Making DI Work For All Americans Act of 2019
Latest action. Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on oversightCongress's review of how the executive branch carries out the laws it passed: hearings, document demands, investigations, and the spending power behind them.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdictionA court's legal authority to hear a case: over the subject matter, the parties, and the territory.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) of the committee concerned.
Making DI Work For All Americans Act of 2019
This bill revises the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs, including with respect to benefits, disability reviews, and claimant representative fees. It also modifies administrative and other activities of the Social Security Administration (SSA) concerning these programs.
Specifically, the bill sets the SSI benefit amount at 1/12 of the federal poverty level and prohibits the receipt of disability benefits and unemployment compensation in the same month. It also increases the frequency of continuing disability reviews, eliminates certain stages of disability review reconsiderations, and requires the SSA to use social media evidence in these reviews. Additionally, the bill eliminates the authority of the SSA to set fees for, and certify payments to, representatives of Social Security claimants.
Other changes include applying the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges to Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and requiring the SSA to review disability determinations of ALJs who are considered outliers based on the relative number of awards they have made. Furthermore, the SSA must estimate the number of ALJs and support staff that are necessary to complete disability determinations within specified time frames.
Additionally, the SSA must update certain guidelines used in disability determinations to account for factors including employment made possible due to advances in treatment, rehabilitation, and technology; update the jobs that exist in the national economy for purposes of disability determinations; study the impact of using different disability standards to determine disability status; and provide specified training to state partners.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on October 23, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on October 23, 2019: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ted Yoho (R-FL) introduced it on October 23, 2019. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on October 23, 2019, 2514 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2514 days ago, on October 23, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers