Congressional Hearing Alert

From a press release issued by the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee:

Congressman Michael R. McNulty (D-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on current and proposed employment eligibility verification systems and their impact on the ability of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to fulfill its core mission of administering Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m. ...

The effect of a national system on SSA’s costs and workload is subject to substantial uncertainty. Mistakes committed by employers and inaccuracies in SSA’s database would combine to produce millions of erroneous non-confirmations. Unless the cost of this workload is fully funded, every year, a national system would disrupt not only hiring decisions, but also SSA’s ability to conduct its core operations related to administration of Social Security benefits. Also, existing programs under which employers must match data with SSA have very high rejection rates. For example, ten percent of the 240 million wage reporting forms (W-2s) received annually by SSA do not match the names and Social Security numbers in SSA’s records. Last year, SSA testified that seven of every 100 workers checked were initially rejected by E-Verify because of mismatches with SSA records, and that three of every 100 workers contacted SSA in response to an E-Verify “tentative non-confirmation” letter.