Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives U.S. Hou

Recognition . I move the house suspend the les and pass h. R. 5457 the speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 4547, a bill to amend titles 2, 8 and 16 of the Social Security act to improve and strengthen the representative payment program. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr. Brady, and the gentleman from connecticut, mr. Larson, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Brady i ask unanimous consent that members may have five legislative days to resize and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h. R. 5447. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Brady today we have the action to help those receiving Social Security. This bill led by congressman sam johnson and john larson of connecticut, the chairman and lame of the Social Security subcommittee takes actions to improve the representative payey program. Today, when someone on Social Security is arent able to manage their own benefits, the administration will sign them a representative payey. These are individuals or organizations to have a vital responsibility to help some of our most Vulnerable People on Social Security, children, seniors and folks with disabilities. The payey receives benefits on behalf of these americans and required to use the money to fulfill those needs. Heres the problem. Representative payey program just isnt working the way it should. As the ways and Means Committee has learned from the work of our subcommittee, Social Security administration has serious challenges knowing when someone needs help managing the benefits and making sure who provide those help are doing a good job. This is puts our vulnerables at a risk and that is completely unacceptable. With this bipartisan bill we can make the Representative Payee Program more effective and more accountable for the americans who depend on them. This bill strengthens oversite. It protects those on Social Security. It reduces burdens on families and puts greater focus on the needs of Social Security families giving americans more of a say in selecting the payee of their choice. More important ensuring they have a payee they can trust. Though our committee did not mark up this bill, we held multiple subcommittee hearings on this issue and meetings among members on both sides of the aisle. We also heard from stakeholders about the challenges they face. This bill is a long time coming. Its going to make important, muchneeded changes to the Representative Payee Program. To further solidify the committees understanding and our legislative intent, i am sending the acting commissioner of Social Security a letter. This letter transmits a technical explanation of the bill. We have asked the acting commissioner to make that letter and technical explanation available on the agencys website. And i ask unanimous consent to insert this letter into the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Brady i want to thank all of the members for their hard work and leadership on this important issue. Particularly i want to express my gratitude to chairman johnson, Ranking Member larson, for your dedication to improving the Representative Payee Program. This is a very important bill that has strong bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting its passage. Ill reserve. The speaker pro tempore does the gentleman reserve . The gentleman from connecticut is recognized. Mr. Larson thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Larson thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of h. R. 4547, the strengthening protections for Social Security beneficiaries act of 2017. Which the distinguished chairman from texas, mr. Johnson, and i introduced and the committee has held several hearings on. Before i begin, i would like to acknowledge our distinguished chairman. We on the ways and means ommittee are fortunate that we , in our midst, get to work daily with two iconic american heroes, john lewis of georgia and sam johnson of texas. It has been my high honor to serve as his Ranking Member with this Great American hero and dedicated public servant. We all know that mr. Johnson is indicating that he will not be seeking election again. That is a great loss to the congress and a great homecoming for people in plano, texas, and his family who richly deserved this Great American hero here. He demonstrates that heroism daily in the committee by his compassion and concern for his fellow americans. Much as he defended them in his service to the military, he defends them daily here in the United States congress. As chairman brady pointed out, there is a great need within the payee system to address a number of the concerns that the hearings that mr. Johnson conducted revealed many of the inadequacyies that existed. Inadequacies that existed. There are currently eight million Social Security beneficiaries who have a payee to help manage their benefits. Nearly half of whom are children. In many cases we are talking about the most vulnerable of our citizens, many who cannot advocate for themselves. That is why our bill strengthens the number of quality of performance reviews by entrusting them to protection and advocacy organizations in each state. These organizations are embedded in the communities they serve and will be best equipped to flag and investigate instances where ayees may be abusing their beneficiaries. Many of the state organizations have written letters of support for h. R. 4547, including disability rights connecticut and, mr. Speaker, i would like to submit that without objection, submit that letter for the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Larson aside from that and because of mr. Johnsons leadership, the bill before us today has the support of many advocacy groups, including the aarp, the National Committee to preserve Social Security and medicare, the National Disability rights network, the association of mature american citizens, and the National Alliance of mental illness. I, therefore, urge my colleagues on both sides, as chairman brady has indicated, to join us in voting yes on this very important piece of legislation and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Brady mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to ask that congressman sam Johnson Control the remaining time. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Brady i yield to mr. Johnson. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas, mr. Johnson, is recognized. , mr. Hnson thank you speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. Mr. Speaker, today i rise as chairman of the ways and means subcommittee on Social Security in support of strengthening protections for Social Security beneficiaries act. My good friend from connecticut, mr. Larson, and i introduced this legislation to make muchneeded reforms to Social Security Representative Payee Programs. Congress First Authorized Social Security to designated representative payees all the way back in 1939. The program was last updated in 2004. For those unfamiliar, Social Security Representative Payee Program designates a payee to help manage the benefits of those who need assistance managing their benefits. And were talking about quite a few. