The Secretary of the Treasury shall maintain in the unemployment trust fund established pursuant to section 1104 of title 42 an account to be known as the railroad unemployment insurance account. This account shall consist of (i) such part of all contributions collected pursuant to section 358 of this title as is in excess of 0.65 per centum of the total compensation on which such contributions are based, together with all interest collected pursuant to section 358(g) [1] of this title; (ii) all amounts transferred or paid into the account pursuant to section 363 or section 364 of this title; (iii) all additional amounts appropriated to the account in accordance with any provision of this chapter or with any provision of law now or hereafter adopted; (iv) a proportionate part of the earnings of the unemployment trust fund, computed in accordance with the provisions of section 1104(e) of title 42; (v) all amounts realized in recoveries for overpayments or erroneous payments of benefits; (vi) all amounts transferred thereto pursuant to section 361 of this title; (vii) all fines or penalties collected pursuant to the provisions of this chapter; and (viii) all amounts credited thereto pursuant to section 352(f) or section 362(g) of this title. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all moneys credited to the account shall be mingled and undivided, and are permanently appropriated to the Board to be continuously available to the Board without further appropriation, for the payment of benefits and refunds under this chapter, and no part thereof shall lapse at any time, or be carried to the surplus fund or any other fund.

All moneys in the account shall be used solely for the payment of the benefits and refunds provided for by this chapter. The Board shall, from time to time, certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the name and address of each person or company entitled to receive benefits or a refund payment under this chapter, the amount of such payment, and the time at which it shall be made. Prior to audit or settlement by the Government Accountability Office, the Secretary of the Treasury, through the Fiscal Service of the Treasury Department, shall make payments from the account directly to such person or company of the amount of benefits or refund so certified by the Board: Provided, however, That if the Board shall so request, the Secretary of the Treasury, through the Fiscal Service of the Treasury Department, shall transmit benefits payments to the Board for distribution by it through employment offices or in such other manner as the Board deems proper.

The Board shall include in its annual report to Congress a statement with respect to the status and operation of the account.

Whenever the Board finds at any time that the balance in the railroad unemployment insurance account will be insufficient to pay the benefits and refunds which it estimates are due, or will become due, under this chapter, it shall request the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer from the Railroad Retirement Account to the credit of the railroad unemployment insurance account such moneys as the Board estimates would be necessary for the payment of such benefits and refunds, and the Secretary shall make such transfer. Whenever the Board finds that the balance in the railroad unemployment insurance account, without regard to the amounts transferred pursuant to the next preceding sentence, is sufficient to pay such benefits and refunds, it shall request the Secretary of the Treasury to retransfer from the railroad unemployment insurance account to the credit of the Railroad Retirement Account such moneys as in its judgment are not needed for the payment of such benefits and refunds, plus interest at a rate for each fiscal year equal to the average rate of interest borne by all special obligations held by the Railroad Retirement Account on the last day of the preceding fiscal year, rounded to the nearest multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum, and the Secretary shall make such retransfer. In determining the balance in the railroad unemployment insurance account as of September 30 of any year pursuant to section 358(a) of this title, any moneys transferred from the Railroad Retirement Account to the credit of the railroad unemployment insurance account which have not been retransferred as of such date from the latter account to the credit of the former, plus the interest accrued thereon to that date, shall be disregarded.

(June 25, 1938, ch. 680, § 10 (less (e)–(g)), 52 Stat. 1104; June 20, 1939, ch. 227, § 13, 53 Stat. 848; 1940 Reorg. Plan No. III, § 1(a)(1), eff. June 30, 1940, 5 F.R. 2107, 54 Stat. 1231; June 23, 1948, ch. 608, § 7, 62 Stat. 578; Pub. L. 86–28, pt. III, § 308(a), May 19, 1959, 73 Stat. 32; Pub. L. 88–133, title III, § 305, Oct. 5, 1963, 77 Stat. 223; Pub. L. 89–700, title II, § 205, Oct. 30, 1966, 80 Stat. 1087; Pub. L. 90–257, title II, § 205, Feb. 15, 1968, 82 Stat. 24; Pub. L. 93–445, title IV, § 403, Oct. 16, 1974, 88 Stat. 1359; Pub. L. 94–92, title I, § 1(i), Aug. 9, 1975, 89 Stat. 464; Pub. L. 98–76, title III, § 302, Aug. 12, 1983, 97 Stat. 432; Pub. L. 99–107, § 4, Sept. 30, 1985, 99 Stat. 479; Pub. L. 99–155, § 2(c), Nov. 14, 1985, 99 Stat. 814; Pub. L. 99–181, § 3, Dec. 13, 1985, 99 Stat. 1172; Pub. L. 99–189, § 3, Dec. 18, 1985, 99 Stat. 1184; Pub. L. 99–272, title XIII, § 13302, Apr. 7, 1986, 100 Stat. 327; Pub. L. 100–647, title VII, § 7103(b)(1), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3770; Pub. L. 108–271, § 8(b), July 7, 2004, 118 Stat. 814.)