ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

Subcommittee on Social Security
Subcommittee on Human Resources

Shaw and Herger Announce Joint Hearing on the
Challenges Facing the New Commissioner of Social Security

Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (R-FL), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security, and Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA), Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittees will hold a joint hearing on the challenges facing the new Commissioner of Social Security. The hearing will take place on Thursday, December 13, 2001, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Subcommittees and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.

BACKGROUND:

Jo Anne B. Barnhart was sworn in on November 14, 2001, as the 14^th Commissioner of Social Security in a ceremony at the agency's headquarters in Baltimore. Her term will expire on January 19, 2007.

The mission of the Social Security Administration (SSA) is "to promote the economic security of the nation's people through compassionate and vigilant leadership in shaping and managing America's Social Security programs." Established to protect Americans against the loss of income due to retirement, death, or disability, for almost two-thirds of a century Social Security has been enormously successful, reducing poverty among the nation's elderly by 62 percent in the last 30 years. Today, over 45 million Americans receive Social Security, including almost 4 million children and over 5 million workers with disabilities.

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is a means-tested Federal assistance program administered by SSA which falls within the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Human Resources. It provides a monthly benefit to people who have limited assets and income and who are blind, disabled, or aged 65 or older. In 2001, 6.6 million disabled and elderly Americans will receive over $30 billion in Federal payments through the program. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193) required the Commissioner of Social Security to report annually to Congress on the status of the SSI program. In addition, P.L. 104-193 and related legislation included a number of changes in SSI law to address problems of fraud and abuse and control program growth.

In order to oversee and administer SSA's programs, SSA employs approximately 63,000 workers nationwide. Services are delivered through a decentralized nationwide network of regional offices, field offices, hearing offices, teleservice centers, processing and data operations centers, and State Disability Determination Services. This year, SSA's workloads include paying benefits to more than 50 million people every month, processing more than 6 million claims for benefits, issuing 16 million new and replacement Social Security numbers, posting 273 million earnings items to workers' earnings records, handling 59 million phone calls, and issuing 136 million Social Security Statements to workers.

The U.S. General Accounting Office, SSA's Office of Inspector General, and the bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board have each issued reports summarizing the primary management challenges facing the agency. These include: ensuring long-term solvency of the Social Security system, improving disability determination and return to work processes, further strengthening the integrity of the SSI program, providing timely and accurate service delivery as workloads rise and employee retirements increase due to the aging of the baby boom, maintaining a sound information technology infrastructure to support its operations, and addressing the misuse of the Social Security number.

In announcing the hearing, Chairman Shaw stated: "Social Security touches the lives of just about every American, providing essential income for workers and their families due to retirement, death, or disability. Social Security employees are among the best in Federal service. Yet the retirement of the baby boom generation will create unprecedented challenges for the agency. Chief among these is saving Social Security from bankruptcy. Second is the ability to deliver effective service and stewardship, as workloads rise 50 percent and more than half the agency's employees are eligible to retire in the coming decade. Equally important is fixing a broken disability determination and return to work process where workers with disabilities wait far too long to receive the benefits they deserve. Lastly, as we have seen in our numerous hearings on identity theft and from the tragic events of September 11^th, safeguards to protect Social Security numbers must be enhanced."

Chairman Herger stated: "SSI provides a lifeline to the neediest aged and disabled Americans. It is our responsibility to ensure benefits reach those who need them and to protect both the beneficiaries and taxpayers from fraudulent payments and wasteful practices that threaten program integrity and public support for these essential benefits."

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

The Subcommittees will examine the new Commissioner's vision and action priorities for the agency. In addition, the Subcommittees are particularly interested in hearing specific action recommendations from the invited witnesses who are leading stakeholders in the successful resolution of these challenges.

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:

Please Note: Due to the change in House mail policy, any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should send it electronically to hearingclerks.waysandmeans@mail.house.gov, along with a fax copy to 202/225-2610 by the close of business, Thursday, December 27, 2001. Those filing written statements who wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing should deliver their 200 copies to the Subcommittee on Social Security in room B-316 Rayburn House Office Building, in an open and searchable package 48 hours before the hearing. The U.S. Capitol Police will refuse unopened and unsearchable deliveries to all House Office buildings.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record, or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

1. Due to the change in House mail policy, all statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted electronically to hearingclerks.waysandmeans@mail.house.gov, along with a fax copy to (202) 225-2610, in WordPerfect or MS Word format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.

2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.

The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms

Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at http://waysandmeans.house.gov.

The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call (202) 225-1721 or (202) 226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.