Jul 10, 2009

House Appropriations Committee Markup Begins

The House Appropriations Committee has begun marking up the FY (fiscal year) 2010 appropriations bill covering Social Security. This markup is in subcommittee. The Chairman of the Committee, David Obey, has released a statement giving information about the chairman's mark, that is the starting point for the markup. Here is what it says about Social Security:
...[T]his bill sustains critical support for America’s most vulnerable children, families, and seniors. These investments include: ... $11.4 billion for the Social Security Administration, which provides the single largest dollar increase in the bill and the request – to help the agency process a rising number of retirement and disability claims, make progress in reducing the backlog of disability hearings, and improve services to the public.
The figure for Social Security is $200 million less than what President Obama had asked for. However, I would note that there are rumbles about a possible second economic stimulus bill. If such a bill happens, it will almost certainly include some additional money for Social Security.

Update: Chairman Obey's statement misled me. A more detailed summary of the Chairman's mark shows it to be the same as the President's proposed budget.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

CA DDS employees are planning to strike. Commissioner, it is time to step in. It is your program, not the states. Enforce the CFRs and demand accountability. Take over the DDS until they can handle things on their own.

Anonymous said...

No kidding--The U.S. government has effectively nationalized GM--it can certainly do the same with the DDS's--and for a more productive purpose. Is Mich-clueless Astrue paying attention at all?