Govwatch

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10243 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                               H. R. 10243

 To amend title II of the Social Security Act to place limitations on 
                       recovery of overpayments.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 3, 2026

   Mr. Higgins of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend title II of the Social Security Act to place limitations on 
                       recovery of overpayments.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Elders From Government 
Error Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON RECOVERY OF OVERPAYMENTS.

    (a) Time Period for Recovery of Old-Age Benefits.--Section 
204(a)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 404(a)(1)(A)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``With respect'' and inserting ``(i) With 
        respect''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(ii) In any case in which the Commissioner finds that 
        more than the correct amount of payment has been made to a 
        person, recovery from the person may not be made if--
                    ``(I) the overpayment is related to an old-age 
                insurance benefit to which such person is entitled 
                under section 202(a);
                    ``(II) the overpayment occurred more than 6 months 
                before the date of the finding; and
                    ``(III) the overpayment was a result of error on 
                the part of the Commissioner.''.
    (b) Withholding for Recovery of Overpayments.--Section 204(a)(1)(A) 
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 404(a)(1)(A)), as amended, is 
further amended by inserting after clause (ii) the following:
            ``(iii) In any case in which the Commissioner finds that 
        more than the correct amount of payment has been made to a 
        person, the Commissioner may not decrease the amount of a 
        monthly benefit payable to the person by more than 5 percent of 
        the amount payable if--
                    ``(I) the overpayment is related to an old-age 
                insurance benefit to which such person is entitled 
                under section 202(a); and
                    ``(II) the overpayment was a result of error on the 
                part of the Commissioner.''.
    (c) Inapplicability in Case of Fraud.--Section 204(a)(1)(A) of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 404(a)(1)(A)), as amended, is further 
amended by inserting after clause (iii) the following:
            ``(iv) Clauses (ii) and (iii) shall not apply with respect 
        to a payment made to a person if the Commissioner determines 
        that the person has ever committed fraud or similar fault with 
        respect to the program under this title.''.
    (d) Conforming Amendment.--Section 204(a)(2) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
404(a)(2)) is amended by striking ``Notwithstanding'' and inserting 
``Subject to clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv) of paragraph (1)(A), but 
notwithstanding''.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act shall take 
effect on the date of enactment of this Act, and shall be effective 
with respect to overpayments under title II of the Social Security Act 
that are outstanding on or after such date.
                                 <all>
Protecting Elders From Government Error Act

Full Text
