S. 2763 — Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act

This section designates the Act as the “Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act” and sets forth its table of contents.

This section exempts the Social Security Administration (SSA)—including its personnel, data and information technology systems, and administered benefits and programs such as Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance under Title II of the Social Security Act—from the jurisdiction of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the application of Executive Orders 14158, 14210, 14219, and 14222 (among related orders). DOGE encompasses the U.S. DOGE Service, its temporary organization, DOGE teams, implementation entities, and successors.

This section prohibits political appointees (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 3101 note) and special government employees (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 202(a)) from accessing Social Security Administration (SSA) beneficiary data systems—i.e., SSA systems that issue or record Social Security numbers, determine benefit eligibility or payments, or contain personally identifiable information, personal health information, or federal tax information of beneficiaries or applicants—except for those appointed to or employed in SSA positions responsible for researching, analyzing, or improving benefits delivery. The section further (1) authorizes civil actions against the United States or non-federal persons for negligent violations of the existing disclosure prohibition or the new access prohibition, with damages of the greater of $5,000 per act or actual damages (plus punitive damages for willful or grossly negligent acts), costs, and reasonable attorneys' fees (subject to exceptions for good faith errors or individual requests and a 5-year limitations period from discovery); (2) establishes criminal penalties for willful disclosures by federal officers or employees violating either prohibition, including fines up to $10,000, imprisonment up to 5 years, prosecution costs, and dismissal; (3) requires the SSA Inspector General to investigate violations and report to Congress within 30 days, including violation details, risk assessments, and information on stopped payments; (4) preserves the force of 20 C.F.R. part 401 (as in effect on January 19, 2025); and (5) directs the Comptroller General to submit a study on the effects of these changes to specified congressional committees within one year of enactment.

This section limits the Social Security Administration's (SSA) authority to except positions from the competitive service (i.e., the primary category of civil service positions filled through open competition under 5 U.S.C. 2102) or transfer positions within or to the excepted service. Specifically, it (1) prohibits excepting any competitive service position unless placed in schedules A through E of 5 C.F.R. part 6 (as in effect on September 30, 2020) under the terms of that part as of such date; (2) bars transfers of excepted service positions to schedules other than A through E; (3) requires Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director consent for any transfer to schedule C; (4) caps transfers from competitive to excepted service during any four-year presidential term at the greater of 1% of SSA's total employees or five employees as of the term's first day; and (5) requires prior written employee consent for transfers between excepted service schedules or from competitive to excepted service. It further directs the OPM Director to (1) submit to Congress by March 15 of each year a report listing prior-year competitive-to-excepted transfers with justifications and any section violations; and (2) issue implementing regulations within 90 days of enactment.

This section revises error correction procedures for the Social Security Death Master File (DMF)—SSA's database of deceased individuals used by federal agencies and others to verify deaths and prevent improper payments—and prohibits adding any individual to the DMF unless SSA finds clear and convincing evidence that the individual is deceased. Specifically, it (1) requires the Commissioner to correct erroneous records and notify affected individuals and applicable agencies with cooperative arrangements under existing SSA data-sharing authorities (previously permissive); and (2) adds these requirements as new paragraph (12). (Thus, this reduces the risk of living persons being erroneously listed as deceased, which can freeze financial accounts and harm credit.)

This section establishes requirements for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to maintain access to field offices, hearing offices, resident or rural contact stations, live telephone operator services, and staffing. Specifically, the Commissioner must (1) maintain at least the same number of field and hearing offices as existed on January 1, 2025; (2) refrain from closing or reducing services at any such office or station existing on that date, except for short-term emergencies or relocations; (3) preserve meaningful access to live operators and, within 12 months of enactment, significantly improve telephone wait times, callback times, and average service times compared to 2024 averages; (4) avoid limiting public access to existing offices; (5) maintain employee levels at no less than those in 2024 (determined annually); and (6) establish accessible online options for applications, benefit claims, and direct deposit changes. (Thus, SSA is exempt from hiring freezes or reductions in force and may hire as needed to improve services; the Commissioner may propose closures or consolidations to Congress and open or expand offices.) The requirements apply retroactively as of January 1, 2025, reversing any prior inconsistent actions.

This section establishes three new offices within the Social Security Administration: (1) the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Civil Rights (a career appointee appointed by the Commissioner) and responsible for managing civil rights and equal opportunity programs, enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act and specified provisions of the Rehabilitation Act, processing discrimination complaints, directing reasonable accommodation programs, and maintaining related information systems; (2) the Office of Transformation, headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Transformation (a career appointee appointed by the Commissioner) and responsible for providing strategic guidance and oversight on policies, business processes, systems (including customer service), and implementation of related initiatives; and (3) the Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight, headed by the Deputy Commissioner of Analytics, Review, and Oversight (a career appointee appointed by the Commissioner) and responsible for reviewing program quality and effectiveness, recommending improvements, and coordinating fraud detection and prevention.

