Senator Bingaman And The Backlogs

From the Albuquerque Tribune:

The stories of New Mexicans waiting on their government inspired U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman to take action. ...

At the end of September, 746,744 Americans were waiting for a hearing to ask an administrative law judge to overturn their initial denial of disability checks from the Social Security Administration. The average wait at the Albuquerque field office is about the same as the national average - 17 months. ...

Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat, has heard firsthand about the problems from New Mexicans and from testimony earlier this year at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, where the National Organization of Social Security Representatives related some of the specific stories from New Mexico and other states.

"We heard instance after instance where individuals with severe disabilities were unable to work and were forced to declare bankruptcy," Bingaman said.

"They lost their homes, suffered deterioration in their medical conditions, and some even died while their claims lingered in Social Security administration offices." ...

That's why, when the spending bill that funds the Social Security Administration came to the floor two weeks ago, Bingaman offered an amendment to add $160 million over President Bush's request for the agency to help settle the disability appeals backlog.