Treasury's Management of Social Security Trust Funds During the Debt Ceiling Crises
HRD-86-45: Published: Dec 5, 1985. Publicly Released: Dec 17, 1985.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
In response to a congressional request, GAO gave its opinion on the legality and propriety of the Secretary of the Treasury's management of the social security trust funds during the October 1984, and September to November 1985, public debt ceiling crises.
GAO found that: (1) although some of the Secretary's actions appeared to have been in violation of legislative requirements, the Secretary acted reasonably given the extraordinary situation; (2) Treasury may restore any interest lost because of failure to fully invest the normalized tax transfers (NTT); (3) to the extent that the trust funds' assets were kept uninvested to permit the payment of other government obligations or to restore cash balances, the trust funds were being used contrary to the statutory scheme; (4) the Secretary did not violate the statutory debt limit and did not usurp any borrowing powers; (5) there was no evidence that the Secretary redeemed securities or failed to invest funds for the purpose of avoiding general fund interest payments to the trust funds; (6) NTT amounts were not fully invested in interest-bearing Treasury securities at the beginning of September, October, and November 1985, but during that period, Treasury redeemed the trust funds' short- and long-term securities to meet social security benefit payments; (7) if adequate borrowing authority had been available during the period, it would not have been necessary to redeem any of the trust funds' long-term securities; and (8) the noninvestment of NTT amounts in September and October were not unprecedented, but the actions of November 1985, appeared to have no precedent.
Feb 24, 2021
Financial Services:
Fair Lending, Access, and Retirement SecurityGAO-21-399T: Published: Feb 24, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 24, 2021.
Jan 19, 2021
-
Elder Justice:
HHS Could Do More to Encourage State Reporting on the Costs of Financial ExploitationGAO-21-90: Published: Dec 18, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 19, 2021.
Oct 30, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
Other Countries' Experiences with Caregiver PoliciesGAO-20-623: Published: Sep 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 30, 2020.
Sep 24, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
Older Women Report Facing a Financially Uncertain FutureGAO-20-718T: Published: Sep 24, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 24, 2020.
Aug 28, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
DOL Could Better Inform Divorcing Parties About Dividing SavingsGAO-20-541: Published: Jul 31, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 28, 2020.
Aug 13, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
Older Women Report Facing a Financially Uncertain FutureGAO-20-435: Published: Jul 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 13, 2020.
Jun 16, 2020
-
Retirement Security:
BLS Should Explore Ways to Improve the Accuracy, Timeliness, and Relevance of Its Cost-of-Living MeasurementsGAO-20-422: Published: Jun 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2020.
Feb 27, 2020
-
Private Pensions:
IRS and DOL Should Strengthen Oversight of Executive Retirement PlansGAO-20-70: Published: Jan 28, 2020. Publicly Released: Feb 27, 2020.
Jan 9, 2020
-
Social Security Disability:
Action Needed to Help Agency Staff Understand and Follow Policies Related to Prescription Opioid MisuseGAO-20-120: Published: Jan 9, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 9, 2020.
Dec 18, 2019
-
Capitol Police:
Potential Effects of Raising the Mandatory Retirement AgeGAO-20-137R: Published: Dec 18, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 18, 2019.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here
Explore our Key Issues on Retirement Security
Explore our other Key Issues here
