The Budget Control Act of 2011, Public Law 112-25, enacted on August 2, 2011, authorized the appropriation of funds for fiscal years 2012 through 2021 to be used for certain program integrity initiatives, including continuing disability reviews of OASDI disabled beneficiaries. The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2012, Public Law 112-77, enacted on December 23, 2011, appropriated the funds for those program integrity initiatives for fiscal year 2012. The Trustees have generally assumed that lawmakers would provide appropriate levels of funding to conduct legislatively mandated continuing disability reviews. The Trustees estimate that the enactment of these two laws will cause a negligible change in the financial status of the OASDI program over the short-range and long-range periods.
The Three-Percent Withholding Repeal and Job Creation Act, Public Law 112-56, enacted on November 21, 2011, provides qualified tax-exempt organizations with credit against 2012 payroll taxes for employment of qualified veterans. This law provides for reimbursements from the General Fund of the Treasury to the OASI and DI Trust Funds to make up for any reduction in payroll tax revenue. Therefore, this law has no direct financial impact on the OASDI program over the short-range and long-range periods.
The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011, Public Law 112-78, enacted on December 23, 2011, and the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, Public Law 112-96, enacted on February 22, 2012, reduce the OASDI payroll tax rate for 2012 by 2 percentage points for employees and for self-employed workers. These laws provide for reimbursements from the General Fund of the Treasury to the OASI and DI Trust Funds to make up for the reduction in payroll tax revenue. Therefore, these laws have no direct financial impact on the OASDI program over the short-range and long-range periods.
The financial projections shown in this report include the effects of these laws. Sections
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7 of this report provide further analysis of the nature and magnitude of the effect of these laws on the financial status of the OASDI program.