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that there are about eight million beneficiaries with payees. In my home state of texas, were talking about more than 625,000 people with payees. To put a face on this program, were talking about folks like the aging relative or the elderly neighbor next door. People you may know but didnt realize had a representative payee. With 10,000 americans retiring a day, this vitally Important Program is only going to grow in demand, but heres the problem. Multiple reports have raised serious concerns about how Social Security administers this bram administrators this program. In light of this report, we held two hearings on the Representative Payee Program last year. The first looked at how Social Security decides who needs a payee. The second looked at how Social Security selects and oversees payees. During the hearing, Social Security told us the greatest challenge that they face is monitoring representative payee behavior. We also learned from Social Securitys Inspector General that the Social Security needs to do a better job of screening payees so that only qualified people are serving as payees. And we heard from state courts that they are concerned about the lack of information sharing between Social Security and states. We can and must do better for the millions of folks who need some help managing their Social Security benefits. This is why ive been working with Ranking Member larson on the bill and were voting on it today. This bipartisan bill does the following it strengthens monitoring of payees. It reduces the burden of unnecessary forms for families. It increases beneficiary protections, and it improves payee selection and quality. This commonsense legislation is supported by over 45 organizations, including aarp, the National Council of Social Security management association, the National Disability rights network, the National Committee to preserve Social Security and medicare, and many others. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert a few of these letters of support into the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Johnson thank you. Mr. Speaker, i urge all members of the house to vote yes on this. Pass the strengthening protections for Social Security beneficiaries act today. As ive said before, this is too important not to get right. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas reserves. The gentleman from connecticut is recognized. Mr. Larson thank you, mr. Speaker. May i inquire as to how many peakers on the other side . Mr. Johnson mr. Chairman, we have three speakers. Mr. Larson well reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Johnson thank you. Id like to recognize representative adrian smith of nebraska. The speaker pro tempore for how long . How many minutes . Mr. Johnson i yield two minutes to this speaker, mr. Chairman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of h. R. 4547, the strengthening protections for Social Security beneficiaries act. This bill is important to two Program Areas under the jurisdiction of the Human Resources subcommittee which i chair. Supplemental security income and child welfare. Thank you to chairman johnson and Ranking Member larson for their work on this bill and for including supplemental security income recipients. All individuals receiving benefits through the Social Security administration deserve to be protected, especially those who need the assistance of a representative payee to manage their finances. I would specifically like to highlight the important changes this bill would make for children involved with the foster care system, another vulnerable population in need of protection. H. R. 4547 requires the Social Security administration, or s. S. A. , to enter into monthly data exchanges with state foster care programs to identify when a child receiving Social Security benefits has entered or exited foster care or changed foster care placement. When a change occurs, s. S. A. Will now be required to redetermine the appropriate representative payee to ensure Social Security benefits follow he child. The g. A. O. Will produce a report on foster care and the representative payees to identify whether additional changes are needed. H. R. 4547, also clarifies liability for overpayments when a child is in foster care. In cases where Social Security beneficiary or supplemental security income recipient is overpaid while in foster care and the state Foster Care Agency is the payey, the recipient would not be liable for the overpayment. Instead, the state Foster Care Agency would be required to repay s. S. A. Foster youth exiting the system have enough challenges and paying back an overpayment should not have been one of them. Im proud to cosponsor this legislation and i encourage my colleagues to support its passage. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Johnson i would like to curbelo for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Curbelo im proud to be a cospores son of h. R. 4547. As a member of the ways and Means Committee, i have the opportunity to engage in this issue during hearings the Committee Held last year. I recognize the need for reform of the representative payey program in order to improve its integrity and ensure that beneficiaries are getting the assistance they need. The representative payey Program Helps 8 million manage their benefits. H. R. 4547 offers several reforms that will improve the program and it will help bishquears, particularly those in foster care while allowing for enhanced information sharing. This will ensure children in foster care have the appropriate representative payey if there is a change in placement. The bill improves oversight by requiring state protection programs to conduct resues of payey performance. Mr. Speaker, many Social Security payees need assistance. I appreciate the work the subcommittee has done to improve Social Security payees program and i encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of h. R. 4547. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Does the gentleman continue to reserve . Mr. Larson yes. Mr. Johnson mr. Speaker, i would like to yield three minutes to representative ron estes from kansas. Mr. Estes thank you, mr. Speaker and thank you mr. Chairman. Americans charged with managing Social Security struggle to make the system work. I have heard stories of the burdensome process that can be involved with the representative payey program. Thats why i urge my colleagues to support h. R. 4547 the strengthening protections for Social Security beneficiaries act of 2018. This important bipartisan piece of legislation reduces the burdens on families by eliminating the requirement to file a form for spouse is and parents who live with their children. The bill protects the most vulnerable beneficiaries through improved information sharing between the Social Security administration and their respective states Adult Protective Service in kansas. This will identify whether a beneficiary is in the foster care and reassess if it is appropriate and ensure the beneficiaries are provided for. The Social Security administration has a great responsibility to ensure that americans who need help managing their Social Security benefits get that help. I would like to thank chairman johnson and Ranking Member larson that will strengthen the program so it better protects beneficiaries and reduces burdensome paperwork that provides little value to families. They are counting on the Social Security administration to get this right. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Johnson mr. Speaker, i reserve. We have no other speakers. Do you have mr. Larson im prepared to close. The speaker pro tempore th