Summaries of Legislation of the 111th Congress with provisions affecting Social Security:

  • On January 4, 2011, the President signed H.R. 2142, the “GPRA Modernization Act of 2010”, which became Public Law 111-352. The new law requires Federal agencies to set clear performance goals that they can accurately measure and publicly report in a more transparent way.
    Previous action 12/21/10.
  • On October 13, 2010, President Obama signed into law H.R. 6200, the “WIPA and PABSS Extension Act of 2010,” which became Public Law 111-280. The bill extends, through fiscal year 2011, funding authorization for the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) and the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) programs. Previous action 09/29/10; 09/28/10. Became Public Law 111-352.

  • On September 27, 2010, the President signed into law H.R. 5297, the “Small Business Jobs Act of 2010”. The law allows business owners to deduct the cost of health insurance incurred in 2010 for themselves and their family members when calculating their 2010 self-employment tax.  Under current law, business owners are not allowed to deduct the cost of health insurance for themselves and their family members when calculating self-employment tax. Became Public Law 111-240.

  • On September 23, 2010, the House passed, by voice vote, S. 1674, the “Improving Access to Clinical Trials Act of 2010”.  On August 5, 2010, the Senate had passed the same bill by unanimous consent. Became Public Law 111-255.

  • On July 22, 2010, President Obama signed S. 1508, the “Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010”. Previous action 06/23/10; 04/28/10. Became Public Law 111-204. 
  • On June 10, 2010, the House passed H.R. 5072, the “FHA Reform Act of 2010.”  The bill would not impose any requirements on SSA.  However, the bill would prohibit the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from insuring certain mortgages unless the mortgagor provides a valid Social Security Number and is a United States citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or an alien who legally resides and is authorized to work in the United States. 

  • On May 28, 2010, the House passed H.R. 4213, the “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010”. The bill would ensure collection of Social Security employment taxes earned by certain service professionals in situations involving an S corporation. It would also ratify a class-action lawsuit settlement ( Elouise Cobell et al. v. Ken Salazar et al.) that determined the United States had mismanaged American Indian assets for generations, and exclude certain settlement payments from consideration as income or as a resource for SSI purposes. Became Public Law 111-205.

  • On March 30, 2010, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4872, the “Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010”. The new law contains a number of revisions and additions to P.L. 111-148, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." Of particular interest, the law includes a $1 billion fund to the Secretary of HHS to carry out implementation of the health care reform legislation. Previous actions 03/24/10; 12/24/09; 11/07/09. Became Public Law 111-152.

  • On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed H.R. 3590, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”. Of significance to SSA, the new health care law provides for a reduced Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Subsidy for higher-income beneficiaries, and requires SSA to provide citizenship-related verifications for new health insurance programs. Previous actions 12/24/09; 11/07/09. Became Public Law 111-148.

  • On March 18, 2010, President Obama signed H.R. 2847, the “Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act ”. Descriptions of the provisions in the bill that are of interest to SSA may be found in Legislative Bulletin 111-37, dated March 18, 2010. The bill includes provisions to exempt qualified employers from paying the employer share of OASDI tax for newly hired employees who had previously been unemployed. Previous actions 03/17/10; 03/04/10; 02/24/10; 12/16/09. Became Public Law 111-147.
  • On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law H.R. 2647, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010”. The legislation predominantly provides for military appropriations. However, several provisions related to Federal employee benefits are contained within the bill. Became Public Law 111-84.

  • On October 7, 2009 by Unanimous Consent, the Senate Passed S. 942, the "Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2009".  The legislation would strengthen oversight of both purchase and travel cards. This summary will be of special interest to those employees who use such cards, and to SSA staff involved in oversight of the travel and purchase card programs.
  • On April 21, 2009, the President signed H.R. 1388, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. Among other provisions, this law requires the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to study the feasibility of using data matching to verify statements of citizenship, nationality, or status as a permanent resident. CNCS would have to determine whether it could use the Department of Education's data match against our records and those of the Department of Homeland Security or whether CNCS could establish a comparable system. Previous actions 03/09/09. Became Public Law 111-13.

  • On February 17, 2009, the President signed H.R. 1, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009". The House passed the conference report by a vote of 246-183, on February 13, 2009. The Senate passed an identical version of the conference report that same day by a vote of 60-38. Descriptions of the SSA-related provisions in the new law may be found in Legislative Bulletin 111-12, dated 02/13/09.
    Previous actions 02/13/09; 02/10/09; 01/28/09; 01/27/09; 01/22/09. Became Public Law 111-5.

  • On February 4, 2009, President Obama signed into law H.R.2, the "Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009". Earlier that same day the House passed, by a vote of 290 to 135, the Senate-amended version of H.R.2. The new law contains a provision that provides States the option to verify an individual's declarations of citizenship or nationality for purposes of Medicaid and/or CHIP eligibility through an electronic comparison of the information provided by the individual with information in SSA records, effective January 1, 2010. Previous actions 02/04/09; 01/29/09; 01/16/09 S ; 01/16/09 H. Became Public Law 111-3.

  • On February 3, 2009, the House passed H.R. 559, the "Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely (FAST) Redress Act of 2009", by a vote of 413 to 3. No action has yet been taken in the Senate. The legislation would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish an appeal and redress process for individuals wrongly delayed or prohibited from boarding commercial aircraft.

  • On January 14, 2009, the House of Representatives adopted H. Res. 40, “Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to Require Each Standing Committee to Hold Periodic Hearings on the Topic of Waste, Fraud, Abuse, or Mismanagement” by a vote of 423-0. The simple resolution amends the Rules of the House to require each standing committee to hold periodic hearings on specified topics such as waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in Government programs. As a simple resolution, H. Res. 40 only requires approval by the House in order to take effect.