Meager increase in funding over FY07 level will do nothing to eliminate growing backlog of disability cases
Alexandria, VA – Representing the managers and supervisors in the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), the Federal Managers Association (FMA) is extremely disappointed in the level of funding provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for SSA administrative expenses.
In his FY08 budget request, the President proposed $9.597 billion for SSA Limitation on Administrative Expenses. While this is an increase from his FY07 proposal, and far greater than Congress appropriated for FY07, it still falls short of the SSA Commissioner’s request and prevents the agency from meeting its backlog challenges. Before the end of her six year term, Commissioner Barnhart developed a Service Delivery Budget through 2012 to provide a framework for making decisions on needed improvements in service delivery and fiscal stewardship, and the requisite staffing to accomplish both. The Commissioner proposed $10.44 billion for administrative expenses for FY08.
Previously, Congress approved $10.1 billion in SSA salaries and expenses for fiscal year 2008 in the Budget Resolution; an amount which would allow the agency to tackle the growing disability claims backlog. However, today, the House Appropriations Committee approved only $100 million in funding for SSA administrative expenses over the President’s request. In June, the Senate Appropriations Committee went slightly further and allocated $125 million above the budget request.
“We at FMA believe that the $10.1 billion in funding agreed to in the budget resolution will allow the agency to fulfill its mission in serving the American people. SSA needs the additional funds to address the severe backlog in disability hearing requests,” commented FMA National President Darryl Perkinson in a letter to the House Appropriations Committee last month. “The President’s request is insufficient as the number of disability claims pending, as well as the average time to process those claims, will rise if the President’s request is appropriated.”
Currently, in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, there exists a backlog of over 745,110 requests for a hearing, an increase of 433,152 requests since the start of fiscal year 2000. With the meager increase over fiscal year 2007 funding levels, SSA will only be able to replace roughly 1,000 of the 4,000 employees lost in the last three years. The funding provided by Congress will slow the rapid growth of the backlog; however, it will not allow the agency to begin work on wrestling with this problem.
“The solution to the problem is simple – more staff will allow SSA to deliver its services to the American people in the best possible manner,” continued Perkinson. “However, this cannot be done without adequate funding from Congress. The programs administered by SSA provide benefits to more than 50 million Americans. We, at FMA, believe that the level of funding proposed by the Appropriations Committees falls too short of the mark for SSA to serve its customers efficiently.”
