shall make an award fixing the amount of the annuity or benefit, as the case may be, and shall certify the payment thereof as hereinafter provided; otherwise the application shall be denied. For purposes of this section, the Board shall have and exercise such of the powers, duties and remedies provided in subsection (a), (b), (d), and (n) of section 12 of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act as are not inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act. The Board is authorized to delegate to any member, officer, or employee of the Board any of the powers conferred upon the Board by the Act, excluding only the power to prescribe rules and regulations, including the power to make decisions on applications for annuities or other benefits: Provided, however, That any person aggrieved by a decision on his application for an annuity or other benefit shall have the right to appeal to the Board. Notice of a decision of the Board, or of an employee thereof, shall be communicated to the applicant in writing within thirty days after such decision shall have been made.

(4) The Board shall from time to time certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the name and address of each individual entitled to receive a payment, the amount of such payment, and the time at which it should be made, and the Secretary of the Treasury through the Division of Disbursements of the Treasury Department, and prior to audit by the General Accounting Office, shall make payment in accordance with the certification by the Board.

(5) The Board shall establish and promulgate rules and regulations to provide for the adjustment of all controversial matters arising in the administration of this Act. All rules, regulations, or decisions of the Board shall require the approval of at least two members, and they shall be entered upon the records of the Board, which shall be a public record.

(6) The Board shall gather, keep, compile, and publish in convenient form such records and data as may be necessary to assure proper administration of this Act, including subdivision (2) of this subsection. The Board shall have power to require all employers and employees and any officer, board, commission, or other agency of the United States to furnish such information and records as shall be necessary for the administration of this Act, including subdivision (2) of this subsection. The several district courts of the United States and the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia shall have jurisdiction upon suit by the Board to compel obedience to any order of the Board issued pursuant to this section. The orders, writs, and processes of the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia in such suits may run and be served anywhere in the United States. Witnesses summoned before the Board shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the district courts of the United States. The Board shall make an annual report to the President of the United States to be submitted to Congress.

(7) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall furnish the Board certified reports of wages, self-employment income, and periods of service and of other records in his possession, or which he may secure, pertinent to the administration of this Act, the Railroad Unemploy

ment Insurance Act,, 1 the Milwaukee Railroad Restructuring Act, and the Rock Island Railroad Transition and Employee Assistance Act. The Board shall furnish the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare certified reports of records of compensation and periods of service reported to it pursuant to section 9 of this Act, of determinations under section 2 of this Act, and of other records in its possession, or which it may secure, pertinent to subsection (c) of this section or to the administration of the Social Security Act as affected by section 18 of this Act. Such certified reports shall be conclusive in adjudication as to the matters covered therein: Provided, however, That if the Board or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare receives evidence inconsistent with a certified report and the application involved is still in course of adjudication or otherwise open for such evidence such recertification of such report shall be made as, in the judgment of the Board or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, whichever made the original certification, the evidence warrants. Such recertification and any subsequent recertification shall be treated in the same manner and be subject to the same conditions as an original certification.

(8) Any department or agency of the United States maintaining records of military service, at the request of the Board, shall certify to the Board, with respect to any individual, the number of months of military service which such department or agency finds the individual to have had during any period or periods with respect to which the Board's request is made, the date and manner of entry into such military service, and the conditions under which such service was continued. Any department or agency of the United States which is authorized to make awards of pensions, disability compensation, or any other gratuitous benefits or allowances payable, on a periodic basis or otherwise, under any other Act of Congress on the basis of military service, at the request of the Board, shall certify to the Board, with respect to any individual, the calendar months for all or part of which any such pension, compensation, benefit, or allowance is payable to, or with respect to, the individual, the amounts of any such pension, compensation, benefit, or allowance, and the military service on which such pension, compensation, benefit, or allowance is based. Any certification made pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision shall be conclusive on the Board: Provided, however, That if evidence inconsistent with any such certification is submitted, and the claim is in the course of adjudication or is otherwise open for such evidence, the Board shall refer such evidence to the department or agency which made the original certification and such department or agency shall make such recertification as in its judgment the evidence warrants. Such recertification, and any subsequent recertification, shall be conclusive, made in the same manner, and subject to the same conditions as an original certification.

(9) The Board shall maintain such offices, provide such equipment, furnishings, supplies, services, and facilities, and employ such individual and provide for their compensation and expenses as may be necessary for the proper discharge of its functions. All posi

1So in original.

tions to which such individuals are appointed, except one administrative assistant to each member of the Board, shall be in and under the competitive civil service and shall not be removed, or excepted therefrom. In the employment of such individuals under the civil service laws and rules the Board shall give preference over all others to individuals who have had experience in railroad service, if, in the judgment of the Board, they possess the qualifications necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of the positions to which they are to be appointed. For purposes of its administration of this Act or the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, or both, the Board may place, without regard to the numerical limitations contained in section 505 of the Classification Act of 1949, amended, four positions in grade GS-16 of the General Schedule established by that Act, four positions in grade GS-17 of such schedule, and one position in grade GS-18 of such schedule.

