Congressional Research Service Reports - 28 Matching Results
Search Results
- Social Security: The Trust Fund
- This report covers how the Social Security program is financed and how the Social Security trust fund works.
- Social Security: The Lump-Sum Death Benefit
- This report provides a brief description of the Lump-Sum Death Benefit and discusses the number of benefit payments and total spending.
- Social Security Reform: Legal Analysis of Social Security Benefit Entitlement Issues
- This report addresses selected legal issues which may be raised regarding entitlement to Social Security benefits as Congress considers possible changes to the Social Security program, and in view of projected long-range shortfalls in the Social Security Trust Funds.
- Social Security Administration: Administrative Budget Issues
- The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers the Social Security program (Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, or OASDI) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, and provides administrative support to Medicare and several other federal programs. Total SSA spending in FY2006 was about $597 billion, 98% of which was mandatory spending on benefit payments. This report focuses on SSA’s spending for administrative expenses, which is discretionary and amounts to 2% of SSA’s total spending. This funding is provided in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
- Social Security: What Would Happen if the Trust Funds Ran Out?
- No Description Available.
- Mexican Workers in the United States: A Comparison with Workers from Social Security Totalization Countries
- On June 29, 2004, the United States and Mexico signed a Social Security totalization agreement, the effects of which depend on the yet to be disclosed language of the agreement. A totalization agreement coordinates the payment of Social Security taxes and benefits for workers who divide their careers between two countries. The agreement has not been transmitted to Congress for review, which is required under law before the agreement can go into effect. This report does not attempt to estimate the potential cost of a totalization agreement with Mexico or reach a conclusion on the effects of such an agreement on U.S. workers and employers. Instead, this report explores one of the issues concerning such an agreement.
- Social Security Reform
- President Bush has highlighted Social Security reform as a top priority during his second term. The President has not presented a detailed plan for reform. Rather, he has put forth guidelines for Congress to consider in the development of legislation to create personal accounts within a program in need of “wise and effective reform.” The President has acknowledged that other changes would be needed to address the system’s projected long-range funding shortfall. In recent years, reform ideas have ranged from relatively minor changes to the current pay-as-you-go social insurance system to a redesigned program based on personal savings and investments modeled after IRAs and 401(k)s.
- Individual Accounts: What Rate of Return Would They Earn?
- It has been proposed to add individual accounts to Social Security in which investors could hold private securities. Calculations that project the earnings of individual accounts typically presume that they will earn a rate of return equal or close to the historical rate of return. But is there evidence that future rates of return will differ from history in predictable ways?
- Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Medicare: The 24-Month Waiting Period for SSDI Beneficiaries Under Age 65
- No Description Available.
- Age Dependency Ratios and Social Security Solvency
- As highlighted by the Social Security Administration (SSA), the aging of the (United States) population, hastened by the impending retirement of the huge baby-boom generation, has caused policy-makers to question whether the U.S. Social Security system can meet the demands for retirement benefits in the future. Because the current system largely pays benefits through taxes paid by current workers, the financial health of the system is sensitive to the ratio of dependents to workers—sometimes called the age dependency ratio or support ratio. Trends and projections of dependency ratios, including the relationship between both older (years 65 and older) and younger (under age 20) dependents to the working-age population in the United States are considered in the first section of this demographic report. Next, the United States is compared to nine other nations, including the seven other members of the G8. In the final section, policy implications of the changing dependent-to-worker ratios are considered in the context of pay-as-you-go (paygo) social security systems.
- The Effect of State-Legalized Same-Sex Marriage on Social Security Benefits and Pensions
- No Description Available.
- Military Retirement: Major Legislative Issues
- This report includes information involving major legislative issues regarding military retirement. Key elements and issues, budgeting and costs, and concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability compensation are among topics discussed in this report.
- Social Security Benefits for Noncitizens: Current Policy and Legislation
- No Description Available.
- Social Security: The Public Servant Retirement Protection Act (H.R. 4391/S. 2455)
- No Description Available.
- Social Security: The Government Pension Offset (GPO)
- This report discusses the social security benefits and the spousal benefits of individuals who are not financially dependent on their spouses because they receive benefits based on their own work records.
- Social Security Reform
- No Description Available.
- Social Security Reform: Effect on Benefits and the Federal Budget of Plans Proposed by the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security
- In 2001, President Bush established the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security to make recommendations on ways to “modernize and restore fiscal soundness to the Social Security system” in accordance with six principles, one of which mandated the creation of voluntary personal retirement accounts. The Commission proposed three alternative reform models. Under all three proposals, workers could choose to invest in personal accounts and have their traditional Social Security benefits reduced by some amount. Model 1 would make no other changes to the program.
- Social Security: Where Do Surplus Taxes Go and How Are They Used?
- No Description Available.
- Social Security Reform
- No Description Available.
- Social Security Reform: Economic Issues
- No Description Available.
- Social Security: Taxation of Benefits
- No Description Available.
- Social Security: Taxation of Benefits
- No Description Available.
- Social Security and the Federal Budget: What Does Social Security's Being "Off Budget" Mean?
- This report discusses social security and its place in the federal budget. As a result of a series of laws enacted in 1983, 1985 and 1990, Social Security is considered to be "off budget" for federal budget purposes. While the meaning of this might seem obvious--that Social Security is not to be considered as part of the federal budget--many people are confused by the continued use of aggregate budget figures that include Social Security's receipts and expenditures.
- Social Security and the Federal Budget: What Does Social Security's Being "Off Budget" Mean?
- No Description Available.
- Social Security and the Federal Budget: What Does Social Security's Being "Off Budget" Mean?
- As a result of a series of laws enacted in 1983, 1985 and 1990, Social Security is considered to be “off-budget” for federal budget purposes. While the meaning of this might seem obvious — that Social Security is not to be considered as part of the federal budget — many people are perplexed by the continued use of aggregate budget figures that include Social Security’s receipts and expenditures.
- Social Security Financing Reform: Lessons from the 1983 Amendments
- No Description Available.
- The Cost of Social Security Cash Benefits-The 1974 Report of the Trustees of the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Trust Funds.
- This report shows that the cash-benefit programs in the United States were underfinanced at the time of writing.
- The Social Security Provisions of P.L. 93-66
- This report outlines a proposed temporary benefits increase for Social Security.