Senate Appropriations Proposal

From a press release issued by the Senate Appropriations Committee, concerning the Committee's bill to keep the government operating through the end of the fiscal year (FY):

The House Republican CR [Continuing Resolution] cuts funding for the Social Security Administration’s administrative expenses by $125 million below the FY 2010 enacted level. This would force the SSA to freeze hiring across the agency and possibly furlough employees, at a time when the number of Americans filing for disability and retirement benefits is at record levels. As a result, every American filing benefits this year would wait longer for the benefits they’ve earned, backlogs of those with pending disability claims and hearings would increase significantly, and waiting times at field offices and SSA’s 1-800 number would jump dramatically. The Senate bill, by contrast, provides $600 million more than the House Republican proposal (including rescissions). Compared to the House CR, it will allow SSA to process about 300,000 more initial disability claims and 150,000 more disability hearings, and prevent delays in beneficiaries receiving their retirement benefits.

Despite this, the Senate Appropriations proposal would give Social Security $557 million less than the President's proposal for this FY. At least it would still be $372 million more than the FY 2010 level if my math is correct.

The Associated Press is already saying that this proposal cannot pass the Senate much less gain acceptance by the House of Representatives. We may be lucky to keep Social Security's funding at the FY 2010 level for the rest of the fiscal year.

Below is a countdown clock to a possible government shutdown.