GENERAL COUNSEL

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY                                  WASHINGTON, D.C.                                      April 16, 1997

The Honorable Bill Archer
Chairman
Committee on Ways and Means
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

This letter presents the views of the Department of the Treasury on H.R. 1048, the "Welfare Reform Technical Corrections Act of 1997." The bill would make technical corrections in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Pub. L. No. 104-193. While we endorse the general objectives of H.R. 1048, we have the following reservations to the bill as presently drafted.

As currently drafted, the Department objects to section 433(a), which seeks to amend PRWORA, notwithstanding section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), to permit the Commissioner of Social Security to disclose quarters of coverage information concerning an alien and an alien's spouse or parents to a government agency. It is Treasury's longstanding position that changes concerning the disclosure of tax information should be made by amending the IRC and not be made through other legislation. We would propose the following language in place of the current amendment at section 433(a):

Section 6103(l)(7)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding a new clause (x) to read as follows:

     (x) to the extent not previously described in this subparagraph, any program described in sections 1612, 1622, and 1631 of Title 8, United States Code. The return information that may be disclosed under this paragraph for use with respect to any program described in this clause shall be limited to the periods for which qualifying quarters or coverage were or may be credited.

In addition, we would recommend one technical amendment to section 405 of the Social Security Act as amended. To clarify responsibility for payments to States and to avoid confusion between references to the Secretaries of Treasury and HHS, section 405(a) should read as follows:

     (a) Quarterly.--The Secretary shall award each grant payable to a State under section 403 in quarterly installments, subject to this section.

We are pleased with the bipartisan manner in which you and Rep. Levin developed H.R. 1048, and we hope you will consider these additional suggestions.

The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection from the standpoint of the Administration's program to the submission of this report to your Committee.

Sincerely,

/s/

Edward S. Knight
General Counsel