Part 1 of 2
Possibly related to:
Q Code:
{RR-out}{P_pers}
EO_CLASSIFIED_WH
SIG_con_MAR39
Summary: HUGE SLUSH FUND based out of CHICAGO. Government Agency controlling billions which has been PRIVATIZED with NO government OVERSIGHT! OBAMA's appointees run it.
https:// www.rrb.gov
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is an independent agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government. The RRB’s primary function is to administer comprehensive retirement-survivor and unemployment-sickness benefit programs for the nation’s railroad workers and their families, under the Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts. As part of the retirement program, the RRB also has administrative responsibilities under the Social Security Act for certain benefit payments and railroad workers’ Medicare coverage.
In fiscal year 2017, the RRB paid retirement-survivor benefits of nearly $12.5 billion to about 548,000 beneficiaries. The RRB also paid net unemployment-sickness benefits of $106 million (including recoveries of about $200,000 in expired temporary extended unemployment benefits under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, and subsequent reauthorizing legislation) to about 28,000 claimants.
Financing – Payroll taxes paid by railroad employers and their employees are the primary source of funding for the railroad retirement-survivor benefit programs. Railroad retirement taxes, which have historically been higher than social security taxes, are calculated, like benefit payments, on a two-tier basis. Railroad retirement tier I payroll taxes are coordinated with social security taxes so employees and employers pay tier I taxes at the same rate as social security taxes. In addition, both employees and employers pay tier II taxes to finance railroad retirement benefit payments beyond social security levels. The ratio of certain asset balances to the sum of benefit payments and administrative expenses determines tier II tax rates.
Revenues in excess of benefit payments are invested to provide additional trust fund income. The National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust manages and invests railroad retirement assets. It invests these funds in non-governmental assets, as well as in governmental securities.
Additional trust fund income derives from the financial interchange with the social security trust funds, revenues from Federal income taxes on railroad retirement benefits, and appropriations from general treasury revenues provided after 1974 as part of a phase-out of certain vested dual benefits.
The RRB and the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust
The Railroad Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act of 2001 established the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust. The sole purpose of the Trust is to manage and invest railroad retirement assets. The Trust is a tax-exempt entity independent from the Federal Government.
The Act authorizes the Trust to invest the assets of the Railroad Retirement Account in a diversified investment portfolio in the same manner as those of private sector retirement plans. Before the Act, the law limited investment of Railroad Retirement Account assets to U.S. government securities.
The Trust has seven trustees, with railroad labor unions and railroad companies each selecting three. These six trustees then select a seventh, independent trustee. In turn, they hire professional staff to manage investment of the assets. While the Act does not delegate any authority to the RRB with respect to day-to-day activities of the Trust, the Act does provide that the RRB may bring a civil action to enjoin any act or practice of the Trust that violates the provisions of the Act or to enforce any provision of the Act. The Trust has no powers or authority over the administration of benefits under the Railroad Retirement Act.