This section establishes mandatory funding for administrative expenses of the Social Security Administration (SSA) for fiscal years beginning with FY2026 equal to 1.2% of benefit payments under title II (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance), title VIII (Special Benefits for Certain World War II Veterans), and title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act, as estimated by the SSA Chief Actuary—with funding for title II drawn proportionally from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds and funding for titles VIII and XVI drawn from the general fund of the U.S. Treasury—and further appropriates necessary sums from the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds for SSA's administration of title XVIII (Medicare) of such Act. (As background, SSA administers OASDI benefits to approximately 70 million retirees, survivors, and disabled workers; SSI benefits to low-income aged, blind, and disabled individuals; SVB to certain noncitizen WWII veterans; and Medicare enrollment and services for SSA beneficiaries.) This section further excludes SSA administrative costs for titles II, VIII, XVI, and XVIII—along with specified program integrity activities (i.e., continuing disability reviews, SSI eligibility redeterminations, cooperative disability investigation units, and fraud prosecutions)—and related trust fund receipts and disbursements from (1) the President's budget, concurrent budget resolutions, Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act enforcement, and Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act calculations; (2) surplus or deficit totals in concurrent budget resolutions; and (3) section 302(a) allocations of budget authority and outlays. (Thus, these costs are removed from discretionary spending caps and annual appropriations processes.)

This section appropriates $2 billion to the Commissioner of Social Security for FY2026 through FY2035, available until expended, to (1) increase awareness of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility among families with children who may be eligible, with nationwide efforts focused on families of children with disabilities; (2) reduce backlogs and workloads in initial Disability Insurance (DI) benefit claims and other disability-related claims and appeals under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act, including by directing resources to high-need areas; (3) maintain, expand, modernize, or enhance the Social Security Administration's information technology infrastructure while ensuring uninterrupted benefit delivery; and (4) expand online services, including SSI benefit applications. It further requires the Commissioner to submit to Congress, not later than 180 days after enactment and annually thereafter, reports on actions addressing these issues.

This section limits recovery of Social Security overpayments from monthly benefits to the greater of 10% of the monthly benefit or $10, absent an overpayment due to fraud or similar fault or an election by the overpaid person for a greater reduction. (Thus, the Commissioner of Social Security may no longer reduce such benefits by more than this amount in other cases.) The amendments apply to overpayment determinations made on or after March 25, 2024, and to any unrecovered overpayments as of that date.

This section establishes a new grant program under which the Commissioner of Social Security makes payments to each state's protection and advocacy system—established under part C of title I of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (i.e., state agencies providing advocacy for individuals with developmental disabilities)—to protect the legal rights of Social Security Disability Insurance (title II) and Supplemental Security Income (title XVI) applicants and beneficiaries with disabilities. Eligible services include (1) information and advice on accessing, applying for, and appealing disability benefit decisions; (2) related advocacy; and (3) services described in section 1150(b) of the Social Security Act. Payments require an application and annual report from the system and provide annual minimums of $200,000 for systems in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and $100,000 for systems in Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (with inflation adjustments if total appropriations increase); such payments are funded from title II and XVI administrative funds (with one-year carryover) and authorized at $25 million annually for FY2026 through FY2030.

This section establishes a grant program under which, for each fiscal year from FY2026 through FY2030, the Commissioner of Social Security awards at least 10 grants of at least $500,000 each over five years to qualifying community-based organizations (i.e., nonprofits serving one or more states with legal experts, disability benefits specialists, current or recent beneficiaries, and a governing board of at least one-third current or former disability beneficiaries under Titles II or XVI of the Social Security Act) to assist individuals with disabilities in applying for, appealing, and accessing disability benefits under those titles (i.e., Social Security Disability Insurance for disabled workers and their dependents, and Supplemental Security Income for low-income disabled individuals). Grants require detailed applications covering service regions and needs, planned services and personnel, outreach plans, memoranda of understanding with collaborators, and accessibility assurances; grantees must submit annual and final reports. The section appropriates $15 million annually for FY2026 through FY2030 to the Commissioner and directs an evaluation grant of at least $500,000 annually for the five-year grant period plus two subsequent years, funded from Titles II and XVI administrative funds, to an independent entity.