No Social Security Benefits for Disabled Teenagers if They Miss Too Much School (H.R. 4617)

What is H.R. 4617?

(Updated December 18, 2020)

This bill, penned by Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY), would tie Social Security benefits for disabled teenagers, aged 16 and 17, to school attendance. Were such a disabled minor to miss too much school, he or she would lose his or her Social Security benefits. Reed is pictured above. 

Argument in favor

Disabled teenagers deserve no Social Security benefits if they can't get to school and/or are defrauding the Social Security system.

Argument opposed

Targeting disabled minors is inexplicably cruel. If the goal is to prevent fraud, tracking every disabled teenager would be impossibly costly.

Impact

The bill impacts certain disabled teenagers' Social Security benefits.

Cost of H.R. 4617

A CBO cost estimate is not available.

Additional Info

Media:

Reed posted a photo op of himself at The Happiness House in Geneva, an organization that provides services and programs for disabled children and adults in several counties within the NY 23rd. This was about a week after he introduced his proposal to gut funding to this population

twice since the introduction of this bill, Reed was questioned about it on his official Facebook page and twice, the posts were removed by his staff.