From a press release issued by Senator Daniel Inouye, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee:
The Republican [budget] proposal would force the SSA [Social Security Administration] to cut more than 3,500 staff from SSA’s 1,300 field offices, state disability determination services, and disability hearing offices and may ultimately result in furloughs of two to four weeks for about 50,000 Federal and state employees. As a result, the millions of Americans filing for retirement and disability benefits this year will wait longer for the benefits they’ve earned, backlogs of those with pending disability claims and hearings could reach record levels, and waiting times at field offices and SSA’s 1-800 number would increase dramatically.
Am I being naive in thinking that the Republicans don't stand a chance of getting anything like this idiocy passed and signed into law?
ReplyDeleteI mean, yeah, I read this crap and my blood pressure shoots up, and then I remember, oh yeah, Democratic Senate. Democratic president. No chance.
We hope. But remember this bunch is particularly nasty, very block headed and they have one goal. That goal is to make sure that the first African American president does not have a second term. Unfortunately, (they) are not made up solely of Republicans.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that saying? Hold on, its going to be a bumpy road.
Social Security has to be cut. The program is broke. SSA ODAR employees are lazy bums who loaf at home two, three, or four days a week. Their funding should be reduced.
ReplyDeleteOK, let's start a pool. Who thinks the last poster (10:19 pm) is a claimant who has been turned down at the hearing level and who thinks he or she is a disgruntled ODAR employee who got passed over for a promotion?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 8:51A Hmmm. Well, if that person works at ODAR and thinks the program is broke and has to be cut, then I guess he can join his colleagues at home for at least a month, anyway, purty damn quick here. Put me down in favor of the "passed over for a promotion" theory.
ReplyDeleteWill the newbies in the R majority whack SSA? Ummmm. Oh, yeah. Will the Senate sit still for it? Probably not. Would the President cut the Senate's legs out from under it by negotiating directly with the R's in Congress? You betcha. He did that already. All I can say is put off any major purchases and hunker down, sailors. 8-)
I second that, Nancy!
ReplyDelete(Both the "passover" theory and the "put off any major purchases" advice.)
Definitely disgruntled.
ReplyDelete