AARP Working On Social Security Budget

The appropriations bill covering the Social Security Administration is coming up for action on the Senate floor today. From Congressional Quarterly(registration required):

AARP, the biggest U.S. lobbying group for people 50 and older, complained about how little the Labor-HHS bill would provide for Social Security’s administrative expenses. The Senate bill would allocate $9.7 billion, $125 million more than Bush requested. AARP said it was “grateful” for the additional funding, but “the agency needs more funding to avoid additional office closings and an increased disability backlog,” according to AARP official David P. Sloane in an Oct. 16 letter to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus. AARP has 38 million members, or about 12 percent of the U.S. population. Separately, Harkin yesterday criticized Bush for submitting a budget request for Social Security that “would add almost 100,000 disability claims to the backlog.” “We put in $426 million to reduce that backlog,” Harkin said. Social Security last week said it planned to hire about 150 judges and office staff for hearings on disability claims in the spring 2008. Social Security had a backlog of almost 747,000 cases at hearing level as of the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.