I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1221
To amend titles II and XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a
Social Security Surplus Protection Account in the Federal Old-Age and
Survivors Insurance Trust Fund to hold the Social Security surplus
and a Medicare Surplus Protection Account in the Federal Hospital
Insurance Trust Fund to hold the Medicare surplus, to provide for
suspension of investment of amounts held in such Accounts until enact-
ment of legislation providing for investment of the Trust Funds in
investment vehicles other than obligations of the United States, and
to establish a Social Security and Medicare Part A Investment Commis-
sion to make recommendations for alternative forms of investment of
the Social Security and Medicare surpluses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY11, 2025
Mr. W
ALBERGintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend titles II and XVIII of the Social Security Act
to establish a Social Security Surplus Protection Account
in the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust
Fund to hold the Social Security surplus and a Medicare
Surplus Protection Account in the Federal Hospital In-
surance Trust Fund to hold the Medicare surplus, to
provide for suspension of investment of amounts held
in such Accounts until enactment of legislation providing
for investment of the Trust Funds in investment vehicles
other than obligations of the United States, and to estab-
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lish a Social Security and Medicare Part A Investment
Commission to make recommendations for alternative
forms of investment of the Social Security and Medicare
surpluses.
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 ‘‘Social Security and 4
Medicare Lock-Box Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. INTERIM PROTECTIONS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY 6
TRUST FUND SURPLUS. 7
Section 201(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 8
402(d)) is amended— 9
(1) by striking ‘‘It shall be the duty’’ and in-10
serting ‘‘(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), it 11
shall be the duty’’; 12
(2) by striking ‘‘(1) on original issue at the 13
issue price, or (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) on original 14
issue at the issue price, or (B)’’; and 15
(3) by adding at the end the following new 16
paragraph: 17
‘‘(2)(A) There is established in the Federal Old-Age 18
and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund a Social Security 19
Surplus Protection Account. As soon as practicable after 20
the end of each fiscal year after fiscal year 2025, the Man-21
aging Trustee shall transfer to the Account, from amounts 22
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otherwise available in the Trust Fund, amounts equivalent 1
to the social security surplus for such fiscal year. Such 2
amounts shall be transferred from time to time to the Ac-3
count, such amounts to be determined on the basis of esti-4
mates by the Managing Trustee, and proper adjustments 5
shall be made in amounts subsequently transferred to the 6
extent prior estimates were in excess of or were less than 7
the correct amount. 8
‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term ‘so-9
cial security surplus’ means, for any fiscal year, the excess, 10
if any, of— 11
‘‘(i) the sum of— 12
‘‘(I) the taxes imposed for such fiscal year 13
by chapter 21 (other than sections 3101(b) and 14
3111(b)) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 15
with respect to wages (as defined in section 16
3121 of such Code) reported to the Secretary of 17
the Treasury or his delegates pursuant to sub-18
title F of such Code, as determined by the Sec-19
retary of the Treasury by applying the applica-20
ble rates of tax under such chapter 21 (other 21
than sections 3101(b) and 3111(b)) to such 22
wages, less the amounts specified in clause (1) 23
of subsection (b) of this section for such fiscal 24
year; 25
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‘‘(II) the taxes imposed by chapter 2 1
(other than section 1401(b)) of the Internal 2
Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to self-em-3
ployment income (as defined in section 1402 of 4
such Code) reported to the Secretary of the 5
Treasury on tax returns under subtitle F of 6
such Code, as determined by the Secretary of 7
the Treasury by applying the applicable rate of 8
tax under such chapter (other than section 9
1401(b)) to such self-employment income, less 10
the amounts specified in clause (2) of sub-11
section (b) of this section for such fiscal year; 12
and 13
‘‘(III) the amount equivalent to the aggre-14
gate increase in tax liabilities under chapter 1 15
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which is 16
attributable to the application of sections 86 17
and 871(a)(3) of such Code to payments from 18
the Trust Fund; over 19
‘‘(ii) the sum of— 20
‘‘(I) benefits paid from the Trust Fund 21
during the fiscal year; and 22
‘‘(II) amounts authorized to be made avail-23
able from the Trust Fund under subsection (g) 24
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of this section which are paid from the Trust 1
Fund during such fiscal year. 2
‘‘(C) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the balance in 3
the Account shall not be available for investment by the 4
Managing Trustee. 5
‘‘(D)(i) The preceding provisions of this paragraph 6
shall not apply with respect to fiscal years commencing 7
with or after the first fiscal year, after fiscal year 2025, 8
for which a provision of Federal law takes effect and au-9
thorizes, for amounts in the Trust Fund, an investment 10
vehicle other than obligations of the United States. 11
‘‘(ii) A provision of Federal law shall be deemed to 12
meet the requirements of clause (i) if such provision in-13
cludes the following: ‘This Act shall be considered to be 14
a provision of Federal law meeting the requirements of 15
section 201(d)(2)(D)(i) of the Social Security Act.’.’’. 16
SEC. 3. INTERIM PROTECTIONS FOR MEDICARE PART A 17
TRUST FUND SURPLUS. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1817(c) of the Social Se-19
curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i(c)) is amended— 20
(1) by striking ‘‘It shall be the duty’’ and in-21
serting ‘‘(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), it 22
shall be the duty’’; 23
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(2) by striking ‘‘(1) on original issue at the 1
issue price, or (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) on original 2
issue at the issue price, or (B)’’; and 3
(3) by adding at the end the following new 4
paragraph: 5
‘‘(2)(A) There is established in the Federal Hospital 6
