I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 281
To establish the Commission on Long-Term Social Security Solvency, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY11, 2023
Mr. C
OLE(for himself and Mr. LATURNER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish the Commission on Long-Term Social Security
Solvency, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bipartisan Social Secu-4
rity Commission Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT. 6
There is established in the legislative branch a com-7
mission to be known as the ‘‘Commission on Long-Term 8
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Social Security Solvency’’ (in this Act referred to as the 1
‘‘Commission’’). 2
SEC. 3. DUTY OF THE COMMISSION. 3
Not later than 1 year after the initial meeting of the 4
Commission, the Commission shall transmit to Congress 5
a special message that includes recommendations and pro-6
posed legislation for achieving solvency in each of the Fed-7
eral Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the 8
Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund for a period of 9
at least 75 years beginning on the date that is 1 year after 10
the initial meeting of the Commission. Such message shall 11
be approved by at least 9 members of the Commission. 12
SEC. 4. MEMBERS. 13
(a) N
UMBER ANDAPPOINTMENT.—The Commission 14
shall be composed of 13 members. Of the members of the 15
Commission— 16
(1) 1 shall be appointed by the President; 17
(2) 3 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the 18
House of Representatives; 19
(3) 3 shall be appointed by the minority leader 20
of the House of Representatives; 21
(4) 3 shall be appointed by the majority leader 22
of the Senate; and 23
(5) 3 shall be appointed by the minority leader 24
of the Senate. 25
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(b) QUALIFICATIONS FOR CONGRESSIONAL AP-1
POINTEES.—Of the members of the Commission appointed 2
by the Congress, at least 1 appointed by each political 3
party shall be an expert who is not an elected official or 4
an officer or employee of the Federal Government or of 5
any State. 6
(c) T
IMING OFAPPOINTMENTS.—Each of the ap-7
pointments made under subsection (a) shall be made not 8
later than 45 days after the date of the enactment of this 9
Act. 10
(d) T
ERMS; VACANCIES.—Each member shall be ap-11
pointed for the life of the Commission, and a vacancy in 12
the Commission shall be filled in the manner in which the 13
original appointment was made. 14
(e) C
OMPENSATION.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Members of the Commission 16
shall serve without pay. 17
(2) T
RAVEL EXPENSES .—Each member shall 18
receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of 19
subsistence, in accordance with applicable provisions 20
under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United 21
States Code. 22
SEC. 5. OPERATION AND POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 23
(a) C
HAIR ANDCO-CHAIR.—The member of the 24
Commission appointed by the President under section 4(a) 25
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shall serve as the chair of the Commission. A co-chair of 1
the Commission shall be designated by the Speaker of the 2
House of Representatives at the time of the appointment. 3
(b) M
EETINGS.—The Commission shall meet not 4
later than 30 days after the members of the Commission 5
have been appointed, and at such times thereafter as the 6
chair or co-chair shall determine. 7
(c) R
ULES OFPROCEDURE.—The chair and co-chair 8
shall, with the approval of a majority of the members of 9
the Commission, establish written rules of procedure for 10
the Commission, which shall include a quorum require-11
ment to conduct the business of the Commission. 12
(d) H
EARINGS.—The Commission shall, for the pur-13
pose of carrying out this Act, hold at least one hearing 14
that is open to the public and allows for public comment 15
and participation, and may hold such other hearings, sit 16
and act at times and places, take testimony, and receive 17
evidence as the Commission considers appropriate. 18
(e) O
BTAININGOFFICIALDATA.—The Commission 19
may secure directly from any department or agency of the 20
United States, including the Congressional Budget Office 21
and the Government Accountability Office, any informa-22
tion or technical assistance necessary to enable it to carry 23
out this Act. Upon request of the chair or co-chair of the 24
Commission, the head of that department or agency shall 25
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furnish that information or technical assistance to the 1
Commission. 2
(f) C
ONTRACTAUTHORITY.—The Commission may 3
contract with and compensate government and private 4
agencies or persons for any purpose necessary to enable 5
it to carry out this Act. 6
(g) M
AILS.—The Commission may use the United 7
States mails in the same manner and under the same con-8