as

(c)(1) Benefit payments determined by the Board to be payable under this Act shall be made from the Railroad Retirement Account, except that payments of supplemental annuities under section 2(b) of this Act shall be made from the Railroad Retirement Supplemental Account, and payments of annuity amounts made under sections 3(h), 4(e), and 4(h) of this Act and under sections 204(a)(3), 204(a)(4), 206(3), and 207(3) of Public Law 93-445 shall be made from the Dual Benefits Payments Account. In any fiscal year, the total amounts paid under such sections shall not exceed the total sums appropriated to the Dual Benefits Payments Account for that fiscal year. The Board shall prescribe regulations for allocation of annuity amounts which would without regard to such regulations be payable under sections 3(h), 4(e), and 4(h) of this Act and sections 204(a)(3), 204(a)(4), 206(3), and 207(3) of Public Law 93-445 so that the sums appropriated to the Dual Benefits Payments Account for a fiscal year so far as practicable, are expended in equal monthly installments throughout such fiscal year, and are distributed so that recipients are paid annuity amounts which bear the same ratio to the annuity amounts such recipients would have received but for such regulations as the ratio of the total sums appropriated to pay such annuity amounts bear to the total sums necessary to pay such annuity amounts without regard to such regulations. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the entitlement of an individual to an annuity amount under section 3(h), 4(e), or 4(h) of this Act or section 204(a)(3), 204(a)(4), 206(3), or 207(3) of Public Law 93-445 for any month in which the amount payable to such individual is allocated under the regulations prescribed by the Board under this subsection shall not exceed the amount so allocated for that month to such individual.

(2) At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975, and each fiscal year thereafter, the Board and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall determine the amounts, if any, which if added to or subtracted from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund would place each such Trust Fund in the same position in which it would have been if (A) service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term "employment" as defined in the Social Security Act and in the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and

(B) this Act had not been enacted. Such determination with respect to each such Trust Fund shall be made no later than June 15 following the close of the fiscal year. If, pursuant to any such determination, any amount is to be added to any such Trust Fund, the Board shall, within ten days after the determination, certify such amount to the Secretary of the Treasury for transfer from the Railroad Retirement Account to such Trust Fund. If, pursuant to any such determination, any amount is to be subtracted from any such Trust Fund, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall, within ten days after the determination, certify such amount to the Secretary of the Treasury for transfer from such Trust Fund to the Railroad Retirement Account. Any amount so certified shall further include interest (at the rate determined in subdivision (3) for the fiscal year under consideration) payable from the close of such fiscal year until the date of certification. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to transfer to the Railroad Retirement Account from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, or the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust or to any such Trust Fund from the Railroad Retirement Account, as the case may be, such amounts as, from time to time, may be determined by the Board and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision and certified by the Board or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for transfer from any such Trust Fund or from the Railroad Retirement Account.

(3) For purposes of subdivision (2), for any fiscal year, the rate of interest to be used shall be equal to the average rate of interest computed as of May 31 preceding the close of such fiscal year, borne by all interest-bearing obligations of the United States then forming a part of the public debt; except that where such average rate is not a multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum, the rate of interest shall be the multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum next lower than such average rate.

(4) After the end of each month beginning with the month of October 1983, the Board shall determine the net amount, if any, which if added to or subtracted from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund would, with respect to such month, place those Trust Funds, taken as a whole, in the same position in which they would have been if (A) service as an employee after December 31, 1936, had been included in the term "employment" as defined in the Social Security Act and in the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, and (B) this Act had not been enacted. If for any month the net amount so determined would be subtracted from those Trust Funds, the Board shall, within ten days after the end of such month, report such amount to the Secretary of the Treasury for transfer from the general fund to the Railroad Retirement Account. Any amount so reported shall further include interest (at an annual rate equal to the rate of interest borne by a special obligation issued to the Railroad Retirement Account in the month in which the transfer is made to the Account) payable from the close of the month for which the transfer is made until the date of transfer. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to transfer to the Railroad Retirement Account

from the general fund such amounts as, from time to time, may be determined by the Board pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision and reported by the Board for transfer. For such purpose the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to use as a public debt transaction the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued after the date of the enactment of this Act under section 3102 of title 31 of the United States Code, and the purpose for which securities may be issued under section 3102 of title 31 of the United States Code are extended to include such purpose. Each such_transfer shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury within five days after a report of the amount to be transferred is received. Not later than December 31 following the close of each fiscal year beginning with the fiscal year ending September 30, 1984, the Board shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the total of all amounts transferred pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision for months in such fiscal year. Within ten days after a transfer, or transfers, pursuant to subdivision (2) for a particular fiscal year, the Board shall request the Secretary of the Treasury to retransfer from the Railroad Retirement Account to the general fund an amount equal to (A) the total of all amounts, exclusive of interest, transferred to such Account pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision for months in such fiscal year, plus (B) interest (at the rate determined in subdivision (3) for such fiscal year) payable with respect to each amount transferred for a month during such fiscal year from the close of the month for which the transfer of the amount was made until the date of retransfer of such amount. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to retransfer from the Railroad Retirement Account to the general fund such amounts as, from time to time, may be determined by the Board pursuant to the provisions of the preceding sentence of this subdivision and reported by the Board for retransfer.

(d)(1) The Board shall, for purposes of this subsection, have the same authority to determine the rights of individuals described in subdivision (2) to have payments made on their behalf for hospital insurance benefits consisting of inpatient hospital services, posthospital extended care services, home health services, hospice care, and outpatient hospital diagnostic services (all hereinafter referred to as "services") under section 226, and parts A and C of title XVIII, of the Social Security Act as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare has under such section and such parts with respect to individuals to whom such sections and such parts apply. For purposes of section 8, a determination with respect to the rights of an individual under this subsection shall, except in the case of a provider of services, be considered to be a decision with respect to an annuity.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, every person who

(i) has attained age 65 and (A) is entitled to an annuity under this Act or (B) would be entitled to such an annuity had he ceased compensated service and, in the case of a spouse or divorced wife, had such spouse's husband or wife ceased compensated service or (C) bears a relationship to an employee which, by reason of section 3(f)(3) of this Act, has been, or