Insurance Trust Fund a Medicare Surplus Protection Ac-7
count (in this paragraph referred to as the ‘Account’). As 8
soon as practicable after the end of each fiscal year after 9
fiscal year 2025, the Managing Trustee shall transfer to 10
the Account, from amounts otherwise available in the 11
Trust Fund, amounts equivalent to the Medicare part A 12
surplus for such fiscal year. Such amounts shall be trans-13
ferred from time to time to the Account, such amounts 14
to be determined on the basis of estimates by the Man-15
aging Trustee, and proper adjustments shall be made in 16
amounts subsequently transferred to the extent prior esti-17
mates were in excess of or were less than the correct 18
amount. 19
‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term 20
‘Medicare part A surplus’ means, for any fiscal year, the 21
excess, if any, of— 22
‘‘(i) the sum of— 23
‘‘(I) the taxes imposed for such fiscal year 24
by sections 3101(b) and 3111(b) of the Internal 25
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Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to wages 1
(as defined in section 3121 of such Code) re-2
ported to the Secretary of the Treasury or his 3
delegates pursuant to subtitle F of such Code, 4
as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury 5
by applying the applicable rates of tax under 6
such sections to such wages; and 7
‘‘(II) the taxes imposed by section 1401(b) 8
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with re-9
spect to self-employment income (as defined in 10
section 1402 of such Code) reported to the Sec-11
retary of the Treasury on tax returns under 12
subtitle F of such Code, as determined by the 13
Secretary of the Treasury by applying the ap-14
plicable rate of tax under such section 1401(b) 15
to such self-employment income; over 16
‘‘(ii) the sum of— 17
‘‘(I) benefits paid from the Trust Fund 18
during the fiscal year; and 19
‘‘(II) amounts authorized to be made avail-20
able from the Trust Fund under subsection (f) 21
of this section (or section 201(g)) which are 22
paid from the Trust Fund during such fiscal 23
year. 24
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‘‘(C) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the balance in 1
the Account shall not be available for investment by the 2
Managing Trustee. 3
‘‘(D)(i) The preceding provisions of this paragraph 4
shall not apply with respect to fiscal years commencing 5
with or after the first fiscal year, after fiscal year 2025, 6
for which a provision of Federal law takes effect and au-7
thorizes, for amounts in the Trust Fund, an investment 8
vehicle other than obligations of the United States. 9
‘‘(ii) A provision of Federal law shall be deemed to 10
meet the requirements of clause (i) if such provision in-11
cludes the following: ‘This Act shall be considered to be 12
a provision of Federal law meeting the requirements of 13
section 1817(c)(2)(D)(i) of the Social Security Act.’.’’. 14
SEC. 4. SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE PART A INVEST-15
MENT COMMISSION. 16
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the ex-17
ecutive branch of the Government a Social Security and 18
Medicare Part A Investment Commission (in this section 19
referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 20
(b) S
TUDY ANDREPORT.—As soon as practicable 21
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis-22
sion shall conduct a study to ascertain the most effective 23
vehicles for investment of the Federal Old-Age and Sur-24
vivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Hospital In-25
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surance Trust Fund, other than investment in the form 1
of obligations of the United States. Not later than October 2
1, 2025, the Commission shall submit a report to the 3
President and to each House of the Congress setting forth 4
its recommendations for such vehicles for investment, to-5
gether with proposals for such administrative and legisla-6
tive changes as the Commission determines necessary to 7
authorize and implement such recommendations. 8
(c) C
OMPOSITION.—The Commission shall be com-9
posed of— 10
(1) 3 members appointed by the President, of 11
whom 1 shall be designated by the President as 12
Chairman; 13
(2) 2 members appointed by the Speaker of the 14
House of Representatives; 15
(3) 1 member appointed by the minority leader 16
of the House of Representatives; 17
(4) 2 members appointed by the majority leader 18
of the Senate; and 19
(5) 1 member appointed by the minority leader 20
of the Senate. 21
(d) M
EMBERSHIPREQUIREMENTS.—Members of the 22
Commission shall have substantial experience, training, 23
and expertise in the management of financial investments 24
and pension benefit plans. 25
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(e) LENGTH OFAPPOINTMENTS.—Members of the 1
Commission shall serve for the life of the Commission. A 2
vacancy on the Commission shall be filled in the manner 3
in which the original appointment was made and shall be 4
subject to any conditions that applied with respect to the 5
original appointment. 6
(f) A
DMINISTRATIVEPROVISIONS.— 7
(1) M
EETINGS.—The Commission shall meet— 8
(A) not less than once during each month; 9
and 10
(B) at additional times at the call of the 11
Chairman. 12
(2) E
XERCISE OF POWERS.— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Commission shall 14
perform the functions and exercise the powers 15
of the Commission on a majority vote of a 16
quorum of the Commission. Three members of 17
the Commission shall constitute a quorum for 18
the transaction of business. 19
(B) V
ACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Com-20
mission shall not impair the authority of a 21
quorum of the Commission to perform the func-22
tions and exercise the powers of the Commis-23
sion. 24
(g) C
OMPENSATION.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Com-1
mission who is not an officer or employee of the 2
Federal Government shall be compensated at the 3
daily rate of basic pay for level IV of the Executive 4
Schedule for each day during which such member is 5
engaged in performing a function of the Commis-6
sion. 7
(2) E
XPENSES.—A member of the Commission 8
shall be paid travel, per diem, and other necessary 9
expenses under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 10
5, United States Code, while traveling away from 11
such member’s home or regular place of business in 12
the performance of the duties of the Commission. 13
(h) T
ERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate 14
90 days after the date of the submission of its report pur-15
suant to subsection (b). 16
Æ
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