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Legislation of the 118th Congress with provisions affecting Social Security

  • On December 23, 2024, the President signed H.R. 9566, the “Source code Harmonization And Reuse in Information Technology (SHARE IT) Act” (Public Law 118-187).  The Senate passed the bill on December 18, 2024 without amendment by unanimous consent. The House suspended the rules and passed this bill by voice vote on December 4, 2024.  Among other things, the law requires federal agencies to share their custom-developed software code with other federal agencies and the public via a repository.  In addition, an agency’s Chief Information Officer, in consultation with the agency’s Chief Acquisition Officer and the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government, must develop agencywide policy governing software sharing best practices. 
  • On December 23, 2024, the President signed into law S.59, the Chances to Compete Act of 2024 (Public Law No: 118-188). The House previously passed this bill by voice vote under suspension of the rules on December 16, 2024, and the Senate passed it by amendment under unanimous consent on December 12, 2024. Among other things, the law amends 5 U.S.C. §3304 to require federal agencies to conduct a technical assessment as part of an examination of applicants for positions in competitive service and allow agencies to establish talent teams to provide hiring support.
  • On January 4, 2025, the President signed H.R. 5887, the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act (Public Law 118-231). The House suspended the rules and passed the bill on May 21, 2024, by voice vote. The Senate passed the bill on December 21, 2024, without amendment by unanimous consent. The law amends Chapter 3 of title 5, U.S.C. by adding new subchapter III Federal Government Service Delivery. Among other things, the law requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to designate or appoint a senior official within OMB as the Federal Government Service Delivery Lead and requires the head of each federal agency to designate a senior official to be responsible for improving the agency’s government service delivery. 
  • On December 23, 2024, the President signed into law H.R. 5301, the Eliminate Useless Reports Act of 2024 (Public Law No: 118-172).  The House previously passed this bill on November 12, 2024 and the Senate passed it on December 12, 2024.  Among other things, thelawamends 31 U.S.C. §1125 to require federal agencies include in their annual budget justifications a list of each outdated or duplicative recurring plan or report submitted by the agency.
  • On December 11, 2024, the President signed into law H.R. 5536, the Grant Transparency Act of 2023, (Public Law No: 118-140).  The House passed this bill on November 18, 2024 and the Senate passed it on December 3.  This new law establishes transparency requirements for notices of funding opportunities in applications for competitive grants awarded by federal agencies.
  • On December 23, 2024, the President signed into law S. 709, the Federal Agency Performance Act of 2024(Public Law No: 118-190). The Senate previously passed this bill on February 8, 2024 and the House passed it on December 5, 2024.  This new law addresses federal agency performance and accountability.  Among other things, this law revises the requirements regarding strategic reviews of federal agencies’ performance goals.
  • On January 5, 2025, the President signed into law H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023. The law repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision, both of which could reduce Social Security benefits when someone received a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security. The law applies with respect to benefits payable for months after December 2023. (WEP and GPO continue to apply to benefits payable for months before January 2024.)
    Previous Action 12/21/24; 11/12/24

  • On September 30, 2024, the President signed H.R. 7032, the Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act (Public Law 118-89).  The Senate passed this bill on September 10, 2024 without amendment by unanimous consent.  The House passed the bill on April 29, 2024 by voice vote under suspension of the rules.  The new law amends the ‘Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974’ to require Executive branch agencies to furnish material to the Director of the Congressional Budget Office with or without a written agreement, if the Director maintains the same level of confidentiality required of the source agency.

  • On March 9, 2024, the President signed H.R. 4366, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-42).  Effective upon enactment, this law extends SSI eligibility to certain individuals from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau while these individuals are residing within one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or the Northern Mariana Islands.

  • On January 18, 2024, the House passed H.R. 3667, the Social Security Child Protection Act of 2023, by voice vote.  This bill would clarify situations in which SSA should issue a new SSN (and card) to children if the original mailed SSN card was lost or stolen.  The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration. 
    Previous Action 06/07/23

  • On December 22, 2023, the President signed H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (Public Law 118-31).  The House passed the bill on December 14, 2023 by a vote of 310-118.  The Senate previously passed the bill on December 13, 2023 by a vote of 87-13.  H.R. 2670 contains several provisions of interest to the Social Security Administration (SSA) related to acquisitions, personnel, and information security.
  • On February 1, 2023, the House passed H.R.139, the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems Act of 2023 or the SHOW UP Act of 2023, by a roll call vote of 221-206. Among other things, the bill would require federal agencies to reinstate their 2019 pre-pandemic telework policies, and require any expansion of telework to be certified by the Office of Personnel Management as having a positive effect on the agency's mission and operational costs. The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration, where support is less certain.

Testimony before the 118th Congress by SSA Officials

  • November 20, 2024 -- Testimony by Martin O'Malley, Commissioner, Social Security Administration, before the House Committee Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health And Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on Social Security Administration.
  • June 4, 2024 -- Testimony by Stephen C. Goss, Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration, before the House Committiee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security The 2024 Trustees Report
  • October 26, 2023 -- Testimony by Linda Kerr-Davis, Acting Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Operations, Social Security Administration, before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security on the agency's backlog of initial disability claims.
  • May 24, 2023 -- Testimony of Sean Brune, Deputy Commissioner for Systems and Chief Information Officer, Social Security Administration, before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security on the agency's role in combatting identity fraud.

 

Members of the 118th Congress

For additional information on legislation, you can use Congress.gov, which was developed by the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public. You can access Congress.gov at: https://www.congress.gov/.

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