ditions as other departments and agencies of the United 9
States. 10
SEC. 6. PERSONNEL. 11
(a) D
IRECTOR.—The Commission shall have a Direc-12
tor who shall be appointed by the Commission. The Direc-13
tor shall be paid at a rate of pay equivalent to the annual 14
rate of basic pay for a comparable position paid under the 15
Executive Schedule, subject to the approval of the chair 16
and the co-chair. 17
(b) S
TAFF.—The Director may appoint and fix the 18
pay of additional staff as the Director considers appro-19
priate. 20
(c) E
XPERTS ANDCONSULTANTS.—The Commission 21
may procure temporary and intermittent services under 22
section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, but at rates 23
for individuals not to exceed the daily equivalent of the 24
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annual rate of basic pay for a comparable position paid 1
under the Executive Schedule. 2
(d) S
TAFF OFFEDERALAGENCIES.—Upon request 3
of the Commission, the head of any Federal department 4
or agency may detail, without reimbursement, any of the 5
personnel of that department or agency to the Commission 6
to assist it in carrying out its duties under this Act. 7
(e) A
DMINISTRATIVE SUPPORTSERVICES.—Upon 8
the request of the Commission, the Administrator of Gen-9
eral Services shall provide to the Commission, on a reim-10
bursable basis, the administrative support services nec-11
essary for the Commission to carry out its responsibilities 12
under this Act. 13
(f) G
IFTS, BEQUESTS, ANDDEVISES.—The Commis-14
sion may accept, use, and dispose of gifts, bequests, or 15
devises of services or property, both real and personal, for 16
the purpose of aiding or facilitating the work of the Com-17
mission. Gifts, bequests, or devises of money and proceeds 18
from sales of other property received as gifts, bequests, 19
or devises shall be deposited in the Treasury and shall be 20
available for disbursement upon order of the Commission. 21
SEC. 7. TERMINATION. 22
The Commission shall terminate not later than 60 23
days after the submission of the report described in sec-24
tion 3. 25
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SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1
There is authorized to be appropriated not more than 2
$2,000,000 to carry out this Act. 3
SEC. 9. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF COMMISSION REC-4
OMMENDATIONS. 5
(a) E
XPEDITEDCONSIDERATION.— 6
(1) I
NTRODUCTION OF APPROVAL BILL .—The 7
majority leader of each House or a designee shall 8
(by request) introduce an approval bill as described 9
in subsection (c) not later than the third day of ses-10
sion of that House after the date of receipt of a spe-11
cial message transmitted to the Congress under sec-12
tion 3. 13
(2) C
ONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP -14
RESENTATIVES.— 15
(A) R
EFERRAL AND REPORTING .—Any 16
committee of the House of Representatives to 17
which an approval bill is referred shall report it 18
to the House without amendment not later than 19
the third legislative day after the date of its in-20
troduction. If a committee fails to report the 21
bill within that period or the House has adopt-22
ed a concurrent resolution providing for ad-23
journment sine die at the end of a Congress, 24
such committee shall be automatically dis-25
charged from further consideration of the bill 26
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and it shall be placed on the appropriate cal-1
endar. 2
(B) P
ROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION .— 3
Not later than 3 legislative days after the ap-4
proval bill is reported or a committee has been 5
discharged from further consideration thereof, 6
it shall be in order to move to proceed to con-7
sider the approval bill in the House. Such a mo-8
tion shall be in order only at a time designated 9
by the Speaker in the legislative schedule within 10
two legislative days after the day on which the 11
proponent announces an intention to the House 12
to offer the motion provided that such notice 13
may not be given until the approval bill is re-14
ported or a committee has been discharged 15
from further consideration thereof. Such a mo-16
tion shall not be in order after the House has 17
disposed of a motion to proceed with respect to 18
that special message. The previous question 19
shall be considered as ordered on the motion to 20
its adoption without intervening motion. A mo-21
tion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 22
is disposed of shall not be in order. 23
(C) C
ONSIDERATION.—If the motion to 24
proceed is agreed to, the House shall imme-25
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diately proceed to consider the approval bill in 1
the House without intervening motion. The ap-2
proval bill shall be considered as read. All 3
points of order against the approval bill and 4
against its consideration are waived. The pre-5
vious question shall be considered as ordered on 6
