittee will work closely with the Senate Committee on Finance in its oversight efforts.

Subcommittee on Health

1. Management of the Health Care Financing Administration. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing on February 11th to examine and evaluate the management of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA).

2. MedPAC Report and Recommendations. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee's (MedPAC's) 1999 recommendations to Congress regarding Medicare policies. Each year, MedPAC's panel of health care experts provides recommendations to Congress and its Committees with jurisdiction over the program.

3. Medicare+Choice Program. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing in March to examine the Administration's implementation of the Medicare+Choice program. In particular, the Subcommittee will examine the risk adjuster, the payment rates, the timing of the plans applications, and the impact of the regulations on plan participation.

4. Health Care Costs and the Uninsured. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing in March to examine health care costs and the uninsured. In particular, the hearing will examine the factors affecting health care cost growth and the impact of the rising costs on premiums and the number of uninsured.

5. Health Care Quality. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing in early Spring to examine health care quality issues. The hearing will examine changes in the health care marketplace reflecting consumer concerns.

6. Graduate Medical Education and Other Special Payments. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing during the late Spring on Medicare Graduate Medical Education payments, Disproportionate Share hospital adjustments and other special payments.

7. Development of Prospective Payment Systems. The Subcommittee will hold a hearing during late Spring to examine the Administration's development of several prospective payment systems. The Balanced Budget Act required the Secretary of Health and Human Services to move from cost-based reimbursement to prospective payment systems. The hearing will take a close look at the progress on these systems.

8. Other Issues. Further hearings will be scheduled as time permits to examine certain additional aspects of Medicare program management.

Subcommittee on Human Resources

1. Welfare Reform. The Subcommittee will conduct a series of hearings to examine the impacts of the 1996 welfare reform law. The Subcommittee intends to examine the impacts of reform on female labor force participation, especially among never-married mothers, as well as the impacts on poverty among all children and among inner-city children in particular. The Subcommittee will also examine the coordination between the welfare-to-work programs being mounted by states and the labor market services provided by both the U.S. Employment Service and the various work programs associated with the Workforce Investment Act passed by Congress in 1998.

2. Child Care. Given the dramatic movement of welfare mothers into the work force, child care has become an important issue in the States. The 1996 welfare reform law substantially reformed child care, primarily by terminating many disparate programs and combining most federal requirements into one simplified child care program. Total federal funding to States was increased by about $4 billion over 6 years. The Subcommittee will examine whether States are experiencing problems with the availability, cost, or quality of child care, focusing especially on whether States are using all the federal funds available to them for child care.

3. Child Support Enforcement. One of the most important provisions of the 1996 welfare reform law was the reform of the nation's child support enforcement program. Many of these reforms have now been implemented by States; the Subcommittee will examine the impacts of these reforms in a series of hearings. The major reforms under review will be the effects of the new hire tracking system, the effectiveness of the State Disbursement Units that handle payments, and the impacts of the new enforcement tools provided to states. In addition, the Subcommittee will explore issues of interstate child support enforcement and the possibility of more involvement of the private sector in collecting child support.

4. Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For the past several years, the General Accounting Office has kept the SSI program on its list of programs at high risk of waste, fraud, and abuse. The Subcommittee expects to report legislation on this topic shortly.

5. Child Protection. In November of last year, the Administration published regulations that outlined a proposed system of federal oversight of state child protection programs. The Subcommittee will conduct a hearing on these regulations and may introduce legislation aimed at strengthening the regulations. In addition, the Subcommittee will hold hearings to examine how state child protection programs are financed, with special attention to whether federal funds provide states with adequate flexibility. Finally, the Subcommittee will conduct a hearing on the problems faced by adolescents who are aging out of foster care. Several studies have suggested that these children are at increased risk of unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and welfare dependency. The Subcommittee will explore whether States and local governments have developed good programs to address these problems.

6. Unemployment Insurance. Following up on a hearing conducted last year, the Subcommittee will conduct a series of hearings on the nation's unemployment insurance system. Several issues, including comprehensive reform proposals that would increase state flexibility in designing and administering the unemployment insurance program, will be examined in these hearings.

7. Nonmarital Births. A major goal of the 1996 welfare reform law was to reduce the incidence of nonmarital births. The Subcommittee will conduct one or more hearings to study progress toward the goal of reducing births outside marriage, especially among teenagers. The Subcommittee will focus special attention on explanations for the reduction in nonmarital births in recent years, the first decline in a generation.

Subcommittee on Social Security

1. Social Security Trust Fund solvency issues. The Subcommittee will hold a series of hearings beginning in February 1999 to examine various issues affecting the well-being of individual recipients and the long-term solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds. In addition, the Subcommittee will examine specific Social Security reform proposals and the experiences of other countries in making reforms to their retirement insurance programs.

2. Disability program reform and oversight. The Subcommittee will hold an early hearing on the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program reforms designed to assist individuals with disabilities in returning to the workforce. In addition, the Subcommittee will conduct several hearings related to the solvency of the DI program, which is projected to become insolvent in 2019. The Subcommittee will focus oversight hearings on: the disability appeals process; SSA progress in redesigning the disability determination claims process to cut costs and improve public service; and a comprehensive review of the purpose, effectiveness, and progressivity of the disability program as it enters the 21st century.

3. Social Security Administration (SSA) management of information technology. The Subcommittee will conduct an oversight hearing on SSA's year-2000 information systems readiness, and the status of SSA's efforts to implement its new modernized information systems infrastructure, to improve its software development process, and to deliver service over the Internet.

4. Waste, fraud, and abuse in Social Security programs. The Subcommittee will conduct oversight to assess the degree of waste, fraud, and abuse in Social Security programs and to explore legislative remedies.

5. Use of the Social Security number. The Subcommittee will examine the use of the Social Security number as an identifier, including the extent of its use by government and private entities, and the impact of restricting its use in keeping with privacy and other concerns.

6. Service delivery. The Subcommittee will continue its ongoing oversight of SSA's service delivery with particular focus on plans to address the service needs of aging baby boomers.