the approval bill to its passage without inter-7
vening motion except 4 hours of debate equally 8
divided and controlled by the proponent and an 9
opponent and one motion to limit debate on the 10
bill. A motion to reconsider the vote on passage 11
of the approval bill shall not be in order. 12
(3) C
ONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE .— 13
(A) C
OMMITTEE ACTION.—The appropriate 14
committee of the Senate shall report without 15
amendment the approval bill not later than the 16
third session day after introduction. If a com-17
mittee fails to report the approval bill within 18
that period or the Senate has adopted a concur-19
rent resolution providing for adjournment sine 20
die at the end of a Congress, the committee 21
shall be automatically discharged from further 22
consideration of the approval bill and it shall be 23
placed on the appropriate calendar. 24
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(B) MOTION TO PROCEED.—Not later than 1
3 session days after the approval bill is reported 2
in the Senate or the committee has been dis-3
charged thereof, it shall be in order for any 4
Senator to move to proceed to consider the ap-5
proval bill in the Senate. The motion shall be 6
decided without debate and the motion to re-7
consider shall be deemed to have been laid on 8
the table. Such a motion shall not be in order 9
after the Senate has disposed of a prior motion 10
to proceed with respect to the approval bill. 11
(C) C
ONSIDERATION.—If a motion to pro-12
ceed to the consideration of the approval bill is 13
agreed to, the Senate shall immediately proceed 14
to consideration of the approval bill without in-15
tervening motion, order, or other business, and 16
the approval bill shall remain the unfinished 17
business of the Senate until disposed of. Con-18
sideration on the bill in the Senate under this 19
subsection, and all debatable motions and ap-20
peals in connection therewith, shall not exceed 21
30 hours equally divided in the usual form. All 22
points of order against the approval bill or its 23
consideration are waived. Consideration in the 24
Senate on any debatable motion or appeal in 25
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connection with the approval bill shall be lim-1
ited to not more than 1 hour. A motion to post-2
pone, or a motion to proceed to the consider-3
ation of other business, or a motion to recom-4
mit the approval bill is not in order. A motion 5
to reconsider the vote by which the approval bill 6
is agreed to or disagreed to is not in order. 7
(4) A
MENDMENTS PROHIBITED .—No amend-8
ment to, or motion to strike a provision from, an ap-9
proval bill considered under this section shall be in 10
order in either the Senate or the House of Rep-11
resentatives. 12
(5) C
OORDINATION WITH ACTION BY OTHER 13
HOUSE.— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If, before passing the 15
approval bill, one House receives from the other 16
a bill— 17
(i) the approval bill of the other 18
House shall not be referred to a com-19
mittee; and 20
(ii) the procedure in the receiving 21
House shall be the same as if no approval 22
bill had been received from the other 23
House until the vote on passage, when the 24
bill received from the other House shall 25
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supplant the approval bill of the receiving 1
House. 2
(B) E
XCEPTION.—This paragraph shall 3
not apply to the House of Representatives. 4
(b) L
IMITATION.—Subsection (a) shall apply only to 5
an approval bill described in subsection (c) and introduced 6
pursuant to subsection (a)(1). 7
(c) A
PPROVALBILLDESCRIBED.—For purposes of 8
subsection (a), a bill described in this paragraph is a bill— 9
(1) which consists of the proposed legislation 10
which is included in such report to carry out the rec-11
ommendations made by the Commission in the re-12
port; and 13
(2) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘A bill to 14
carry out the recommendations of the Commission 15
on Long-Term Social Security Solvency.’’. 16
(d) E
XTENDEDTIMEPERIOD.—If Congress adjourns 17
at the end of a Congress and an approval bill was then 18
pending in either House of Congress or a committee there-19
of, or an approval bill had not yet been introduced with 20
respect to a special message, then within the first 3 days 21
of session of the next Congress, the Commission shall 22
transmit to Congress an additional special message con-23
taining all of the information in the previous, pending spe-24
cial message. An approval bill may be introduced within 25
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the first five days of session of such next Congress and 1
shall be treated as an approval bill under this section, and 2
the time periods described in paragraphs (2) and (3) of 3
subsection (a) shall commence on the day of introduction 4
of that approval bill. 5
Æ
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